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ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: His paintings don't match the sofas or the rugs in your living rooms but hurt you in the heart.
“I have painted what I felt. Human beings feel pain and also long for happiness,” said Iqbal Hussain, whose painted figures were not portrayed as objects of desire but as women who were aware of their surroundings, situations and environment, a quality that fascinated visitors at the opening day of his exhibition at the National Art Gallery.A National College of the Arts Lahore graduate and a teacher, Iqbal Hussain is a versatile artist who painted both people and places - people he was familiar with and places that gave him a sense of identity.
By capturing the huddled walled city of Lahore, the banks of the Ravi River, the grandeur of the Badshahi Mosque and the women of the Shahi Mohallah, Hussain has explored nature's poetic qualities and life's bitter realities.
“The overwhelming impressions which these women express are that of sadness and tragedy. And Hussain did not romanticise them at all. He is really his own master,” said Administrator Shakir Ali Museum Lahore, Amna Pataudi.
“He is an international artist and pioneer in his own field because the issue he picked to portray through his paint and brush has reached that mark where people have accepted him as an artist who is proud to be who he is and all that he has achieved,” said the Amna Pataudi, an artist and curator herself.
Hussain's works bring home the myriad moods of his environment - sufferings and fears and particularly the lost younger generation of his community. The results are bodies of realistic paintings that were compelling, powerful, intense and haunting.
“This is no ordinary work. He is a special artist,” said Nighat Rizvi, venturing into the two galleries dedicated to a feast of unworldly art.
The inventory included many small and large scale paintings in oil on canvas and board such as the “The Last Dowry”, a series of four large scale works besides many untitled impressions.
Being an impressionist and a realist at the same time highlights his multifaceted talents as an artist. Hussain painted his landscapes in romantic hues of dusky pinks and soft blues.
Suspended under beautiful natural and artificial lighting, the brush work was precise and detailed as he successfully conveyed the beauty of the land that inspired him to immortalise it.
The inauguration was no lavish affair; the kind that went with the artist's humble bearing. Some guests actually complained that the opening did not do justice to the painter of imprisoned souls.
