Viewing the world from varying perspectives

Every human being is a universe by himself. We all have our idiosyncrasies which are worlds apart from the others. Views and perspectives are never identical, and if one were to peer into the brains of humans, the perspectives would be universes apart.

This is precisely the theme at a paintings exhibition at the city’s Canvas Art Gallery. The gallery is host to a three-man exhibition Tuesday evening, displaying three artists’ works which are different in their own way and reflect the selves and their vantage points on issues, reflecting different subjects.

The artists -- Ali Kazim, Afshar Malik, and Ahmed Ali Manganhar -- are all the alumni of Lahore’s prestigious National School of Art, with the former two also being its faculty members.

Their paintings, adorning the walls of the gallery, 19 in all, exhibited not just their techniques but also their widely varying thought processes. By far the most comprehendible and the one that made most sense to the lay viewer was the works by Afshar Malik. Perhaps his work, titled, ‘The day it walked up to me’, an oil-on-canvas, is beautiful pristine scene of a wooden hut in a lush green valley with a quaint little cottage which seems to have been made up of branches of trees and therein conveyed the rustic beauty of the work.

The tops of the lush green mountains are covered with snow, which enhances the pristine beauty. Says Malik, “From here I can see on the horizons of this planet, the moon shines, the dips in the white snow, and there, a liquid emerald flows”, which is a tribute to his inclination to the beauty of nature.

Another work of his depicts a horse prancing about in the wild. This shows his affinity to nature. Malik indeed is a lyrical colourist. And the strokes of his brush produce such a lively effect of his themes.

Ali Kazim is another promising artist though his works assume an abstract form as far as the lay viewer goes. However, an impressive work of his is a bolt of fork lightning. It is a shining forked image against the backdrop of a pitch-black sky. The work seems real enough as it certainly brings a picture of a fork lightning on a stormy black night. It looks so real.

Ahmed Ali Manganhar depicts the artist Rembrandt in a sketch which is a mix between realism and abstract art. Many would have admired it. The exhibition, which opened Tuesday evening, runs up until Thursday, July 26. It is a must-see for those with a fertile imagination.