An exhibition of artistic innovation

Karachi
This is a highly innovative exhibition; the paintings depict the past in a manner that preserves the cultural and historical heritage and, yet, gives us a window on the future. Pakistani artists are, indeed, a highly talented and innovative lot.
So said Emyl Weiss, Consul-General of Switzerland in Karachi, while speaking to The News as chief guest at the inauguration of a paintings exhibition at the Grandeur Art Gallery on Monday evening.
The exhibition, based on 43 paintings from the private collection of the gallery’s curator, Nashmia Ahmed, features the works of 28 artists and is a collage of all forms of art, from the most abstract to the most classical of realism.
There are the works of a household name in art in Pakistan, Zara David, one with whom the National College of Arts in Lahore is synonymous.
There’s one of her works which is a surrealistic rendition of a landscape. It carries an awesome other-worldly dimension.
It is a beautiful blend of colours that makes one realise that Zara is a lyrical colourist, indeed.
The piece would certainly carry a perceptive and imaginative viewer into another dimension of existence.
Then there are three works by Masood Kohari. They are portraits of women in a total realism fashion. Unlike most of the modern stuff, these water colours do not leave anything to
the imagination of the viewer. They are just like photographs of the women.
There’s one of a very scantily clad woman in a reclining posture by Iqbal Hussain, an artist who specialises in such works. That, too, is a profound representation.
There was a painting of Lahore’s Aitchison College by GN Qazi, a nostalgic reminder for many among the visitors who actually belonged to Lahore.
In a similar vein were two paintings of the same kind of shrines in the Punjab, very precise detail and very sharp edges, by Amir Rizvi.
On the other hand, there was a whole lot of works which would have been all Latin to the amateur viewer, the kind where one has to strain every grain of his imagination to figure as to what the work is all about. They were the kind that more than the eye, need an overly fertile imagination to appreciate.