Art exhibition: A profusion of colours

SM Naqvi's latest exhibition puts on display his fascination with colours and everything to do with it

KARACHI: There are no surprises with what SM Naqvi has on exhibit in his latest solo show, titled 'Continuum of Colours'. It suggests colour and this is exactly what you get to enjoy — his work showcases an abundance of colours, the likes of which one can only imagine.

Colour in light and dark shadows. Colours in splatters. Colours in wild streaks, suggestive of a crazy stream of thought, while at the same time complementing nothing but the very vibrant nature of the colour itself.

On entering the Artscene gallery, colours as bright as sunshine and as soft as pastels lifts up one's mood instantly. From large canvases to small handy ones, the blending of colours are nothing but a treat to the eyes as the viewer's gaze moves from one canvas to another.  It's not entirely a happy, fluorescent feeling though. Naqvi has been careful not to overdo this, as he has contrasted these colours with dark, gloomy blends too. "Colours have a language of their own," he explained, passionately. "As humans have relations with one another, the same way colours have bonds with one another," he said.



The common feature of all the apparently abstract designs was the presence of black. At times appearing in the form of large circular blotches, while in others serving as a neutral background, black remained an interesting mix of sobriety and liveliness. About this, Naqvi has an interesting idea to share. He said that as humans have a definitive relationship in the shape of parents, it is the same way for colours too. "The colour black is the baap [father] of all colours that can both be a divisive or a collaborative force. White, on the other hand, is the maa [mother]," he explained. Another notable feature of the design is the way the colours have been presented to the viewers. As perfectly rounded globes giving off imperfect streaks, its abstraction overloaded. In others, the lines placed appeared diagonally cutting off one another at one point only to culminate in an entirely different smear.

The curator of the show, Naeem Akhter, described the blends as being solely inspired by nature. "There is water and so there is dark. It's the artist's inner self that is on display from the simple expression of colours," he said.

A layman would not have given such in-depth thought and analysis to colours, as is seen from the lens of this artist whose whole world and emotions revolve around them. Through the use of colour mixing, knives and random throws, he had tried to abbreviate as many techniques as he could muster. "When you show colours, you show them in their complete application. How they appear in their isolated, true form and as part of some captivating mix," he said.

The exhibition will run till September 1.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1st, 2015.