ISLAMABAD: Tanzara Gallery inaugurated Irfan Cheema’s solo exhibition, Life and some other beautiful things II -a selection of works from 2023 and a testament to the artist’s engagement with spectacularly coloured parrots.

Noshi Qadir, the gallerist, said: “Tanzara Gallery takes great pleasure in presenting once again the work of Irfan Cheema. Born in 1975, Irfan has been publicly exhibiting his still life paintings since 2017 in art galleries and museum spaces in Pakistan, his country of birth, China, his home for over two decades, and in the United Kingdom.”

“Though painting from an early age, it was in his thirties that oil painting became a major part of his daily routine. His paintings, which may be described as beautiful, make references to beauty in its various guises and attributes such as nature and sensuality, extravagance of motifs and richness of colour, and yet there is an ever-prevailing sense of temporality characterising his work. Set indoors, laid out on stone ledges and lit with morning light from a single source, his subjects carefully placed along the sweeping folds of intricately woven and richly hued shawls are suspended in time and space,” she said.

Irfan Cheema said: “One particular aspect where this show is unique compared to my previous shows is that it is almost all about parrots. A lot went into it; I have been doing studies of parrots for over two years. I’ve been painting parrots before as well, but this particular show had them as a focus because of my own association with parrots as pets, as very intelligent animals who inhabit our own space and create their own identity within the household. The other objects are Kashmiri shawls and ceramics.”

“This year I have experimented with sizes a lot. Two of the paintings are amongst my largest works and, for the still life format, a one metre by one metre canvas is very large. The subject matter dictated the size because I was painting large parrots, macaws. With the macaws depicted life size,” he explained,

“The sweeps and folds of the shawls on this large scale were quite challenging and required a lot of patience and studies,” he added.

Every kind of parrot has its own story, its own association and how it is paired with other objects. The entire show was clustered in vignettes with a type of parrot paired with a type or more of fruit, porcelain, shawls and other opulent, vibrant objects that capture the imagination. The blue lovebirds are paired with plums and off-white shawls, the cockatoos with their gorgeous crown-like plumes are paired with mangoes, the king of fruits, parakeets with guavas and stunning macaws with pomegranates and figs.

Cheema has a remarkable knack of balancing the objects on his canvas so no one thing overpowers the space. The birds are bright and curious, the fruits ripe and the objets d’art treasured pieces that celebrate the richness of beauty in Nature and culture.

Mohammad Arbab shared his views of the work, saying, “Very artistic, very pure, really depicting the colours of life. This artist’s use of bright colours, fruits, beautiful objects shows a very hopeful perspective and charismatic impression of life and the blessings of nature.”

Ayesha Agha said, “There is a fascination with colour and texture, with bright vivid colours and lots of different textural elements. There is a very cool element of detail in every piece, especially the textile.”

Zulfiqar Baig said, “I visit various galleries and this work is very good. The incorporation of Chinese elements, natural themes, bright colours are all very attractive. The works are vibrant and fascinating.”

Manizeh Gauhar said, “It is a treat to see this, it is visually so beautiful. The attention to detail is amazing, the colours and the how intricate everything is, is fabulous. It is so lifelike - it is as if I can touch the leaves. He is brilliant! No other words for it, it is a visual treat.”

Published in Dawn, January 31st, 2024