Where colours are better felt than understood

Karachi
Veteran author and critique Ahmad Javed once said that legendary poet Meer Taqi Meer had blended human feelings in his poetry so cleverly that they had gone beyond the capacity of a reader’s sense of feeling.
“They show up as complex compounds of emotions; therefore, a reader has to enhance his sensory capacity to feel the new sentiments that are flowing in Meer’s diction.”
It requires a lot of skills and passion to attempt a unique signature in arts, especially in a fast-moving city like Karachi where numerous art exhibitions showcase a variety of ideas and imaginations; sometimes repetitive and recurrent.
Artist S M Naqvi attempted to define his vision of observing colours and their shades while exhibiting ‘Continuum of Colours’ at the Artscene Gallery on Tuesday.
“I want a complete liberty to experience colours and brush them in new compositions and proportions,” the artist said. “When a ray of light refracts, I tend to see a different shade, contrary to what everyone does.”
Owing his success to family and mentors, the artist said he was always backed by them.
“I used to draw pictures on the classroom’s board, and one day I got to know that my parents were called by the school administration due to my paintings on the classroom’s board,” he said. “It was a scary night as I had assumed that I would have to see a tough time after the parent-teacher meeting. But my physics teacher appreciated my talent and asked my parents to let me excavate the hidden talent and help me polish it.”
After attending the Mashkoor Art School, the artist said he got a chance to polish his skills under the mentorship of veteran artist Eqbal Mehdi.
“I have experienced a journey from the classical artwork to the contemporary one, and now my destination is to leave an indelible mark of my own signature,” he said. “I am melting down many rules to form a new art diction; a new set of artistic norms and values. I have used both paintbrush and knife to portray my aggression and passion for violating traditional rules.”
His artistic approach best fits him in the left-wing of the art community, like Jaun Elia in poets or Cuban revolutionist Fidel Castro in politicians, but the question is: how would he prove his vision of redefining colours and their shades?
Looking at his work, one could feel intense colours which do not depict any object; like a pure abstract.
It asks human feelings to take the charge of conscious and interpret the colours without any set of visionary believes, reflecting that sometimes feelings can overshadow rational approaches.
But the question is how popular this idea would be in an era when science is shining at its best to enlighten the human mind with logic and rationale.
Art lovers and critiques may answer these questions after experiencing the exhibition which is on display till September 1.