Conveying feelings through sketches of equines

There are a whole lot of art galleries in town and, even right now, they are all having exhibitions, some of which are pretty interesting.

One such exhibition opened at the Grandeur Art Gallery in Defence on Tuesday evening. The works exhibited are those of Farhan Manto, grandson of the legendary litterateur of the subcontinent and, in particular, the chronicler of the Partition era, Saadat Hassan Manto.

All 30 works of his adorning the walls of the art gallery could be mistaken to be a study of horses as all of them are just horses. One gets the impression that the artist has endeavoured to convey various feelings through the sketches of the equines. Well that could be part of it. But actually there’s more to it than that. Being an avid equine fan, he has made horses his medium of communication.

Actually a statistician by profession, he grew up amid circumstances which were more philosophic in nature. He was brought up in the shadow of a family that believed that as much as life was a science, it was celebrated through various forms of art. Though a mathematician, the canvas apparently opened unprecedented doors for him as a means of self-expression. He uses the horse as muse.

All the 30 paintings just show the horses in various poses and various aspects.

For instance, one of the pictures titled, Suave, shows a horse in a certain position. It is up to the viewer’s imagination to figure out as to what really is so suave about the equine

Similarly, there’s the sketch of a sturdy horse and is aptly titled, Vigour. Another painting is titled, The Wanderer, and shows a horse racing away, the connotation being that of speed and wandering around. Similarly there’s the sketch of a horse titled, The Emperor, the connotation being that of a horse being the preserve of kings.  All said and done, it is an interesting exhibition and continues up until May 3.