Hands Raised in the Air

By Sohail Chaudhry, "Summer Art Show" - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Sunday, July 6, 2008

Work of 16 artists goes on display at Nomad

Islamabad: The Summer Art Show, comprising works of 16 artists portraying their feelings about the society, social issues, nature and spiritualism, started at Nomad Art Gallery on Saturday.

The works of these artists have been displayed side-by-side to establish a close link between the artists and the art lovers, said Nageen Hayat, Nomad Art Gallery curator while talking to Daily Times.

She said these artists included from the emerging ones to leading names in the field of art in the country. “Nomad has been offering the platform to artists to exhibit their works for the last 15 years, which has proved quite helpful in exploring the young talent in the field of arts,” she added.

Artist Mehmood Ali in his works has depicted the culture and daily life of Rawalpindi using acrylics as a medium. He has painted these images in a very strong composition, which grasps the attention of a viewer at the first sight.

Nadeem Ahmed, who is associated with Nomad for the last fours years, has depicted political and social issues, especially the underprivileged, deprived and vulnerable segment of the society. He has used acrylics as medium to portray the decline of the society from the individual to institutional levels.

Ahmed has used different symbols to depict his feelings. The symbols of hands raised in the air depict the trend of beggary prevailing in the society in one or the other way.

He has pointed out that despite beggary at the governmental level no special change has occurred for improvement in the life of common man. He has used bold colours to highlight the gravity of the issue.
Sufism is another theme of his paintings displayed in the exhibition.

Hamid Alvi has wonderfully depicted landscapes with dissolved images using mix media and acrylics as the mediums. In his landscapes he has used subtle and bold colours.

Transformation of spiritualism to practical visualisation on canvas can be seen in Zia Zaidi’s abstract synthesis. Zaidi is a serious painter of modern concept. He avoids illustrating and imitating nature. His endeavour to depict the depth of mystery in spiritual theme with classic elements of painting compositions is no doubt a living example of creative reflection.
He has used strong and bold images wonderfully in his paintings displayed in the gallery.

Omar Khan, a graduate from National College of Arts (NCA), has masterly presented the traditional calligraphy in modern form. He has depicted verses of Holy Quran and names of God in a delicate and vibrant way. He is a good painter besides being perfect at calligraphy.

Nahid Raza, a leading artist, has chosen the feminine issues as her theme. In her paintings she has used very dark and rich colours to depict the undeniable role of women in society. She has masterly depicted different moods of women to describe their emotions and feelings.

Her works advocated that due status and rights should be given to women. Raza has used bold colours to depict the integrity of women through acrylics and mix medium.

Salma Mnazoor is an idealistic in her work. She has depicted aspiration of a woman using butterflies as symbols.

Najmul Hassan Najm’s works are a simple reflection of his inspiration and fascination, which he always derived from endless raw beauty of nature around him. He has presented landscapes in oil and strong brush strokes. Tranquillity of sea, calmness of empty spaces, wideness of the sky are his subjects.

Anjum Ayub has depicted the helplessness of the masses in front of power of state. She has presented people many times smaller in front of pillars symbolically used for the power of state. She has used mix media to depict her work on canvas.

Nasreen Aurangzeb has depicted landscapes of Northern Areas in oil and water perfectly.

AQ Arif with history as his theme, Moazam Ali with women of Tharparkar and Zarah David with dream like paintings are the artists whose works have been displayed in the show, which continue till July 30.