In recent years exciting art has emerged from The Centre of Excellence and Design (CEAD), Jamshoro, where a distinguished art faculty is headed by Ali Abbas. Of late, one has also seen multifaceted global and cultural developments in art that have brought changes to their socio-cultural milieu. Consequently, we see artists broach the issues they find encompassing their lives. Given such broad definitions, nowadays artists have access to a wide range of media and experimental forms.

Consequently, art has become a diverse, vibrant phenomenon, blending rapidly changing contemporary mores with established traditions. With an individuality that showed promise for the future, it was interesting to view the work of a group of 16 recent art graduates of the CEAD, exhibiting together at the Spaces Gallery, Karachi.

Among the artists showing their work was Muhammad Asad Gulzar, who communicated his thoughts in the form of an installation of myriad keys titled ‘The power of keys’. Here Gulzar incorporated the ancient symbol that has been an allegory in art for centuries holding different mystical meanings in countries as diverse as Japan, Italy and Europe. There were countless keys of all shapes and sizes and the artist left it to the imaginations of the audience to find their own meaning in his work

Kamran Ali used the classic media of oil on canvas to paint a poignant portrait of childhood in the age we live in. Using his medium with assurance, he employed a range of colours to illustrate the mood of a young boy sitting on a pile of loose bricks against a wall. It was an image that raised many questions as one studied the expression of the small child gazing ahead at the world around him.

Another eye-catching painting was the work of Hira Khalid titled ‘Colour 2’. Here one received the impression of a mother with child, the woman protectively bending towards the small figure. The artist used watercolour as her media, applying the paint in small spots enclosed in minute dark outlines.

One of the most intriguing visuals in the display was the work of Rekha Khatri who worked in the media of miniature art on a contemporary visual titled ‘Dead beauty’. The image consisted of a single peacock feather, the marking of the feather appearing as an eye weeping red teardrops with gouache added to the wasli in crimson drops and splashes.

Saher Shah Rizvi’s work was intriguing as using gouache on wasli, she used long strands of hair as central factors of her work. Sometimes those strands became shoelaces, or emerged from a backpack in vibrant wavy curves. Hair is regarded in some cultures as the repository of physical strength and inner power, while in other settings, ascetics would shave their heads to indicate submission to the divine will. In Saher’s work hair is a contemporary symbol.

A few years ago in Karachi, three young women artists exhibited their actual, lustrous locks, which were cut off and framed in glass boxes as a defiant feminist gesture that told a story.

Exhibitions of interesting artworks such as these at affordable prices may initiate a competitive art market for art enthusiasts who buy art to live with, and not necessarily for the sake of investments.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, March 1st, 2015

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