Group art exhibition illustrates Karachi’s life, mysticism and nature

A total of 18 artworks by three artists depicting varied themes and created in different mediums and styles enthralled art lovers at the ‘Infinite Reflections’ exhibition, which opened at the ArtKaam Gallery on Thursday evening. The artists whose works have been showcased are Gabrielle Brinsmead, Lubna Jehangir and Tehmina Lodhi.

All the works by Gabrielle, an Australian artist currently living in Karachi, were abstract, showing the interplay of vivid colours. When asked if abstract was the only style she was interested in, she said she painted in various styles.

She remarked that her last exhibition was not abstract, after which she felt a state of frenzy involving colours that made her produce the works displayed at the current show.

A large painting by Gabrielle, titled ‘Blue Jungle’, drew a lot of attention of the visitors. It had shades of blue and green with scattered patches of orange. The artist had used both oil and enamel to create it. “I always want a painting that I can fall into,” Gabrielle said as a visitor asked what made her paint Blue Jungle.

Talking to The News, the Australian-born artist said her life in Pakistan had definitely affected her subsequent artworks. “I feel there is something so exciting in the air here,” she exclaimed. Describing Blue Jungle, she said it depicted the life in Karachi, which was indeed chaotic but at the same time it was full of energy and enthusiasm.

She said the blue and green shades in the painting highlighted the positive side of Karachi, while the orange spots depicted the chaos in the city. There was another artwork that was created by actual shoes and layered with oil and enamel. It was inspired by dancing and titled ‘Dance-scape’.

Gabrielle said she herself had been a dancer and it took her six or seven months to create the piece. “It is like dance and I together.” Regarding the works of Lubna, assistant curator Ali Tabassam said they were created in the miniature style. The artist was heavily inspired by mysticism and ideas of Sufis like Rumi, he said.

One of Lubna’s paintings was titled ‘Don’t look outside — Rumi’. It showed how we as individuals have a cosmos of our own inside us. Tabassam said Lubna’s artworks carried layered themes, as she drew inspiration from religious stories.

Many of Tehmina’s artworks at the show dealt with nature, as she beautifully depicted sparrows and bougainvillea in some of them. The pink flowers of bougainvillea were portrayed in an impressionistic manner in two of her paintings.

In her painting titled ‘The dance’, Tehmina portrayed sketches of dancing women between layers of reddish and golden hues. She said gold was something that greatly inspired her. The artist said she liked diversity in her artworks and that was why she employed various styles. Regarding the layers of colours in ‘The dance’, she said the painting was about various layers of life, as one experiences sad layers and happy layers in their lives.

About the sketches of the dancing women, the artist said she related those to herself in spite of the fact that she preferred not to be in the limelight. An artwork titled ‘Only You’ featured side views of two sparrows. As the birds, which had been painted with detailed features, looked at each other sitting somewhere, there were shades of blue below them. Tehmina said blue and green were her favourite colours, as they gave the impression of calmness.

“I am a big bird lover. Their flight and freedom inspire me,” the artist remarked. She said Only You was a flat painting but the real depiction of sparrows did not let the viewers feel its flatness. The exhibition is scheduled to run until September 28, excluding Sundays.