From paintings to his house interior and dressing, he loves to play with radiant colours. The base guitarist of 60’s popular music band Mystics, Asad Faruki, was born in 1944 to a businessman in Lacknow.

His family moved to Lahore in 1952. Fascinated by the rich cultural life of the city and the friendly attitude of people, they decided to settle down in Lahore rather than moving to Karachi, like their other relatives.

“I spent my childhood swimming and skating; vehicles were a rare facility and Tonga used to be a popular means of public transport. Municipality used to wash The Mall twice a day,” he vividly recalls.

“The cultural scene of Lahore was very romantic, dominated by literary and music activities. Open air theatre at the Lawrence Gardens was the hub of music performances,” he adds.

Inspired by the music legend Elvis Presley and the trendsetter band ‘Beatles’, he, along with his brother Adil Fareedul Hassan and some students of the University of Engineering and Technology, formed ‘Pearl’ band.

After performing for a few years in the university, they started public performances. The band’s name was changed to ‘Mystics’.

“We started performing regularly in the ballroom of Hico Restaurant. It was a beautifully designed cellar in Spanish style that attracted the cultural elite of Lahore. We would go through long hours of practice to cope with the demands of the audience,” he narrates.

The band’s last performance was in the honour of Iranian head of state Raza Shah Pehlvi’s wife Farah Pehlvi and then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1975, hosted by the then foreign minister Rafi Raza.

“Music was our passion but none of the members wanted to pursue music as a career. The band got scattered and after a lapse of almost 28 years, I gave a public performance along with my brother and a young saxophone player, Talha Ali Kushvaha, at the National College of Arts,” he adds.

Asad Faruki

Asad joined the NCA in 1967 and finished his graphic design studies with distinction in 1973. “It was the time of Shakir Ali (principal), there was a strict academic discipline but a lot of freedom (in the NCA) at the same time,” he recalls.

He became part of the NCA’s design department faculty after Ahmed Khan retired in 1986, and worked there till 2004. With a lifelong attachment with the college, he is very passionate about the NCA and quite unhappy with the changes that took place there during the last few decades.

“The construction of new blocks, which are not in harmony with the old architecture, spoiled the aura of the building. An old bargad (banyan) tree was burnt to make the new construction visible. It reflects poor aesthetic sense and it is in sharp contrast to the spirit of an art college,” he says in a bitter tone.

He feels proud to be groomed as a designer and painter by the legends like Ahmed Khan and Mian Salahuddin.

Painting for more than four decades, he has numerous shows to his credit. His works are part of private collections in Pakistan and abroad.

He works with a sound understanding of designing the space and using mostly radiant colours. Calligraphic elements, collage, textures and boldly used negative spaces play a major role in his compositions.

“I start my work spontaneously, without any preconceived ideas, with any material available at the moment. Even on the busiest days of my life, I used to spend time with my paintings. I think I can’t breathe without painting, without being surrounded by colours,” he concludes.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2014