KARACHI: Political upheavals in recent times have caused both large and small-scale human displacement, mostly to the discomfort of the displaced. In art, in general, ‘movement’ is often depicted as a kinetic force taking the tales told by artists forward in a plausible manner. What if that force becomes a point to mull over in the philosophical sense of the phrase? An exhibition titled Transitory Renditions featuring paintings of Farooq Mustafa and Ahsan Jamal that’s under way at the Canvas Art Gallery not only touches upon this subject but expands the scope of the discussion by trying to blur the line between the reality of movement and the perceptions associated with it.

Giving a heads-up to the viewer about his intention Farooq says, “My work draws upon my personal milieu, including surroundings, memories and the news and visuals one is continually bombarded with.” Ahsan says, “Looking out a train window and staring at landscape views passing by gives me the evidence of the transient nature of our existence.”

The statements may be useful for the viewer, however, spending time with the exhibits hint (I repeat: hint) at an interesting aspect about them — Farooq and Ahsan do not find their subject matter something to revel in; instead, a great deal of creative diligence has gone into the making of the paintings. This diligence stems from the fact that the possible ramifications of moving from point A to point B do not necessarily carry elements of hope, although, hope is a factor.

To understand this point, the commonality between the visually and vastly different ‘In Search of Heaven’ series (tea wash, acrylic and oil on canvas) by Farooq and ‘In Transit’ series (oil and acrylic on canvas) by Ahsan proves strikingly poignant. The former has focused on exploration and the latter is underlining the evanescent nature of life. This implies that there is no room for ‘inertia’ in the topic that they’ve chosen to create art about. And inertia does have a non-visual presence in their series. Therefore the contents of existence and the characters that the participating artists have decided to narrate the stories make the journey more important than the destination.

The exhibition will conclude on Jan 21.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2021