Paintings exhibition: Creativity on display at summer art show

Collections by four eminent artists being exhibited at Nomad

ISLAMABAD:

Art is an expression of one’s individuality and it gets no more evident than while attending a group exhibition by four eminent artists.

Each collection marks a distinct style and speaks a different story. One can feel an artist’s emotion, perception and passion in the hues, brush strokes and the choice of medium used.

The Summer Art Show — an exhibition of paintings by Mashkoor Raza, Samina Ali, Ubaid Syed, and Tayyaba Aziz was launched at the Nomad Art Gallery here on Wednesday.

The paintings reflect the distinct styles of the individual artists yet have been displayed in a manner that they seem to fit in with the broader theme of the exhibit.

Mashkoor Raza, who is a well-known senior artist, has displayed images of women and horses in his signature figurative abstract style. He creates transparency with basic forms of square, circle and triangle on the canvas. A disciple of the famous Mansoor Rahi, Raza is inspired by solar eclipses so he paints moon and eclipsed suns in his paintings. His creative artwork has been awarded and appreciated, recently winning him the President’s Award for Pride of Performance.

The subject of Ubaid Syed’s paintings is nature. Based in Sweden, he draws inspiration for his impressionist paintings from his surroundings and uses acrylics on canvas.

To him the essence of art lies primarily into his creation of the artistic generalisation and not in representing reality in its concrete form. His paintings are metaphorical and evoke random feelings.

Samina Ali’s artistic style involves calligraphy and collages woven together. She draws inspiration from the Islamic heritage of the region. Her paintings showcase a tapestry of the history of the subcontinent.

Tayyaba Aziz is a self-taught artist who started painting just two years ago. She describes herself as a cubist. Her pictures display traditional Pakistani woman tied up in the chaos of social dogma. The multiple colours of the paintings make the art pieces attractive to the viewer.

“Our culture and society teaches us that we must hold back emotions when in public but I believe emotions should be expressed more regularly and freely,” says Aziz.

She describes herself as a figurative, abstract expressionist and analytical cubist. With her medium being oil on canvas, she experiments with analytical cubism and brings more life to it by detaching it from monochromatic expression.

The exhibition will continue till July 10. Meanwhile, after that date, the Nomad Art Gallery will move to its new location at Saidpur Village.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2015.