“As I See It” is an unusual two-person show that recently took place at the Koel Gallery, Karachi. The distance in sensibilities gives the viewer an opportunity to walk into the seasoned realism of Akram Spaul, whose paintings are influenced by his vast experience in graphic and commercial art and photography. On view, in the inner gallery, are also the semi-abstract paintings of Ali Abrar, a painter whose unplanned gesture defines his process. Quite the anti-thesis of each other, they can be viewed and appreciated for their unique relationship to canvas, providing the opportunity to discuss the relationship of de-constructed and constructed realities on the canvas.

Many years later, as we view the painted windows of Spaul, we re-enter his oeuvre through years of negotiation of our fragmented and often displaced, even misplaced realities; within the picture plane and outside in the ‘real’ world, that has been marred by displacement and fragmentation. Our interpretation of the painted image comes in the aftermath of the rebellion of an age where the gesture of later artists such as Francis Bacon or Cy Trombley altered the inspiration and even directional change of painters on a global level.

The two-person show can be viewed as an inquiry into the nature and relevance of the making and unmaking of realities of the painted form

The gesture of the deconstructed form, that later led to abstraction and minimalism was also carried in the works of the pioneers such as Zubeida Agha and Shakir Ali. Subsequent artists such as Sadequain valued the freedom of expression entailed in the freedom that was inherited through modernism, as he carved his own modernity through the frenzied expression of his line.

In the light of more than multiple directions within art is Pakistan and the layers of discourses within, we have to realise that the contained painted image of Spaul represents a certain time in history which still exists in the lived experience of contemporary realities. It asserts not only a past which perhaps also appears to be frozen in time.

If super realism is a genre, the artist deviates from the classical realism that is visible in the imagery of Shakil Siddiqui, as Spaul is informed by his experience in photography. If he paints from a photograph, he seeks a certain light and time of day, and manipulates what is observed in subtle shifts of colour. These nuances are no longer the concerns of artists who for better or for worse, have moved beyond these negotiations; as they have also moved away from the aspect of depiction of city scenes into landscapes of the mind.

Contrary to Spaul’s carefully considered geometric divisions, Abrar’s imagery, though also contained within the frame, reflects a different kind of commitment, his form develops as his intuition allows, and he succumbs to the unexpected and childlike. Having said that, it will be interesting to see how he engages with the influence of his mentors Quddus Mirza and Mussarat Mirza. Influence must be acknowledged as a positive aspect where the artist seeks his own obsession or vision, through conversations, and not as a stylistic appropriation. At this point, he sits on the verge of departure, given his facility with scale, colour and form.

Abrar and Spaul convey the complex and layered realities and approaches to life and art, and it is in these contradictions that we must celebrate and nurture each.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 15th, 2015

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