Contemporary miniature, a relatively modern form of artistic expression, has lately gained several practitioners in our part of the world. Recently Karachi`s Canvas Gallery displayed works by four contemporary miniature artists, whose works revealed the vast medium of experimentation this particular art form is and is continually becoming.

The exhibition opened with Saima Munawar`s `Dared to defy them with her red shoes`. The painting is an unusual application of the contemporary miniature style in the portrayal of a very modern and contemporary theme. Although contemporary miniature is immensely popular for its timeliness in subject with traditional adherence to the principles of formalism, Munawar`s works are a much forward rendition of contemporary themes.

Her painting `BB 2008` is a rare manifestation of the concept of contemporary miniature, referring to co-existence of the traditional and the modern. The work subtly highlights the ever-present theme in art, that of appearance and reality. In one of her works, she highlights the idea of inter-relation of things and the concept of a collective human consciousness; and though the idea is both traditional and also very modern, Munawar uses traditional miniature subjects to feature it.

Her `Consciousness` is also an extraordinary rendering of the traditional and the modern in terms of time and portrays a holistic sense of human civilisation existing in relation to the actors involved in it.

Farheen Maqsood`s works also experiment with contemporary miniature in varying ways. Her `Lucid dreams` series deals with the liberating logic of dreams, allowing the artist the space to explore and develop concepts during the creative process itself. `The heart has its reasons`, another series, also deals with the similar theme of freedom from traditional logic and reasoning and a free exploration of and voyage into subjectivity.

Hadia Moiz`s works are also modern applications of the miniature style, representing the serene world of the flora and the fauna as opposed to the rather vibrant and sometimes troubling domains of socio-political reality and metaphysics that Munawar and Maqsood ventured into. One of Moiz`s paintings depicts a female figure surrounded by conflicting backdrops of the natural world and artificial-and-now-rotting existence.

Murad Khan Mumtaz`s works are a subtle handling of the contemporary miniature form; some of which illustrate the relationship between varying life forms, along with depicting martial traits in a few.

This exhibition has served to further establish how contemporary miniature not only serves to adeptly express modern ideas but also nurtures the concept of the factual co-existence of traditionalism and modernity in a holistically analysed setting.