Four artists work exhibition

LAHORE: Presents of Present, a group exhibition of four brilliant young artists, will be inaugurated by Prof Sajida Haider Wandal, Vice Chancellor Institute for Art & Culture, at Ejaz Art Gallery, on Tuesday (tomorrow).

The exhibition is curated by Muhammad Sulaman. Past builds present and the present shapes our future. The only defining phase is the present; that reflects the history and projects the future, which is why this exhibition has been titled as ‘Haal ke Tohfay’ or ‘the presents of present’. It is about the celebration of present in relation to the past and future. The richness of the present due to the layers of past and time happenings and the present’s occupation with the construction of the future is the main focus of these four artists.

In this exhibition, everyone is directly or indirectly linked with history or elements of time and expressing their feeling with their own perspective. Like, Muhammad Sulaman works on his personal experiences of his surroundings, while raising a point that our colonial and regional history is making us bound with a single point of view on life-world which eventually causes our behavioral issues. On the other hand, Sana Saeed is talking about that nostalgia of past, feeling that reminds us of events and places in regards to past. She explores the space between present and past which holds more significance for us sometimes. Rizwan Ali is our third artist; he is manipulating historical elements from two different cultures to create a different narrative. I think it allows him to talk about our current multicultural present which is very much effected with our past. However, Hira Sidduqui is taking elements from different historical paintings and creating a different dialog or narrative. Although elements of history or past are having an important aspect in this exhibition but they together are talking about our present state which everyone is facing in their surroundings.

Jimmy engineer: Renowned artist and peace activist Jimmy Engineer has said that the sole purpose behind his goodwill tours of different countries and displaying his creative art is to tell the world that Pakistan has great people, great culture and great artists.

He said that displaying his artwork in foreign countries indeed carried a message as lots of people do not know about Pakistan and this is the best way to come here and convey the message.

Jimmy Engineer said this while delivering a talk about his life, art and motherland Pakistan at the inauguration of paintings exhibition and during interaction with the visitors at The Mall, Erin Mills Town Centre, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada which was organised by his cousin Neely. According to a message received here, Jimmy Engineer highly praised those who visited the venue of the exhibition to view his paintings. The artwork displayed in the exhibition, which has since concluded after running successfully for more than a week, depicted not just colours of culture but there was a message in each painting, some carried suffering of a person in need while some of artwork virtually took the onlookers to the countryside and paintings of the Mughul architecture left everyone in a trance.