Nobody has been able to come up with an explanation as to why a clutch of Pakistani artists appear to have such an inordinate obsession with pigeons. Jamil Naqsh is, of course, head of the pecking order, and relishes his position as eminence grise.
In fact, the pigeon has become something of a trade mark with him, if such a thing is possible in the world of art. But every now and then some artist or other perched lower down in the foliage like Iqbal Durrani, in a grittily methodical and blandly conforming gesture sticks in the white bird, possibly in the belief that it would guide him to fame and fortune.
The latest artist who appears to have inherited some of the Naqsh legacy and succumbed to the mystique is 70-year old Meerza Ali. Last week he exhibited 33 canvases at the Shakil Ismail Gallery. Though the pigeon had really nothing to do with the subject matter it was nevertheless insinuated into at least six canvases, and predictably appeared with members of the fair sex — mysterious, unattainable, elusive...
In two of the canvases, in a bid to enter a bit of variety, a horse replaced the bird, and once again appeared with the ubiquitous female. While a couple of pictures reflected street scenes, the rest of the images explored the world of religious buildings and places of worship, with the familiar dome and minaret.
Meerza Ali is a veteran and has been around since 1973.He has to his credit nine solo exhibitions, has participated in 23 local group exhibitions and taken part in six group exhibitions abroad. In spite of his prodigious output it is a little difficult to position his star in the artistic firmament of the country.
This reviewer has always believed that a painter's or sculptor's maturity is measured by the degree of consistency he displays in his career, rather than an occasional brilliance that he might demonstrate. In classifying somebody's maturity there are basically three yardsticks by which to measure the calibre of an artist.
The first is the inability to agree on an overriding theme or approach in a series of paintings. The main thrust of artists who fall into this category is variety rather than specialisation. It is not uncommon to see in a one-person exhibition in Karachi, Lahore or Islamabad a mixed bag featuring a cluster of portraits in pen and ink sketched in the traditional manner, alongside landscapes done in oils or acrylic in the realist tradition, a few water colours, a bit of calligraphy and half a dozen abstract paintings all tossed up like a Waldorf salad.
The second is continuity — the ability to stick to a particular theme or style for a certain length of time, prosecuting the subject to its logical conclusion and draining the genre of its emotional juices, before switching over to a different theme or style, and repeating the practice after a respectable interval or when the fancy takes him.
A good example is Shakir Ali who after flirting with Cubism for a while made the transition to Symbolism. Ahmed Parvez, who had such a tragic end, was another example of consistency and constancy. In the modern era Babar Moghul and Hashim have displayed remarkable perseverance in their works.
The third is that indescribable something that just makes one want to whip out a cheque book and start scribbling. It's that something that rivets the attention when one comes across a particular visual and makes one stay supremely focused. It could be anything — an image that arrests and disturbs — a face of unutterable beauty that lifts the senses — or a scene that one just cannot get out of one's system.
Meerza Ali's exhibition belongs strictly to the first category. He has a good sense of composition and has demonstrated his versatility and diversity in his choice of subjects. He has a strong preference for religious themes, and in many visuals the skyline is dotted with domes and minarets. In some of his pieces, like the portraits of women with pigeons, he has used bright saturated primaries and secondaries which are quite endearing. So are some of the pictures of buildings, where the artist has blended the oil into soft fluid forms. His paintings are modestly priced and some of them would look rather nice hanging on a drawing room wall.
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