September 25, 2004

Artists have played an important role in history by painting monuments and great houses commissioned to illustrate the power of the affluent. Working independently, artists such as Gustave Dore left behind them stark and shocking commentary on the slums of London to raise awareness of the sufferings of the poor. A period style of painting in Britain known as ‘picturesque’ portrayed rural cottages with thatched roofs and flowers growing around the door. Viewers had no inkling that the dwellings contained no conveniences or facilities and the farm workers living within lived hard, poverty-ridden lives. To the uninitiated, guided by the artist’s interpretation, these were charming features of rural life initiating a tourist industry in the 18th century.

There are countless artists who, by transferring images of places they love on canvas, have invited observers to view the subject through the painter’s eyes. Moving away from the crowded markets of Karachi, the streets at night lively with people illuminated by the lights of passing cars, Hanif Shahzad continues to describe the city he loves in paint. Exploring the once grand relics of the past, the artist evokes Karachi as the ‘city of lights’: an era of parks and monuments, horse-driven carriages and Venetian-Gothic architecture. He defines in minute detail domes and arches, cupolas and balconies of his heritage, albeit veiled in the colour of pollution.

In an exhibition at Chawkandi Art, Shahzad conveys in his work awe and wonder, touching the subject with moonlight that creates a magic of its own. There is, as well, a peculiar loneliness about the old buildings standing alone with dark gaps as windows; even, it seems, the ghosts have fled. There is a view of the Mohatta Palace Museum, now an important and well cared for art centre and Karachi’s pride and joy.

Portrayed on a rare rainy evening that bathes the setting in an unearthly green light, Shahzad related how he spent a number of evenings painting the scene, praying the weather would not change and trying to capture the patterns and shades of the skies.

Initially, security staff regarded him with suspicion, but after he had made rapid pencil portraits, they agreed that he was indeed an artist and left him to get on with it. Built in the 1930, the red stone building is closely associated with Miss Fatima Jinnah, who lived out her days alone in the palace with her pet poodle for company.

The Hindu Gymkhana, built in 1927, is an exquisite structure built of yellow sand stone that the artist describes in diverse moods and views. A few years ago it was the venue of a foreign sculpture exhibition that commemorated fifty years of Pakistan.

Lit up at night, it was a majestic sight and one hoped the building would continue to be an active art focus, but in vain. Softening the weathered exterior, Shahzad details the leaves of surrounding shrubbery, the filigree designs of the windows and textured walls with the fine precision of an album painter.

Living in a city, one tends to overlook the old buildings, distracted by the teeming streets of their surrounds. In these paintings the artist invites viewers to look again and muse on the noble proportions of a not-too-distant past. Included in the structures is the D.J. Science College named after Dayaram Jethmal, one of the initial patrons of the college, and established in its present form in 1887.

Here Shahzad trained as a civil engineer before joining a four-year diploma course at the Karachi School of Art. Focusing on the impressive aspects of the structure, he points out the columns retaining their dignity despite neglect. The experience continues as the artist shares his views of other surviving chapters of history; and shadowed by dusk and protective foliage, they have interesting narratives to relate. —M.H.