Diverse and experimental, the works of the young artist Soraya Sikander recently found a receptive audience at Lahore’s Alhamra Art Gallery. While the subject matter may have been conventional in its focus on landscapes, cityscapes and still life, the approach was an attempt to bring a new perspective and verve into these familiar and popular themes. Sikander’s training credentials are equally eclectic, having spent a year at Karachi’s Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, and then joining The Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, from where she graduated in 2008.

After some time she attended a short course at The Print School and was also invited to participate in a two-month programme at the prestigious Slade School of Art, both located in London. In addition, she has travelled widely, learning and sharing creative experiences across different parts of the world, including the UAE, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangladesh. She has worked with a large variety of mediums as well, from pen and ink, water colours, oils and acrylics to printmaking, photography, video, and even sculpture, in which she was especially able to express her individuality.

Sikander’s recent output of paintings is mostly done in oils on canvas, with a few employing acrylics, water colours and mixed media. Youthful energy and an almost impulsive impetus to handle materials and express ideas are prevalent in most of the paintings, particularly the landscapes. The application of paint is quick and deft though the style varies considerably; in many of these, large swathes of colour skim the surface in bold horizontal stripes, while in others a fine splattering of hues in the foreground gives an altogether different ambience to the work.

Still others are heavily textured, with thick layers of paint forming a bed rock to a minimalist narrative. The cityscapes too, present an intriguing variety of moods and colours, with some exuding a cubist flavour in the way the imagery is recorded, while others stand out because of the intensity and purity of the colours which are juxtaposed in complementary arrangements to achieve a visual impact that is upbeat and catchy.

Sikander’s still lifes, with their emphasis on vases and flowers represent another stream of thought and style, and seem to be a spillover of an earlier discourse in 2009 when the artist initiated a project called ‘Flowers for peace’, in which she had attempted to produce a sort of counter narrative to the “on-going war on terrorism in Pakistan”, with the declaration that “I will create imagery of flowers until peace is declared” which unfortunately is still a distant dream.

The artist’s floral still lifes are also tentative, with the flowers neither blurred nor detailed, quite like our ‘security policy’, which up till now is in a state of flux. In fact, the thick blood red blobs of paint that appear in some of the compositions are almost disconcerting in their effect.

Sikander is an artist full of aspirations and drive; just one meeting is enough to come to that conclusion. Her attitude is proactive and professional, and she has the means and facilities to help her to go places.