November 29, 2008	Saturday	Ziqa'ad 30, 1429

KARACHI: Dr Syed Ali Wasif, who practises psychiatry twice a week and does painting on the remaining five days, is back on the art scene at the same venue – City Art Gallery – after 11 months, with a vengeance. His paintings are more colourful than ever before. The 27 oil paintings, all on canvas, are uniform in size – 42x30.

Titled Thar – Riot of colours, most compositions are realistic, some more, some less. The close-up of a Thari bull, for instance, seems more like a photograph and one can be sure that he captured the image first through a camera and then painted it on canvas.

Incidentally, the Thari bull, with its long majestic horns, is a better looking animal than its counterpart elsewhere in Sindh or in Punjab. Back to humans, the dramatis personae in his works are almost entirely the low-caste Hindus, the Parkari-speaking Kolhi and the Ghatki-speaking Bheel. According to an estimate, there are more Hindus in Thar than Muslims. Their dresses are colourful and the motifs on their ensembles and on their jewellery are highly individualistic. Wasif paints them, as also the rilli, in great detail.

Love, carnal or ethereal, is a recurring theme in his work. Thari women and minstrels were there in his last exhibition and so are they now. Cacti, another feature of the Thar environment, are there too, but they are more like those you see in Sadequain’s works than the ones you see in deserts. The old master continues to be his inspiration.

In one corner of the gallery is his interpretation of Benazir Bhutto, as she rests in his imagination. The background colour is scarlet – the colour of blood. The work is not for sale. But that perhaps is the best work on display.

The exhibition will continue till December 3.—AN