ISLAMABAD, Nov 9: Fariya Zaeem’s abstract paintings are an attempt to set free the creativity locked inside every human mind.

An exhibition of her colourful abstract paintings titled “Lyrical waves” will open at Gallery6 on Saturday.

It also reflects on the artistic journey of the artist that began when she was 11-year-old and started painting still life and nature in oil and watercolours. In 1996, she graduated in communication design from the Indus Valley School of Art. This is her third solo exhibition, the first one in Islamabad.

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, colour and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. It also indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art.

Speaking on the preview day on Friday, Fariya called herself a contemporary expressionist painter.

She said watercolours were her preferred medium and she enjoyed the translucent effects it brought to the substrate. She experimented with wet-on-wet, dry-on-wet, salt technique, shrink-wrap, bubble-wrap, dry flat, round and all kinds of brush strokes and bleeding effects.

She enjoyed the juxtaposition of both watercolours and acrylics to bring paradoxes and contradictions to her work because of the play between transparency and opaqueness and the dark and light. She also introduced pastels in these works that blended well with softness of watercolours and acrylics to create further depth in her works.

The artist explained that she liked working on large-scale sheets because she experienced a sense of freedom and expansion on a wide substrate, where all painting gestures were synchronised.

Fariya believed in the words of Rollo May (an American existential psychologist and the author of a book, Love and Will) that: “It is never bare thought or bare existence that we are aware of. I find myself rather as essentially a unity of emotions, of enjoyment, of hopes, of fears, of regrets, valuations of alternatives, decisions - all of these are subjective reactions to my environment as I am active in my nature.”

Discussing Fariya’s paintings, Dr Arjumand Faisel, the curator of Gallery6, said: “Her paintings are based on lyrical abstraction that primarily conveys a sense of the larger spiritual outlook. Her work is more about a certain temperament, a desire to communicate concepts, thoughts, ideas, and emotions abstractly, beyond merely exploring art principles of composition, tone, value, line, hue, texture, etc.”

“The exhibition will continue daily, including Sundays, till November 24.

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.