KARACHI: It won’t be an off-the-mark assertion that the quality of artists Sindh in recent times has produced is superior to those produced by the other provinces. It is for the experts on the subject to analyse the reasons for it. Art lovers, in the meantime, can visit the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture’s Gallery to see what the artists from the Centre for Excellence in Art and Design (CEAD), Jamshoro, have to offer at a show titled ‘Limelight’. The exhibits made by more than a dozen young painters and sculptors are a testimony to the fertility of the region when it comes to producing artists.

What immediately strikes the viewer about the display is the diversity of technique. Bilal Mirza in his untitled work uses bindya on a sheet to create something that’s pretty eye-catching.

Suddenly the focus shifts to mind games. Maria Jamali comes up with a delightfully teasing series of untitled ink-on-paper artworks. Is it a matrix? Is it a network? Is it something that we all carry but don’t acknowledge? Is it a maze? The answer could be ‘yes’ to any of the above conjectures.

Sanghar Ali makes simple look beautifully sad. Ali sketches rural and underprivileged life with such artistic verisimilitude that the viewer cannot help but praise the dexterity with which he draws.

An exhibit by Sabir Ali.

Salma Ali, on the other hand, chooses a style in which imagination overtakes the technique. ‘Hawa’ (canvas, oil paint on print) is a lovely exhibit which oscillates between dream and reality in a way that it blurs the line between the two.

Sabir Ali’s subject is everyday routines that have a touch of the mundane in an apparently robust life. His printmaking skills are quite sharp.

Maria Jamali’s artwork.

Mehrunnisa and Mohammad Asad Gulzar show the uninhibited side to creativity as both play with the form and turn it into the kind of content that is readily identifiable, and impressive.

Mohammad Asad Gulzar’s piece.

Tooba Sami, Hira Khalid, Saher Shah Rizvi, Rekha Khatri, Muhammad Waqas, Fauzia Solangi and Mariam Saleem also deserve accolades, for they like their contemporaries have the talent that will help them go places.

The show will run till Eid.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd , 2014