The human brain works in a marvelous manner and, through its unparalleled power, things that are light years away from each other can find a happy meeting ground.
This is most aptly reflected in an art exhibition of Lahore-based artist Noureen Rasheed’s works which opened at the Artscene Gallery Wednesday evening.
Titled ‘Coke-istan’, it is a demonstration of the mixing of two of the most unlikely of things, the iconic soft drink, Coca-Cola, and our historical heritage.
Being from the rather conservative areas of Lahore, Noureen, while talking to this correspondent, said she was deeply into things reflective of our historical heritage and our culture.
As she puts it, she was inspired to juxtapose the most unlikely of things on each other because, she said, Coca-Cola had become such a common feature of the citizens’ daily lives.
You go over to a super market, a petty grocery store or any other shop and the thing that strikes you most is either a bottle of Coca-Cola lying there or an advertisement of the product. While we long to see aspects of our history or our heritage in some form or the other, what we see – even though we may not will it – is Coca-Cola.
As Noureen, a graduate of the National College of Arts, said, it is an attempt to demonstrate the way foreign brands have preoccupied us to a point where we seem to have severed all connection with things belonging to us.
The walls of the gallery were adorned with 21 of her works. They were interesting sketches, indeed. One of these shows a woman popping out of a Coca-Cola bottle. Another one shows two soldiers in a Mughal-era attire readying for a sword fencing duel with a Coca-Cola bottle in between them.
What’s most striking is the highly attractive colour schemes; Noureen is a lyrical colourist, indeed.
Talking to The News, Grace Shelton, the US Consul General in Karachi, who inaugurated the exhibition, said, “I am delighted to be here. I am really impressed by Noureen’s art and am happy that she shared it with us. It is a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy. The miniatures are so reflective of Pakistani historical heritage and Coca-Cola, which epitomises the US, which is why it is of special interest to me.”
The exhibition runs up until April 5.
