KARACHI: An exhibition of Irfan Gul’s artworks titled ‘Grey’ opened at the Koel Art Gallery on Tuesday. Witnessing the artist’s work, a few things come to mind — the grey areas in life; the unsaid words; the between-the-lines insinuations. But the title of the show is not a give-away. It’s an indicator to what the viewer should prepare himself or herself for: the grayness in life. This means that the sadness that engulfs the lives of Gul’s characters cannot be taken on face value. It’s almost as if it was pre-ordained for them.

The artist’s statement is a dialogue between characters from which two words stand out, ‘fault’ and ‘remember’. Obviously it’s a story of human relationships that Gul is telling.

The first piece on view is called ‘Being’ (acrylic and graphite on wasli paper) and understandably so. The question of being and nothingness is raised with a figure that hints at incompleteness of both physical and spiritual types.

What follows is the ‘Sentient’ series (acrylic on wasli paper). Again, while the title speaks of a sentient being, the straitjacketed, helpless and listless person takes the viewer into a different domain, which is exactly the artist aims to achieve. The unease emanating both from ‘Being’ and ‘Sentient’ hits the eye with great force because the pain that the protagonist feels has a centrifugal effect.

Trance & Mute

This can also be seen in a remarkable exhibit called ‘Distant Intimacy’. The slightly bruised faces in the artwork may be a result of some incident, but they’re also part of the very being of the two females in the exhibit.

And yet, all is not doom and gloom. The ‘Mute’ series talks of the shade of innocence that is difficult to go away even if sadness is fated. And it’s the innocence that oftentimes grows into forlorn beauty.

The exhibition will run till Sept 6.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2014