Annual art bazaar opens today with exciting artworks

Islamabad: The 7th Annual Art Bazaar of Gallery 6 opens at its premises on May 5. The two-day event provides a unique opportunity for art lovers to acquire quality artworks at substantially reduced prices. These include a wide variety of paintings, calligraphies, miniatures, drawings, prints, sculptures, and carvings made by both renowned and well-established artists as well as emerging talents from all four provinces.

The paintings have realistic works, works in impressionism and expressionism, and abstracts paintings—all these dealing with either aesthetics or various personal, social, cultural or political issues. Media varies from watercolours, oils and acrylics, to pastels, pen and ink, etc.

The realistic paintings offer an accurate description of the themes of life and routine, with a focus on the surroundings of the middle and lower classes, the ordinary and unadorned. They pay attention to accuracy of detail and colour. Some paintings in this category include two artworks of Moazzam Ali of 1991 and recent works of Akram Spaul, Ather Jamal and Aqeel Jawaid Teetu.

Among figurative works, a gorgeous painting of Rind of 2005 will also draw significant attention, as his painting style has changed significantly from that period. Two works of Ustad Aziz Mirza who follows Chughtai are also included. The use of grout (a material used in construction) as a medium of painting is also likely to be a major attraction besides his usual transparent acrylic on paper treatments. Portraits of Balochi women and men by Doda Baloch, a new addition in the art world from the famous Akram Dost family of Balochistan, are also on display.

Landscapes and cityscapes present captivating scenes in realistic, impressionistic and surrealistic form depicting varying technique, treatment and styles of leading and a few new artists. All have their own grandeur but some small watercolour landscapes are remarkable in their simplicity.

Abstract paintings are both small and largescale compositions done with acrylics, oils, water colours, or effects of chemicals on gold and silver leaf. These compositions have interesting surfaces and textures. They are vibrant and aesthetically pleasing. The bazaar also has two abstract oil on paper paintings by Maqsood Ali, a leading painter of 1970s.

Calligraphy is done by eight different artists; howeverm Javed Qamer and Ahmed Ejaz have dazzling works. Both artists strikingly differ in their treatment and styles but the commonality is that their compositions are bright and colourful. In contrast, calligraphy by Asad Raza and Akram Spaul are subtle and follow the anatomical principles of the art.

Miniature paintings are few but show both the traditional and contemporary styles of work. Several prints of varied nature and sizes dealing with interesting topics, and sculptures in clay and wood are also included.

The art bazaar provides a large variety of artworks to choose from. The event is expected to attract a large number of art lovers.