KARACHI: It is heartening to see how acutely young Pakistani artists are aware of the socio-political milieu they’ve grown up in and the artistic flair with which they interpret their experiences. To gauge the verity of this claim a visit to the Art Chowk Gallery, where a two-person exhibition titled ‘From the Personal and the Political’ opened on Tuesday, would suffice. The way the two artists — Nasir Ansari and Arsalan Nasir — have used the knowledge of the contemporary world and obliviousness with which this world treats some important aspects of life is quite striking.

The show immediately grabs the viewer’s attention because the very first piece on display, ‘Rainy Days of Childhood’ (digital print on non-tearable vinyl, colour films, SMDs, sensor) by Arsalan speaks volumes for its uniqueness. Uniqueness not in terms of technique (that some might find fancy), but in the fact that the artist has dealt with the subject in an unusually endearing fashion. There’s the other, if not flip, side to his artwork as the viewer is urged to lift it. Once it’s lifted, the picture takes a colourful turn that hints at childhood days, and the innocence that’s associated with it. However, it’s not that simple. Here, the political facet of the journey is understated.

Another artwork from the same tribe, as it were, is called ‘2X2=?’. This is where the fun begins, and interpretation becomes simpler. It’s a mathematical table that all of us got to learn in our childhood. But once the piece is raised, the random thoughts in the form of mishmash lines that only a child can have as opposed to calculated mathematical equations come to the fore. So the good thing about the artwork is that it doesn’t pit the past against the present; it speaks of the past that never leaves us.

Arsalan then makes a very interesting comment on the social media phenomenon that has taken the modern world by storm in a series called ‘Jashn-i-Azadi’. Again, he doesn’t highlight the contrast in or among things. The artist is seeing one phenomenon propelling another into a modern space.

Nasir takes the show, directly, to a political realm with an intelligent interplay of light, dots and shapes in the ‘Mask’ series (Plexiglas, metal rod). The mask in his work can be taken off, metaphorically that is, once the use of the source light is compromised. And that’s an interesting thought.

The exhibition, curated by Aziz Sohail Projects, will run until March 17.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2015

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