KARACHI: When a writer uses words, he explores and, in certain cases, pushes their etymological, semantic and syntactical boundaries. But when an artist employs the printed word or variations of text, he adds an intriguing aspect to it: the visual dimension. The magic lies in gleaning meaningfulness out of what’s visible, not readable, to the naked eye. The initial reaction is to find answers with the established meanings of words; and just a little later the visual enhancement unfolds a new world of interpretation. This is what artist Amin Rehman does very intelligently, as can be seen in an exhibition of his artworks titled Other histories which commenced at the Chawkandi Art Gallery on Tuesday evening.

Another interesting feature of the artist’s work is the media that he opts for to put his message across — vinyl, metal, encaustic installations, etc. This lends a sharp edge to the text which Amin playfully creates. In the case of metal pieces, for example in an artwork called ‘The issue of democracy’, the viewer is compelled to read one line ostensibly written in more than one script. It does not take the viewer long to realise that the script(s) serves as an indicator of how people can be misled into believing one thing by merely using words. It’s a wheels-within-wheels situation, perhaps a comment on media machination.

A similar topic is touched upon in ‘Status quo’ but through a different medium (encaustic installation). The remarkable thing about the artwork is that it yields the same result, the multiplicity of interpretation, as the artworks in metal and vinyl do. The apparent simplicity of the effort does not take away the complexity of the issue. This is where the artist impresses the most.

The exhibition will run until Nov 14.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2015

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