ISLAMABAD, March 13: Masood A Khan’s exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery shows a collection of paintings of everyday objects and places surrounding the artist. The exhibition opens on March 15 and consists of 17 paintings done in translucent watercolour washes and detailed charcoal and ink.

“I have stolen some beauty, some love and some truth from nature for you, so I look at this world with your own beautiful eyes, do not wait for heaven.” These are the words of Masood Khan whose simple mixed media paintings aim to capture the soul of the universe. The work consists of simple still-lives and cityscapes done in different cities of Pakistan including Chitral. The subject seems to be the artist’s perception and reflections of daily life, indoors and outdoors; he observes women sitting on charpais, a man hard at work in a village or a modern table swathed with glasses and some fruit. Observing the scene from the painter’s perspective one enters a dimension that deals with reflection on simple things seen and remembered.

Masood A Khan is a self-taught artist, who has exhibited in all major cities of Pakistan and some group shows abroad. He first exhibited his work at the V M Gallery in group displays in the early 1990s.

The artist explores his distinctive medium by creating multi-dimensional surfaces in muted colours. He collaborates soft, wet, transparent washes of watercolour with fine, detailed lines of ink and charcoal to create an illusion of space. Whether it is the still-life or the cityscape, Khan ignores the established rules of perspective but weaves a web of fine lines over the translucent washes of gouache to create an illusion of space.

His paintings capture the atmosphere of everyday life in Pakistan basked in sunlight or moonlight. In one of his paintings, he creates a beautiful night scene in deep shades of murky violet, misty grey and cloudy ivory to capture the soul of Chitral at nighttime. His still-lives are outstanding with meticulous observations of transparent materials and a captivating eye level. Some are painted in simple washes of ink with a few strategically selected areas of colour. Masood Khan’s latest exhibition reflects an artist with a mastery of his technique, an understanding of his subject and a “strong inner eye”. He has captured moments in time with clarity by presenting minimal detail. He has successfully captured the combination of mass and soul with a blend of subtle and bright colours, the unifying of ambiguous washes of gouache with fine in-depth line work. — Atiya Hasan