ISLAMABAD, June 4: Iqbal Hussain, the artist from Lahore, whose exhibition of paintings opens at the World Bank lobby here on Friday, very realistically paints the misery that surrounds his neighbourhood. This he does from a personal understanding of the psychological trauma of those whom he constantly depicts.

He portrays the pain and anguish of his friends and neighbours of the Hira Mandi in Lahore, the area famous for what were euphemistically called the “nautch girls” in the vocabulary of the Empire. The area may have its new, renovated street, but the exploitation and the agony need no renovation.

The canvasses of Iqbal Hussain draw the bleak reality of this place. It does not require the tenderness of a Mona Lisa to paint the eternal movement of his artistic skill. His “models”, with their bruised and hard faces sit for him as if asking him to show the sordid face of reality to a prudish society that, in this day and age, may leave Umrao Jan Ada of Mirza Hadi Ruswa and Laila Kay Khutoot of Qazi Abdul Ghaffar far behind.

Iqbal Hussain grew up in this area. He was the usual tough guy in the back room, but then, through his urge to draw, he moved into another world, to the sordid reality of a life full of anguish. He went to the National College of Arts, and after a four-year course there, he became an assistant professor in Fine Arts in the same prestigious art institution in Pakistan. Earlier he also taught as an art teacher at the Cathedral High School at Lahore.

He has held a number of “one man shows” since 1981 in Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar; and has represented Pakistan at various exhibitions in Washington, Delhi, Trivindrum and other places, and has been to France for art studies. He has received a number of awards. A student in Scotland has also written a thesis on him. He was short-listed among 34 entries in 321 from all over the world for an exhibition by Unesco in Paris. Today, prestigious journals and newspapers, both at home and abroad, like Time magazine, have carried articles on him, and a number of world TV channels, including the BBC, Star World and the French television have made documentaries on his life and work. He added another feather in his cap when in June 1998 one of his paintings was auctioned at Sotheby’s in London.

“Probably,” he reluctantly replies when asked if his paintings may have a reformist angle. But from the stories written about him in the Press one finds that he uses the money from his sale of paintings to support his “models” that have been shunned by the community — and to fund an “AIDS awareness programme”. AIDS awareness programme is also at the back of the mind of the country director of the World Bank John W. Wall, who, along with the artist held a briefing for the journalists in the premises of the organization.

He also spoke of an education programme by the Bank in the Punjab. Mr Wall said that the Bank had been supporting Pakistani art by holding exhibits in the World Bank lobby from a wide variety of artists. Incidentally Iqbal’s was also the first such exhibition of the Bank which was held earlier.

Did his contemporary painters accept him? “Half-heartedly at the beginning”, replies Iqbal Hussain; but today he has achieved an international recognition. He has also been the executive member of the Artists Association of the Punjab since 1988.

Iqbal also paints beautiful landscapes. “When I went to Karachi, I couldn’t resist capturing the beauty of Clifton on my canvass,” he told Dawn and showed the beautiful flowers and the landscapes that he has woven into his art. There is an attractive painting entitled Boats. You also find male figures in his depiction of the area, hopelessness writ large on their tired faces, though. “Today nashaees (drug addicts) have also joined, and that has made things worse,” he explains.

Agents may have taken the place of traditional art patrons in many literary and cultural fields but Iqbal Hussain has surely a wealthy patron in Sheila Saigol who has encouraged him in his mission since 1986. The exhibition will remain open for public from 4pm to 8pm until June 13.—Mufti Jamiluddin Ahmad