Book launch on March 2

LAHORE
‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone....’is a book written by the acclaimed art critic and art historian Marjorie Husain on Ahmad Zoay to be launched on the posthumous solo exhibition of one of the greatest artists Pakistan ever produced and perhaps the only one of his kind, at Hamail Art Galleries, 67-C/1, off MM Alam Road, on 2 March at 5pm.
The book ‘Where have all the flowers gone’, is an in-depth account of Zoay’s fascinating journey as a young artist and a free spirit in search of solace, roams around the globe. Majorie Husain has, like she has done with many established artists of country, immortalised Zoay through this book which also carries personal statements of many colleagues and fellow artists as well. The book is an honest and accurate account of Marjorie’s long sittings with artist in Lahore after his return from his over two decades long odyssey. Some highly disapproved his bohemian lifestyle and others envied his courage and yet, some worshipped him since he was one of the greatest painters Pakistan ever produced, only one of his kind.
Sensual paintings and a bohemian lifestyle are the hallmarks of Ahmad Zoay, a rebel throughout his life till the day he died in 2014.
Viewed as individual piece his work seems inspiring, bold and creative but collectively his works only expose the web he wove around himself and to which he falls prey every time he starts to paint. Muhammad Ahmed Zahir, better known to the world of art as Zoay, was born in 1947- the year of Partition, and he was just a few months old when his family migrated to Pakistan. His father Ghulam Mohyuddin, who was a member of the Royal Indian Army Medical Corps and he and his family was transported to Walton, Lahore at the time of the Partition. The launching of the book on Zoay by Majorie Husain and the posthumous exhibition is certainly going to be a mega event in the world of art in country and is also a great initiative from the Hamail Art Gallery to promote and appreciate the great artists in country and abroad. The book tells a lot about the artist’s life and work. The posthumous exhibition of Ahmed Zoay tells even much more than words could describe, as his mesmerising creations leave the viewers spellbinding and take them to another world, a world full of colours, flamboyance and that it was obvious to all who knew him that Zoay’s passion was; he loved to draw and paint and his talent was recognised by his supportive parents. After getting graduation degree with science from Karachi, his parents allowed him to join National College of the Arts (NCA) in Lahore.
Salima Hashmi, Artist, Educationist, Author and Curator and former principal of NCA stated about Zoay in the book ‘Zoay has not concerned himself with his peers or contemporaries, choosing instead to be a lonely enfant terrible. A free spirit, Zoay defies restraint or measured evolution’.