From horror to beauty

The above could be considered a befitting heading to the exhibition, titled, The Grid, a digital art show that opened at the Full Circle Art Gallery on Friday evening.

The 29 artworks adorning the gallery’s walls could have been said to depict anything from aesthetics to horror.

The paintings by Adnan Ali, Amara Sikander, Fatima Baig, Maryam Jajja, Mahoor Jamal and Sara Bokhari represented a wide array of artistic talent, from the aesthetically pleasant to the weird.

Among the artists, Adnan Ali seems to have a propensity to the horrifying. Four of his works are meant to scare the life out of anybody, especially the ones titled ‘Bloodbath’ and ‘Infected’.

Bloodbath is a scary representation of a monstrous figure. One wonders if that is the purpose of art, to scare the viewer into nightmares.

Ali, who is an art director, says, “I am not an art graduate and my journey did not start with an institute. It was my sheer dedication towards my passion that I made it so far.”

Fatima Baig on the other hand is highly artistic. Her artworks are pleasantly alluring. Her work, Dream Children, is a beautiful representation of the innocence of childhood and how children find pleasure in everything. It shows a little child clutching on to an orb and smiling away, with eyes shut. It is a reminder of how beautiful childhood can be.

Then there’s another one of her works, Ask The Moon, which shows a lovely young girl tightly holding on to the full moon.

What was highly commendable about the exhibition was that despite it being a digital art show, it was free of all ‘isms’, cubism, abstractism, and all other jargons of modern art, which specializes in representation of themes through straight lines or sketches which are brain teasers and make the viewer guess as to what it could be all about.

Maryam Jajja is a Pakistani designer and an illustrator currently pursuing a Masters in Berlin.

She has a keen eye for branding, storytelling and visual narratives revolving around Pakistan.

Her work titled, Being, is a profound representation of a female figure n a very contemplative posture. It is as if she (the figure) is contemplating the purpose of her existence.

The exhibition, which lasts up until June 28, is a must-visit for those inclined to the current trend called digital art and also the various, conflicting styles in art. It is an interesting exhibition, indeed.

— Photos courtesy Full Circle Art Gallery