Depicting the surreal through mix media

Exhibit featuring work of 15 artists underway

LAHORE:

Revelation—a show featuring the work of 15 artists—commenced on Friday at the Ejaz Art Gallery.

Ozma Bhatti, who graduated from the National College of Arts in 2008 with a BFA showcased four pieces made using pen on paper. “My work is about spontaneous expression. It is encouraged by surrealism, automatism and shallow pictorial space. The random doodling done by children, whether on a paper or a wall fascinates me as it may not seem like anything, but could have a deeper meaning,” she said. Therefore, Ozma said, she had explored various states of human consciousness. She said she had worked with monochromatic tones wherein white represented reality and black symbolised darkness.  The colour grey, she said, portrayed what happened when the two combined.





Komal Shahid Khan, an MFA from Rawalpindi’s Fatima Jinnah Women University, had four gouache on wasli pieces on display. “Some of my work is theme-based, Paheli being one of them. It depicts my views regarding the unified resistance against manipulation in life. Life is a riddle that can never be solved. Art, in itself, is the process of creation, and for me it is like a journey that sets off the moment my qalam lands on the wasli,” she said. Khan, who had specialised in miniature painting, said she tended to focus on fusing tradition and contemporary styles.

Visual artist Maidah Khan, who graduated from the NCA in 2014 with a BFA in miniature painting, displayed four mix media pieces. “My work revolves around storytelling and our society. I chose the concept due to miniature painting as that is what it basically is,” she said. “In bygone eras, it was told and painted as seen,” Khan said. She said times had changed now with people hiding things and lying. “My process, which is layering, illustrates the world’s tradition of how people keep secrets and lie,” Khan said.





Mazhar Naveed showcased four mix media pieces on the occasion. He had graduated with a BA in architecture from the NCA in 2011 after completing an undergraduate degree in journalism and politics from the Forman Christian College. “What you see here are references that we pick from history. The colour red has always been considered revolutionary,” he said. Naveed said he aspired to show that history was not the dark and dry subject that it was widely regarded to be. “I want it to be easily understood to stoke people’s interest,” he said.

Farrukh Adnan, who completed his postgraduate degree from the Beaconhouse National University in 2014, chose printing ink on paper and pen and ink on wasli as the medium from his six pieces. “My work is about the genealogical, archaeological and personal examination of Tulamba where I was born. I am researching on my homeland and trying to associate it with my memories and its history,” he said.



Wardah Naeem Bukhari displayed three ink on archival paper pieces. She obtained her masters from the NCA in 2012 in visual arts and is currently pursuing her PhD from the Punjab University College of Art and Design (PUCAD). “My paintings show blood moons overlapping with an Islamic geometric pattern. This portrays divine attributes by employing acrylics, silver leaf and mix media,” she said. The 15-person-show is being curated by Mariam Hanif. It will conclude on November 19.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2015.