Annual art bazaar opens today

Islamabad: The two-day 8th Annual Art Bazaar of Gallery6 opens at its premises today (Saturday), with a unique opportunity to acquire original artworks at substantially reduced prices.

On entering the gallery, one is struck by the wide variety of artworks from various genres such as abstract, realism, impressionism and expressionism, highlighting different subjects such as landscapes, cityscapes, still life, people, culture, nature, calligraphy and others. The artworks have been made using a range of mediums including oil, acrylic, watercolour, charcoal, chemicals, etc.

Wasil Ahmed’s calligraphies made from gold gilding on black paper shine and look striking under the light. Their carefully designed proportions of Quranic verses and negative spaces are aesthetically pleasing to the eye and have a calming effect. Javed Qamar has made city architectural scenes through calligraphy, which is a very unusual way of presenting calligraphic works. Other calligraphy artists include Ahmed Ejaz, Shahid Rana, Nasir Yousafzai, Riaz Rafi and Asad Reza. Paintings by Akram Spaul and Aqeel Javed, students of realism, are incredible to view. Aqeel Javed’s painting titled ‘bookshelf’ is so realistic that one mistakes it for an actual bookshelf rather than a painting. Landscape paintings by Abid Khan, Muhammad Arshad, Tahir Bilal Ummi, Muhammad Tariq, Tariq Gill, Zulfi, Ajab Khan, Asim Amjad and Ayesha Siddiqui capture nature’s beauty in their own unique styles. Figurative works are by Mansur Aye, Mansoor Rahi, Hajra Mansoor, Akram Dost, Abrar Ahmed, Sana Arjumand, Changez Sultan, Mobina Zuberi, Nisar Ahmed, Ather Jamal and others. Paintings related to Rumi’s verses and spiritualism are by Sadaf Farasat, Shafique Farooqi and Khusro Sabzwari.

Abstract paintings feature works of Abid Hasan, Riaz Rafi, Fariya Zaeem, Nahid Raza and Kanwal Zafar, amongst others. Abid Hasan’s works feature bright, vivid paintings with interesting textures and colours on silver gilding. Nahid Raza’s work showing full moon and rising waves in the oceans is a treat.

There are interesting inclusions from emerging artists as well. Irfan Gul Dahri’s work is subtly erotic, Sajjad Nawaz’s Cholistan desert, Munib Aqib’s small landscapes in graphite, Usman Khalid’s still life and Zafar Iqbal’s works that were shown in an exhibition at UK are worth noticing. Also, there are two large size striking paintings by Adnan Khan. Besides these ,there are prints by several artists including those by Naiza Khan and Meher Afroze; sculptures by Sujjal Kiani, Tariq Luni, Samina Arjumand and others. The art bazaar provides a large variety of artworks to choose from. The event is being held only for two days and is likely to attract a large number of art lovers.