KARACHI: A three-day exhibition of watercolour artworks by 40 Italians, 20 Pakistani and 20 Portuguese artists began at the Foundation for Museum of Modern Art (Fomma), DHA on Thursday evening. The show, organised by the Italian consulate, has already been displayed in Rome, and after Karachi will travel to Jamshoro, from where it will reach Portugal to finally end with a show in Fabriano, Italy.

It’s such a pleasure seeing a delectable variety of paintings covering a wide range of subjects, making art lovers spoilt for choice. What’s heartening to note is Pakistani artists’ works that are qualitatively just as strong as the works of their international counterparts. An example: Abdul Hayee’s evocative exhibit in which history and landscape come together as mutually reinforcing objects.

It has to be said, though, that some of the paintings by Italian and Portuguese artists are breathtaking — head and shoulders above the rest. The marked aspect of these artworks is that they are atmospheric in terms of visual appeal, and at the same time have a powerful narrative streak to them. Italy’s Luciano Colucci creates a foreboding scene by merely showing ominous clouds, enabling the viewer to understand, nay feel, the importance of voyages and destinations. It is not difficult to cultivate a story out of it because of the incisiveness with which Colucci has created the scene.

Eleonora Vetromile does the same (that is, tell a touchy little tale) through an entirely different picture. Here the foreground dominated by the image of a young girl seems static as opposed to the movement that envelops the whole frame. As a result, what the viewer sees is a moving, figuratively and literally, watercolour composition.

And then there’s an engaging, and endearing, piece made by the Portuguese artist Alcida Morais. Old couples have been portrayed in art on innumerable occasions. This one is special. The pair, in soft shades, arm in arm, are heading in the same direction — the woman, who has a box in her right hand, looking down; the man, looking away from the frame. Brilliant!       

The show titled In Watercolour will conclude on April 15.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2017