An exhibition currently being held at the Khaas Art Gallery in Islamabad contains the creative approaches of two artists from Karachi, Zahra Malkani and Mohan Das whose images even though contrary have something in common—an interesting conceptual element. The show titled, ‘My past love’ has a lot to offer, besides visual pleasure; the exhibition showcasing a total of 24 pieces is an interesting array of mediums such as digital prints and collage work, oil and acrylic on canvas and graphite on paper.

Malkani is a graduate of the Bard College in New York where she completed her BA in fine art. This being her first show in Islamabad, the pieces on display are images from her family history and the images being in their digital form. The work deals with memories, the construction and reconstruction of one’s thoughts. Distortions are visible or metaphorically speaking, distortions of the mind where Malkani has worked with the past and present and how these changes occur. The memories are once constructed and then gradually deconstructed hence this process and the results of it are put on display.

Das’s work is based on rickshaw art. Currently living in Karachi, he did his BA in fine arts in 1999 and then his MA in fine arts from the University of Sindh in 2002. The history of the rickshaw is a captivating one; it was introduced to Pakistan during the 1960s and was brought over from Italy and was eventually used for transportation purposes. While decorating the rickshaw it was named ‘Italy ki shahzadi’. Motifs such as peacocks and floral patterns and configurations have been depicted on Das’s various surfaces.

Pakistan has the unique distinction of having its transportation vehicles exquisitely painted to portray art and culture. These could be called mobile museums and the rickshaws are an artistic show on wheels. The colours, ornamentations and patterns represent native and innate origins and portray a colourful study in contemporary anthropology and folklore. Das’s work is a celebration of the people who paint these motifs, the people who taught him the art of rickshaw painting and the expression of interpreting these in such a superb manner.

Delineating famous western images such the ‘Mona Lisa’, Vermeer’s famous painting, ‘The girl with the pearl earring’, Henri Matisse’s ‘La Danse’ and a persona of Jackson Pollock, Das has created a comparative study between this and its affiliation with Pakistan and what he finds intimate and cherished to him.

This particular exhibition is a commencement to widen the mindsets of the constricted circle of viewers who believe art is ‘pretty paintings’ to be hung on their fashionable walls. Introducing new and upcoming trends, techniques, mediums and genres in art and culture will enable a wider audience to appreciate modern and contemporary art both objectively and subjectively.