KARACHI: In a broader sense, there is no fine line between substantial and insubstantial aspects of existence or — with respect to the world of symbols and metaphors — between tangible and intangible things in life. This is where the artist community comes in. It tries to find, nay discover, the relationship between these two opposites. The reason for that is their attraction to the age-old subject of the body-soul harmony, much like the connection between form and content in any creative pursuit. When that harmony suffers a rupture, things can go awry.

A four-person show titled Building Material that’s concluded on Thursday at the Canvas Art Gallery examines the role that materials play in our lives, but in a way that it isn’t confined to the substantial realm alone. There is something interesting going on here.

The participating artists — Haider Ali Naqvi, Niamat Nigar, Noor Ali Chagani and Usman Ansari — are known names in Pakistani art.

If they have kept the topic of the show as simple and seemingly uncomplicated as Building Material then the viewer knows the exhibition aims to achieve more than it claims. And it does.

With exhibits such as ‘Basics’ (concrete, rust and metal), ‘Furma’ (sand and acrylics on canvas), ‘A conversation about the dividing lines with mother’ (stitching and oil on dyed cotton) and the ‘Land remains’ series (graphite on bristol paper and wooden box frame), the four creative individuals investigate the process in which the ‘constructed’ and the ‘thought of’ come together in a mutually complementing way. That’s not it.

The artists examine the shortcomings, too, which emerge in using the materials to come up with something that either elevates their materiality to a higher level of socio-cultural experience or causes it to go down a bit to disrupt the whole exercise. In doing so, they come up with some startling works of art!

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2024