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Bulls and bears
Iram Zia rounds up the art scenes of Lahore and Islamabad during 2002 saying the year barely saw anything out of the ordinary
Actually, the second year of third millennium was not much different from the past years, even though we had the polling, parliament and patriots in Pakistan. Similarly, in terms of art, one cannot point out a major event/change that marked 2002. In fact, the features of this year would be diffused in the future. Due mainly to a generally pervading staleness in our art it is extremely difficult to distinguish one year from the other.
A number of exhibitions, as per routine, took place in this year, particularly in Lahore and Islamabad. Probably the most significant of these events were the shows organized by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts. A positive aspect was that several professionals were requested to curate the exhibitions.
The first of these was the exhibition of photography, held from February 20 to March 20, at the Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore. The show was well-hung and accompanied a decent catalogue — both are rare occurrences in our art world. The exhibition generated different kinds of responses, appreciation as well as adverse reactions, because right after three months, another exhibition of photography was arranged at the same venue.
The second exhibition comprised the pictures of those who were (or felt to be) left out by the first PNCA show. But only after seeing the latter exhibition did one understand the reasons — and the justification — for not inviting the latter participants to the first show.
In the same league of ‘National Exhibitions’ were the shows of sculptures and ceramics (at Alhamra) and of landscapes under the title Vision of Landscape, held at the National Art Gallery in Islamabad. The works of many artists were included in these exhibitions, but it appeared that not much care was taken towards the selection and maintaining a standard of these shows held at a national scale.
A similar sort of selection — or lack of it — was observed in the 17th Exhibition of The Artists’ Association of Punjab, held between April 2-30, at Lahore’s Alhamra. The majority of the works displayed in the galleries was not very different from the pieces shown in the previous years at the same place.
Amid other activities at the Alhamra, an important occasion was a talk given by Shazia Sikander, the most celebrated Pakistani artist living abroad. On her short visit to Pakistan, she showed slides of her paintings and installations at the Alhamra and NCA in Lahore, and Rohtas Gallery in Islamabad. Her words and works inspired young artists and her contemporaries in Pakistan.
RETROSPECTIVES
Works of another major personality of Pakistani art were on view. A retrospective of Zubeida Agha was inaugurated on November 5 at the Shakir Ali Museum in Lahore. The paintings from various periods of her life unfolded the aesthetic structure of the artist, who is regarded as one among the pioneers of modernity in Pakistani art. This show, with the works dating back to the ‘50s to the ‘80s, recorded and presented the many phases of her unique vision and personal expression.
Works of another artist from the same age were displayed at the Zahoorul Akhlaq Gallery in NCA. The paintings of Abdur Rehman Ijaz, consisted of landscapes and portraits along with imaginary scenes. An interesting feature of these works was their colour scheme. Most of the paintings were executed in brown hues; a shade that was preferred to render human flesh in his time, but was not used much in later years. Perhaps the emphasis on this chromatic scheme was linked to the artists’ strict training in the western academic art.
GALLERY TALK
The human misery was an essential subject for Zahid Ahmed too, the other artist/tutor who exhibited at the NCA’s gallery. His show comprised the video pieces and works in mixed-media. Through the creative usage of the technology and a crisp handling of his materials and ideas, Zahid created works of multiple meanings and maturity, to which most of the spectators were able to relate, and hence enjoy.
With the idle state of the Lahore Art Gallery, other private galleries in the city kept on showing works of diverse quality. If Ejaz Galleries pushed a strong commercialism through the choice of the artists for its group and solo shows (like Hajra Mansur and Maqbool Ahmed), Rohtas II encouraged the exhibitions of new and experimental works, even if these did not prove any commercial success. Thus the exhibitions of Masooma Syed, Saba Qizlibash and Usman Ghauri were held at the latter venue.
The two shows challenged the usual notions of art making — in its material aspect (Masooma) as well as in its conceptual domain (Saba). Both of these exhibitions affirmed that the new generation of Pakistani artists is more sophisticated in terms of its concepts and craft.
Lahore Chitrakar is another important space in the city. Here an unusual exhibition took place on April 7. The paintings of (late) Iqbal Rasheed denoted the creative talent of the painter, who did not have a formal training in art, yet produced a large body of work. In fact, Rasheed belonged to the group of painters, who were keen about formulating an indigenous Punjabi idiom in art.
A glimpse of cultural sensibility — of a different type and region — was found in the work of another artist, Akram Dost Baloch, who interestingly studied at NCA, when Iqbal Rasheed was active as a painter. His work, exhibited at the Croweaters gallery, depicted the folk motifs from Balochistan combined with the naively drawn male and female figures.
Some other artists who showed at Croweaters were Qudsia Nisar, Masood A. Khan and Shakil Ismail — all from Karachi. Shakil, who exhibited twice this year at the same place, made jewellery. But despite the frequent shows (or maybe because of these) his works from one exhibition to the other, did not impress with their originality or by showing any improvement in their aesthetic qualities.
With other usual shows, group exhibitions of all kind of artists at the Coopera gallery, calligraphy shows in Ramazan and a few miniature exhibitions (astoundingly only a few), the year in Lahore would have remained normal, if the solo show of Iqbal Geoffrey had not taken place at the British Council — well, before its closure.
The exhibition titled The Golden Jubilee Show, started on March 1 and contained his collages and mixed-media works. The whole exhibition was laden with his incredible sense of humour, wit and the ability to transform any given object into his acknowledged vocabulary. The show, due to its imagery, concepts, materials and ways of working, and of its venue, was an uncommon sight; yet, it again affirmed the genius of Geoffrey as a painter.
CAPITAL NOURISHMENT
At another venue, the Nomad gallery, an exhibition of ceramics and sculptures by Munawar Ali began on September 12. The show reflected the artist’s long-drawn fascination with the book and his practice of incorporating script and marks of graffiti in his three-dimensional pieces.
Rohtas, the other gallery in the city, held several events. Starting with the solo exhibition of Shahbaz Malik that was followed by group exhibitions of the recent graduates from NCA and later the works of young female artists to mark the launch ceremony of Salima Hashmi’s book on the women artists of the country.
Not as many as in Lahore, but a few exhibitions were held in the capital, which these days is busy hosting another kind of activity, i.e. politics that in more than one way somewhat resembles the ‘performances’ and happenings in the arts.
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