Creating a window for the curious thinker

The VM Art Gallery is hosting Maheerah Ali and Usman Malik’s exhibition titled ‘Being’ until June 26, according to a statement released by the gallery.

“Curiosity! One of the reasons behind the evolution of man and his world,” reads Maheera’s artist statement. “Every act, every invention ever made has the under line of curiosity and this intrigued me to create a window, an ecstasy for the curious thinker.

“A visual dream world, where every observer has the right to construct his own reality. The multi-layered construction of images is to visually imitate the manifolds of a mind. I explore the intellectual aspect involved in the construction and evolution of our world.”

Malik says in his artist statement: “The process of growth and the consequent transformation in nature are tools for evolution in life. The work is impulsively constructed as an attempt to imitate the organic growth by transforming the material in repetitive and layered assemblages.

“The product does not necessarily illustrate the arrangement of structures but refer to a proposition in which forms, through medium, transmute into other forms. It is about the polymorphic state of a living being; a physical condition which investigates about its psychological and spiritual state. My work has its source drawn from nature and the subconscious, familiar and unfamiliar.”

Maheerah graduated from the National College of Arts Rawalpindi in 2016 and majored in painting. Since then she has worked in a variety of mediums like collage, photo manipulation, digital painting and animation. Her work originated from the idea of a child’s curiosity and her own childhood memories about hidden things, places and characters.

Malik is a visual artist who lives and works in Rawalpindi. He received his BFA from the National College of Arts Rawalpindi in 2015 and majored in painting. His work mainly constitutes mixed media drawings and sculptures.

The source of his process can be found in combining and transforming different organic and synthetic media following the organic process. He enjoys impulsive practice of dealing with organic forms involving both his conscious and subconscious. His forms lie somewhere between abstraction and representation.