The unique exhibition of artworks by Adeel uz Zafar mounted at Gandhara-Art, Karachi, titled “Stranger than Fiction”, traces the artist’s journey — from engraved drawings on painted vinyl backgrounds to his present global experience and expertise.

After graduating from the National College of Arts, Lahore, in 1998, the artist has shown his outstanding work in numerous exhibitions. His work created instant interest with art enthusiasts for his relief etchings that engraved a complex pattern of linear perspective so fine that images appeared densely detailed. He began his career by illustrating children’ books and teaching at the Karachi School of Art. He has been a faculty member of Karachi Grammar School since 2004.

One remembers the work of the artist in group exhibitions at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture held in 2008. At that time the artist took his models from his children’s toys; symbols of transient interest, an object loved for a while and then discarded. The figurative aspect appeared to be covered in bandages, minutely textured so that every thread of yarn is distinguished, yet the form is hollow, only the bandaged aspect existed.

Since then the demand for his work has been constant with his participation in exhibitions held in Dubai, Singapore, Paris and Tokyo, he has also contributed in art fairs in Hong Kong, Kathmandu and New York.

A wide interest in the artist’s work led to an RM Studio Residency Lahore and in 2013, Zafar participated in a residency held at the Parramatta Artists Studios, in collaboration with Cicada Press, Sydney, Australia, and most recently, he participated in a three-month residency held in Creative Fusion International Artists Residency held in Cleveland, Ohio.

The years of experience and creativity have resulted in a new cast of characters portrayed by the artist. In this exhibition, one discovers a new trend in the artist’s work involving popular heroes of fiction, both male and female, created in diverse media.

There is something unsettling in Adeel uz Zafar’s artworks that forces viewers to think about these cartoon characters in a different context

Delightfully portrayed in painted fibreglass one discovers the three cartoon characters, the ‘Powerpuff Girls — Buttercup, Blossom and Bubbles’. According to the artist, these characters are inspired by such outstanding girls as Malala Yousafzai, Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy and Humaira Bachal. Placing the colourful figures in front of the bandaged etchings is a symbolic way of relating new ideas breaking old taboos, he adds.

During Zafar’s residency in Ohio, he worked on a series involving plastic impressions of the cartoon characters of the TV series The Simpsons — Homer, Marge, Bart and Liza and Maggie — and he gives them tongue-in-cheek distinction with images reflected on glass in photographs that can only be seen in a particular light. The artist explains that he made these pieces using a 19th century photographic process called ‘wet-plate collodion’. He states, “The image is the direct reaction of light and silver on the surface of the plate itself.”

Superman

Also included in the exhibition were a diptych of ‘King Kong and Godzilla’, engraved drawings on vinyl, a mixed media ‘Mickey’ (Mickey Mouse), aluminum ‘Superman’ and the tin type aluminum ‘The Simpsons’.

The exhibition was also the venue for the launch of a book of the exhibition titled Stranger than Fiction that included insightful essays on the artist and his work by Susan Acret and Nafisa Rizvi. An interview with Zarmeene Shah explained much about the artist’s work as did the illuminating foreword in the book by Amna Tirmizi Naqvi.

One left the exhibition with the certainty that Adeel uz Zafar is one of the most exceptional artists of his generation. — M.H.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 11th, 2015

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