In the present times, the harsh veracities of life lurk ubiquitously; which despite persistent tolerance and fortitude, often tend to breach the hard-earned tranquillity. Ayesha Siddiqui, with the backdrop of unambiguous vision of life’s vicissitudes, both trivial and extraordinary, resorts to abstract representation of the obscure aspects of psycho-social realities to alleviate the anguish they cause. Siddiqui, essentially an action painter, continues to devise and perfect the set of rules with which she manages to transform shapes and colours into thought-provoking statements.
In a recent exhibition at the Koel Gallery, Karachi, befittingly titled, ‘Hidden agenda’, Siddiqui exhibited 23 paintings, with unflinching tenacity to meaningfully express the dynamics of the ever-exasperating environment. Reflecting a seasoned demeanour, she assails the canvas armed with palette dippers to buckets of liquid paint, unleashing spontaneous ideas focused on the communicative ability of the resulting oeuvre.
In her canvas-on-oil painting ‘Untitled III’, Siddiqui has given the surface a generous geometric treatment with black and gold over vertical and horizontal black lines. As if instinctively, the fluid paint has been set into motion through meticulous articulation using action and gravity. The centred heavier mass of black blotches and diminutive spatters around the vertical line, squat aptly over a profuse dribble of golden pigment that has dried leaving a riveting pattern of wrinkles. The greater residual white area gives the painting its distinctive character and substantiates the artist’s command on the use of space, an essential component of any captivating composition. The occasional dapples, streaks and thin coatings further enhance the significance of space. Conclusively, the addition of strategically located mystifying customary symbols silently beckons the audience to decipher the hidden agenda!
Notwithstanding the nameless set of artworks, it appears that Siddiqui devises an explicit roadmap before embarking on a painting spree, which is consequently, responsible for the impeccable compositions that emerge. The force of her impulsive choreography of colour during the intense but reactive battle with the canvas reflects her confidence and intrepid judgement. Siddiqui’s power strokes, though sensitively negotiated, achieve the desired impact because of her parallel attentiveness to the physical and conceptual parameters of the envisaged chronicle. Multitasking, at the scale at which Siddiqui adopts, requires abundant harnessing and honing of application techniques, perhaps based singularly on passion; and that she has plenty!
Siddiqui’s painting, ‘Untitled V’, in mixed media on a six-feet wide canvas is a hybrid triptych which holds endless visual pleasure for the viewer owing to the rich diversity of motifs and colours. There is a warm vignette scheme on the left, a black-on-black in the middle and a tightly knit mesh in white on the right. Circular squiggles, almost like whirling tornadoes, betwixt the customary linear lines of the vignette and black sectors indicate restrained turbulence, thus further revitalising the indeterminate agenda.
The amalgam of these radically different segments reflects a deliberate intention of the artist to leave the unsuspecting audience awestruck. Eventually, as the initial shock wears off, the painting and its camouflaged symbols gradually begin to appear and unlock the secrets, one after another, in a never-ending timeframe and continual appeasement.
The ostensibly conscious creation of strategic space within the collage of patches, textured atolls and insightful lines, imparts evocative manifestation to the canvas. The unwary viewers are likely to be lured into the enchantingly entwining maze of rhythmic forms that boast harmonious balance, both in the linear as well as the undulating regimes. Siddiqui’s painting, ‘Untitled XXIII’, in mixed media on a square foot of paper is vaguely reminiscent of the work of an Ukranian ‘drip painter’ Janet Sobel, who was also a source of inspiration for the more popular Jackson Pollock. ‘Untitled XXIII’ has three distinct portions treated with different application techniques.
Although, black and grey dominates the best part of the painting, but the smallest segment with cadmium orange and white strokes, sets the entire composition into a visual equilibrium. The flawless circular trails of paint, bold spills, acumen to refrain from overkills and occasional splotches and stains remain to be the artist’s hallmark.
Siddiqui’s minimal approach towards the use of forms and the audacious use of sparingly blended raw colours, mostly sans brush, presumably grants her exclusivity in the contemporary art scene. The extra sensory perception, with which she anticipates her turbocharged compositions, certainly sets her a few notches ahead in this genus of work.