As artists seek new and innovative mediums to articulate their ideas, traditional mediums, such as drawing, tend to get pushed to the periphery of the art world. Keeping this in mind, an exhibition of artworks by Shazia Qureshi and Danish Ahmed allows for a reconsideration of drawing as an ever-evolving medium of expression. The show titled Proximity: Conversation 1 and curated by Roohi Ahmed is the first in a series of exhibitions that emerged from the idea of impromptu conversations that develop through the interaction of two diverse bodies of work.

The two featured artists employ diverse approaches to drawing while both remain situated within the realm of the surreal and the abstract.

Ahmed’s work adopts a language of precision, with geometric shapes rendered in varying shades of grey. While he expresses the material world through the cuboid, the work contains a latent spiritual element, perhaps felt in the levitating and suspended forms. The pragmatism of the rigid geometry is offset by the more organic and elusive elements of barren trees and smoky clouds, both in an ongoing conflict for dominion. This marks the central critique in Ahmed’s works: the neglect of the spiritual in pursuit of materialistic pleasures.

Shazia Qureshi and Danish Ahmed offer a conversation on freedom through two diverse bodies of work

This conflict between two dimensions is also represented in the dualistic imagery of the works through the use of the diptych. Similar shapes appear inverted and set against each other, a tension created within the tiny space in between where they almost collide, reminiscent of Michelangelo’s ‘Creation Of Adam’ and that moment before the earthly and the divine meet. Which one triumphs over the other? There is a general aura of containment as each shape remains closed, complete and absolute, confining within them the elements of nature, which only manage to break through the rigid bounds in certain places.

Qureshi’s work in contrast is more loose and free, with imagery that is far more nebulous. It appears as thoughts, dreams and ideas unleashed, spreading in every direction. Where Ahmed’s works are a display of precision and control, here there is a complete lack of both, to the point of chaos. There is a sense of urgency in her works that is almost childlike. The mark-making employed with abandon seems to spread boundlessly into muddled confusion.

Qureshi tries to talk about untethered imagination, and the symbol of the soaring bird she uses represents free thought. The dark, messy nature of the result seems to raise this very question of the virtues of free thought without direction. The subtle attempts to rein in the bursting madness through lines going off in every direction seem to call for some structure. Unchecked freedom paves the way for chaos.

Both artists have used wildly contrasting imagery, yet a conversation emerges about our experience of the world and the freedoms and controls we experience. The viewers are left to contemplate the complexities of this world and the grey areas in the choices that they must make.

“Proximity: Conversation 1” was on display at the Chawkandi Art Gallery in Karachi from December 13 till December 23, 2018

Published in Dawn, EOS, January 13th, 2019