KARACHI: Wahab Jaffer, who passed away on June 19, was one of Pakistan’s finest painters and a reputed art collector. His death saddened the art community in Pakistan and a big number of his admirers. It is in that regard that an exhibition titled In Memoriam: Wahab Jaffer that concluded at the Chawkandi Art Gallery on Tuesdayassumes a great deal of importance.

The show, organised in memory of Mr Jaffer and his wife, the late Shirin Jaffer, has an astounding array of the artist’s works, the proceeds of which will benefit Indus Hospital and Murshid Hospital.

Once you enter the gallery, it becomes difficult not to stop for a considerable amount of time in front of each exhibit on display. They are artworks made with a lot of heart. This implies, that the strokes that the artist used had a distinct flair to them. Yes, the bold colours and the abstract touches that he would impart to his figures, with big eyes and long faces, were unmissable, but it is the world of dreams that he would transport the viewer to — with his open-to-interpretation paintings — that lent uniqueness to his art. Not that before him such a style wasn’t in vogue. The point is that there’s freshness to his artworks which kept art lovers always interested in his creative kaavish.

Nusrat Khwaja, who curated the show, writes in her curatorial note, “The characteristics of Wahab Jaffer’s art remained consistent through his years as a painter. He created highly stylised, elliptical faces looking straight ahead, and flowers in vases with geometricised embellishments. A variety of vase forms from round to tall, and narrow to bottle-shaped, can be found in the vase-and-flower paintings. The faces were mostly female. Their noses were drawn in bold outlines and were painted in a darker shade than the surrounding facial tones.”

Faces, geometry and colours… the triumvirate that makes up the most essential component of Mr Jaffer’s creative life.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2026