Ostentatious houses tell you something about the taste and personality of people who own them. Indian architect, Gautam Bhatia, in his book Punjabi Baroque focuses on such buildings and analyses reasons for such variations of styles popular here. According to him, an average person views a house as an epitome of his ideas, ideals and dreams. No wonder, one sees columns from Greek temples, marble replicating Taj Mahal, arches from Mughal buildings and balconies belonging to Jaipur palaces used in our urban structures.
This style, postmodern in nature, is considered in bad taste. It is not confined to built structures but is reflected in the way these spaces are decorated. The term ‘bad taste’ is not limited to a class; the most affluent people tend to have garish interiors.
In her previous works, Saba Khan had painted this rich crowd that one associates with the society pages of Sunday magazines. Her portrayal dealt with exploring and expressing the decadence in their lives and environment. Her paintings suggested the rotten side of the nouveau riche without appearing to be overtly critical; her way of presenting them was such that it signified the social malady. Drawings of faces and figures, a vibrant chromatic scheme and introduction of exuberant settings enhanced both the hilarious and hideous aspects of that lifestyle.
In her new solo show, to be held from Nov 3-20, November 2015 at Taseer Art Gallery, Lahore, Saba Khan has created a range of homes and other necessities. Titled ‘Rosy Dreams and High Walls’, the exhibition consists of small painting made in acrylic and other mixed media, mostly using colourful beads. Highly sophisticated in terms of their execution -- since the artist has consciously combined precisely painted areas with loosely rendered sections -- the works allude to aspirations of a class on perpetual rise.
These also indicate another change in our urban aesthetics. After the increased threat of terrorist attacks, exteriors of private and public buildings have been modified. It would actually be interesting to document stages in elevating the outer walls of a house or the brief history of placing safety measures (like barbed wires, metal grids, corrugated sheets and sand sacks) to protect a building. With the passage of time, our architecture has acquired a new, indigenous and functional character. Saba Khan records that change in a subtle manner.
In her parodies of ideal home advertisements, some parts of the houses are hidden behind large black walls. On top of these ‘perfect’ homes, captions like ‘Sweet Homes’, ‘Dream Town’, and ‘Double Security, Happy’ are inscribed in Urdu, proclaiming the qualities of these structures.
Khan comments upon this idea of ideal homes that convey and sell dreams of beauty and comfort to the general public but, at the same time, are undergoing transformation which has disfigured and distorted the concept of glamour and happiness. She renders these houses like maps, with multiple views combined, and offers a simplicity that appears effortless but is hard to achieve.
Not only her complex compositions but the artist’s skill, vision and painterly ability impress a viewer. Khan employs colourful beads in certain areas (either using her own hand or with the help of a studio assistant) that add vividness to her palette. But more than the vibrancy of shades, these serve another purpose -- supplement and extend her content.
The content can be about the pomposity associated with what money can buy and satisfy certain desires. Several paintings include images of furnishings like bed, sofas and chairs, and edible stuff such as meat, cakes, pastries and chocolates. All these demonstrate the atmosphere of comfort a certain level of wealth can command, and which is not normally available to a larger part of population.
The artist has picked colourful beads and hues that are usually identified with a class that can not afford to own these delightful dreams/homes. The colour scheme in these works is often described as cheap or kitsch, because it is preferred by communities that belong to the lower strata of society. In addition, colourful plastic beads are a means to attain their livelihood since workers at various studios and workshops are busy stitching these on women’s dresses.
Apart from her critique on a rising social class, increasing amount of insecurity and the gap between different sections of society, two aspects of Saba Khan’s recent work mark it as a leap for the artist. One, her choice of using colourful beads and glitter creates a variety of visually-attractive surfaces, a formal and material characteristic that confirms and complements her content which is about marketing attractive ‘goods’. Two, this medium and method which is often associated with female attire as well as with popular culture are a means to recognise the importance of other codes of aesthetics and incorporating popular techniques of image-making -- without proclaiming to be a feminist or declaring to patronize local craft.