KARACHI: After three years of hibernation, water colourist Ather Jamal is back in business. His 28 paintings portray his two favourite subjects – Thar and the old and dilapidated buildings of Karachi. Responding to one of his admirers turned critic’s remark – “the subjects have exhausted, but he isn’t”, Jamal says “that’s an uncharitable remark based on ignorance. I have only scratched the surface. There is so much variety in Thar, particularly in its landscapes”.

As for the old buildings lying in a state of disrepair, one notices that this time he has laid more emphasis on light, which has brought out the textural effect more successfully. “If you want to call it an obsession with Thar, then you might as well call it a magnificent obsession”, says his wife and fellow artist Mehtab Amar. She was his contemporary at the Karachi School of Art, an institution that has produced quite a few fine artists in the city.

The exhibits this time include brush drawings of Thar, which show his command over drawing, a subject he teaches senior students at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. Every time he holds a show Ather Jamal doesn’t forget to display his still lives, which almost always comprise chainaks (small tea pots) in which tea is served in modest Pathan restaurants. They come in a wide variety of colours but their shapes and designs are more or less the same. Ather lends variety to them by placing them in different orders in each one of his compositions.

Back to the Thari women, this time Jamal has painted them in brighter colours. The details in their clothes are also more pronounced. One can notice that there is a silent shift from impressionism cum realism to plain simple realism.

The venue of the exhibition, which will run till the end of December, is the newly opened Thar Art Gallery on 10th Zamzama Street.—AN