Artworks catering to all tastes on display

Students showcase their talent at Alliance Francaise up until August 1

Karachi

Our young people have a tremendous store of artistic talent and for those who accept this assertion with a pinch of scepticism, all they have to do is to go over to the  Undergraduate Art Affair exhibition currently on at the Alliance Francaise art gallery and see the abundance of this talent for themselves.

The exhibition, which opened at the Alliance on Saturday evening, goes on up until August 1, features all forms of art, from the most classical, to realism, and abstract art.

It is an exhibition of the talents of students from educational institutions all over the country and one from overseas, a Pakistani at the Monash University in Australia.

The walls of the two galleries are adorned with 129 artworks to cater to all tastes, from the avante garde to the classical.

Even though all the 129 works are really masterly, some deserve special mention. One of these is an art aluminum foil picture of the Lahore Museum by young Marya Hussain of the Dawood University.

It really is so effective that it takes one back into history and one imagines what the museum must have looked like in its heyday.

Says Marya, “I derived inspiration from the quaint 19th century architecture.”

Then there is a landscape, titled, “Pond”, by Ehsan Usman of the Karachi University. It is a somewhat surreal representation of a pond with lush surroundings, beautiful flowers and greenery all around.

It carries one into nature at its most glorious. It has a really surreal, dream-like effect.

Then there is the side profile of a depressed man by Muhammad Ibrahim of the Karachi University. Even though a side profile, the furrowed face and the expression of depression is so very profound.

Ibrahim surely knows how to capture the inner depths of human feelings. The work is on cartage sheet.

The work by Ali Hyder Bhujwala of Monash University may look a little funny with the face of a clown, with that typically clownish smile,  wishing viewers a Happy New Year.

French Consul-General in town Francois D’allorso inaugurated the exhibition.

Appreciating the talent displayed all around at the exhibition, Consul-General D’allorso said that it was the proud privilege of the Alliance Francaise to have been given a chance to host such an exhibition and that it would
further strengthen the cultural ties between France and
Pakistan.