An unusual but interesting exhibition

With only two days left for the exhibition to go, art buffs would do well to visit the art exhibition at the Canvas Art Gallery in Clifton as it incorporates those newly discovered facets of art that are really unconventional and modern, partly a manifestation of modern electronics technology and partly the way artists run away with their imagination.

As one enters the exhibition venue, one gets the scare of his life on seeing a dead man on a bed as if readied for burial. Titled “Dying Inayat”, while it may be scary, what has to be admired is the structure, the extremely real look about the image. One really feels that it is a dead man there.

In modern art parlance, this kind of art is referred to as situational art. It is a new totally revolutionary concept that may not find favour with orthodox art fans. Such shortcuts to art situations could never appeal to the older folk as all it requires is to get hold of an object and put it in a certain position. It does not require any mastery of colouring or painting techniques. Anybody could be an artist. What, however, is remarkable about the work is the extremely real look of the “dead body”. The artist here is Arslan Farooqi.

Says Arslan, “We don’t need to be afraid of death, for life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. How would we know the secret of life unless we look for it in the heart of life? The owl, whose night-bound eyes are blind in the day, cannot unveil the mysteries of light and in the depths of your hopes and desires lays your silent knowledge of the beyond.”

Time never stands still and with time change so many concepts and techniques. The fantasies of yesteryear become the realities of today and vice versa. New things are ushered in, things that one could not even imagine till such time as they manifest themselves.

For example, there is a video presentation of Saint Vincent of Saragossa. It is wall- mounted video image. One can clearly see the totally nude image of the saint breathing. The movements of the stomach with the inhaling and exhaling movements are so vivid. Why Saint Vincent would have to be portrayed in the nude is something that defies logic. Here too, the artist is Arslan Farooqi.

For art buffs, especially with a propensity for the unusual, this exhibition is ideal. Today is the last day of the show