Naeem Pasha donates his work to PNCA

Islamabad :It was a hurriedly arranged function Thursday afternoon at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) where one of the country’s leading architect and artist, Naeem Pasha, presented three of his latest wooden architectural reliefs to the Director-General PNCA, Jamal Shah, to be made part of permanent collection of the National Arts Gallery (NAG).

Speaking briefly on the occasion, Naeem Pasha said that the three wooden reliefs were a tribute to the legendary artist, Zahoorul Akhlaque. “It’s a humble gesture and I wish other artists should also contribute to the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery. If they are not there, then they are nowhere even if they are the top tier artists because the presence of their art in the NAG would not only add value to the national art treasure, it would also make their art pieces part of the history,” Naeem Pasha said.

Naeem Pasha is also the architect of the NAG. He said the PNCA authorities have neglected the promotion of visual arts for long except the tenures of Kishwar Nahid and Syed Jamal Shah.

Talking about the art pieces donated to the National Art Gallery, Naeem Pasha said it is the homage to Zahoor ul Akhlaq, the great artist who has influence on the many of the graduates from the national college of the Arts (PNCA). In these three pieces, Zahoor ul Akhlaq’s technique and form are rediscovered that is quite unique. 

The DG PNCA, Syed Jamal Shah, said that the PNCA was suffering from the shortage of funds to promote the actual mandate of the NAG. “As much as 94 per cent of the budget of Rs 15 million allocated to the PNCA goes in the salaries and other functions of the PNCA. Only a meager 6 per cent of the budgetary allocations is left which is extremely insufficient for the national level programming,” Jamal Shah said.

He said a Senate Standing Committee in its recent meeting has asked the federal government to increase the PNCA budget to Rs 100 million. “We hope that the recommendations of the Senate Committee would approve, which would enable the PNCA to adequately run its programming countrywide,” the DG PNCA said.

He said at the moment the PNCA is unable to collect art pieces for the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery. “We have discussed the idea of arranging some ‘corporate dinners’ where the large companies would be invited to buy the artists’ work and donate it to the NAG which would be kept in the permanent collection with the names of the companies and the proceeds would go to the artists.

The Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed said that the visual arts are very important element of the national identity. “It also reflects the collective aesthetics of a nation. The NAG permanent collection is an art treasure that has to last forever. The artists who would contribute to the treasure would become part of the historic art treasure – a permanent source of inspiration for the generations to come,” he added.