KARACHI: Despite so much innovation in techniques in creating art and despite a variety of subject matter available for artists to mull over, nothing gives art lovers the feeling of unadulterated calm and serenity like a well-made landscape. A 12-person show titled Break in the Clouds curated by Ali Sajid that can be viewed at the Art Scene Gallery is a testimony to the observation.

The series of paintings done in watercolour, oil-on-canvas and with acrylics is a delight to look at for two reasons. One; the landscapes painted by the artists are picturesque and signify a rustic beauty whose charm we seem to be forgetting in contemporary times. Two; the mastery with which the dozen creative souls have created those scenes is eye-catching. To paint a landscape the first and foremost requirement, arguably, is a consuming love of nature, and the participating painters seem to have that.

Here, nature primarily means a verdant valley with lovely waterfalls and lakes and the people who live and breathe that valley. This clearly comes through in the artworks. This basically implies the stillness of a moving scene in a manner which can describe a whole story. But then in these stories it’s not just people or the cattle which can be looked at as characters: the principal characters here are colours — vibrant and full of life. The common among them, understandably so, is the colour green. It symbolises both nature in its purest form and atmospheric freshness that never appears to leave valleys.

The second thing that the artists work wonders with is the use of light. The source of light here is the sun. It’s gentle and soft, like the brushstrokes used in the paintings on view.

The artists who are taking part in the show are: Ajab Khan, Ali Sajid, Arif Ansari, Bashir Haider, Dr Ghulam Shabbier, Farooq Aftab, Qazi Aman Ullah, Rukhsana Gul, Sadia Arif, Shahzad Siyal, Shaima Umer and Tahir Bilal Ummi.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2021