Disowned by the local art hierarchy as a valid aesthetic, Illustration Art has long subsisted largely (if not entirely) within the confines of the home-grown digest culture. The current Art Chowk show in Karachi, ‘Urdu digest illustrated’, defying the unwritten ban displays digest illustrations as art exhibits.Seen in the flesh the drawings/paintings emerge as independent artworks unlike their print version which is subservient to the text it interprets.
According to curator Shahana Rajini, “These illustrations are dictated by a range of parameters — aesthetics by assignment, publishing deadlines, specified subject matter and format (are) beautifully rendered and masterfully executed. The exhibition is also a timely tribute to the careers of artists who have devoted their lives to illustrating digests and providing visual forms of entertainment to millions.”
Partnered with the publishing industry, advertising campaigns, or used politically for satire, illustration world over, like photography and printmaking, has often been questioned for its intent — if it’s commercial, is it art? As early as the 1960s the painter that illustrated was a suspect. The illustrator who tried to find a gallery was tainted. The fine arts world did not want illustrators in their club and when art critics wanted to punish a painter in a review they called the paintings ‘illustrations’.
All painters knew that the word illustration was the kiss of death in spite of the exceptional calibre of the art in question. But, in the present art climate, illustrators are creating exciting bodies of work that experiment with the notions of contemporary visual art and its hybrid forms. As a genre, illustration has been born out of many things, grown broader in its context through new media and technology, and the current blurring of boundaries between disciplines has also facilitated its validity as a fine art discipline.
Today’s illustrators go beyond caricature and visual representation to observational statements about current trends and popular culture. Contemporary illustration is a new movement with illustrators drawing influences from graffiti, fashion, computer games and animation.
As a show, ‘Urdu digest illustrated’, comprising artists Imran Zaib, Inam Raja, Shahid Hussain, Shaista Momin, Zakir Hasan Chishti and Zulfiqar Azeen, accesses the widely read and incredibly popular, Urdu digests such as Jasoosi, Suspense, Subrang and Khawateen. The populist sentiment and reach of these illustrations is undeniable, but the works are dated. High on working skills but conceptually toeing the line of vernacular fiction they have failed to spread beyond the Urdu readership audience into the exclusive echelons patronising high art.
Thriving within the insular world of digest culture their art has been restricted to the monochrome pen and ink techniques concentrated around the figurative art while the portrait-centred glossy covers are generally rendered with coloured inks and water-based paints air brushed to photo finish smoothness.
In a gallery space, divested of corresponding text, the pen and ink drawings/paintings invite evaluation of their artistic merit. In illustration art, a strong drawing base and understanding of tonal values is necessary especially if an artist is opting for the pen and ink medium which requires considerable hand control.
Other than linear effects values have to be created with just monochromatic strokes. The most commonly used textures include: hatching, formed by roughly parallel lines; cross-hatching, formed by overlapped hatching in several directions; and stippling, formed by small dots or very short lines. Textures can also be wavy, scribbly, or geometric and can appear hard or soft, mechanical or organic.
In this respect illustrations by Inam Raja and Shahid Hussain sport a variety of textural effects. Factual accuracy is a prominent feature of all the exhibited works but on closer inspection there are basic drawing flaws in some artworks. Treatment of skin textures, youthful supple skin and wrinkled, scarred effects have been well-handled, similarly human hair be it a beard or curls and tresses has been realistically depicted by most artists.
Other than technical virtuosity the show calls attention to the Urdu digest phenomenon. Most of the participating artists have been illustrating consistently since the early 1970s with little or no variation in the nature of their work. As digest loyalists they have catered to a specific audience and their work is representative of that culture which, in the present climate of wider appreciation, endows these illustrations with archival value. The bawdy film/cinema poster of yesteryears has already become collectible after undergoing a recall and relook. Can we anticipate a similar appreciation of the original digest illustrations?
If this exhibition is intended as a tribute to digest illustrators then we need to probe beyond the 1970s to locate late Eqbal Mehdi who not only preceded these illustrators but was also one of the first to successfully transcend the pale and manage to become a much sought after artist. He initiated his artistic career with pen and charcoal sketches. Sadequain introduced him to Faiz Ahmed Faiz, who instantly hired Eqbal as an illustrator for his weekly magazine, Lail-o-Nehar. This became his first salaried job.
Following this, he was assigned to work with Subrang Digest and Akhbar-i-Jehan. At the age of 23, Mehdi already had a massive portfolio to his credit and his first solo exhibition at the Karachi Art Council in 1969 was a sell out. It is stated in his biography that he began to use colours only in 1985. His eloquently rendered sepia pen and ink drawings of demure damsels are still sought after by collectors.
The digest illustration portfolio is a rich but unexplored reservoir of art and culture. Its historical context, nature of illustrator fraternity and the inherent merits and demerits of their work sheds much light on the conditions in which indigenous art continued to survive in spite of prohibitions. Kudos to curator Rajini for propping up the genre for debate and dialogue, it is a promising opportunity for research students to compile a much deserved volume.