The art scene in Lahore seems to be gradually on the move in a direction that promises to be an exciting journey of experimentation and honest self exploration. This fresh trend is being encouraged mainly by the initiative of young artists who are willing to push the boundaries and perhaps even upset the status quo. It is not quite an overt rebellion against the old guard but is in fact an awakening of sorts, whereby a heightened awareness of the self and the environment, be it physical, social or political, is being expressed through creative endeavour.

Grey Noise was one of the new art spaces heralded in an earlier discourse. Another exciting discovery one has made is the Gallery 39 K in Model Town, Lahore. While the gallery has been set up recently by the 22-year-old Abdullah Qureshi, it is directed by the senior artist Rakhshanda Atawar, who was Qureshi’s teacher and mentor at the Hunerkada art school. Qureshi is currently enrolled at The Chelsea School of Art, however, he maintains contact with his studio-cum-gallery in Lahore.

The present exhibition includes the work of nine artists, including its director Atawar. Titled ‘Shedding load’, it is the result of a process of dialogue amongst the artists, and each of them has expressed their viewpoints and responses to their lives in Pakistan. The exchange of ideas and the experimentation with a variety of mediums has resulted in a stimulating medley of creativity that signifies a healthy and refreshing approach to self expression. Rubab Uppal and Talat Naqvi have also been a part of this discourse, and Qureshi is keen to acknowledge this.

The exhibition starts with the display of Atawar’s experimental paintings made with leather dyes, a medium that includes an amalgam of water and oil based colours. The resulting emulsion leads to an intriguing splattering of colour that seeps and overlaps as the artist moves her brush in her bold expressionist style.

The other works in this exhibition are by recent art graduates from our local art schools ; Zaheer Chaudary, Adnan Mirza, Humaira Taj, Mohsin Shafi, Amna Niaz, Sara Zahid, Sana Horani, and Abdullah Quereshi, himself.

Chaudary’s art works are made with a painstaking scratching technique of his own, wherein black paper is scratched with sandpaper, exposing the white layer beneath it in a manner that is astonishingly smooth despite the nature of the technique. Some areas are left out in black to create bold shapes and symbols which are simple yet evocative in their allusion to negative and positive spaces.

Adnan Mirza’s single but impressive piece is in the form of a very lengthy scroll of white paper that hangs from the ceiling level and rolls onto the floor, but the scroll can still be opened further on if the viewer dares to do so. A detailed drawing of a tree and its branches made in grey pencil goes on in a fascinating and seemingly endless fashion, reminding one of the magical trees in the well known fairy tale, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.

Humaira Taj has another unique means of self expression; she has used yellow ‘Post-its’ to fill a large rectangular space directly on the wall to create a piece titled ‘Things to do’. If one looks at each ‘Post-it’ closely, one can see the impression of the artist’s writing on it, as if the page above had been written on, and the inkless impression made on the lower page had been used. Thus the ‘Things to do’ is not overtly displayed, which adds to the sense of subtle wit and humour.

Mohsin Shafi’s photographic works are powerful and poignant. Here we see the artist shrouded completely in a white canvas on which he has inscribed the story of his life in Urdu. He stands in the doorway of an old and rusty train bogey and there are three different photographs on the same theme, each one reinforcing the almost heartrending message of the predicaments of a human being in the journey of life.

In another small enclave of the gallery one can gaze above to see the numerous hanging eyeballs made by Amna Naz, an installation that symbolises the gazing eyes of people in our society. Made with wax and coloured marbles, these eyes both haunt and fascinate the viewer.

Sara Zahid’s ‘Cyber crime act’ is a text-based work that comments brilliantly on the hypocrisy in our political set-up. Then, of course, were the paintings of Abdullah who works with a sense of abandon in the manner of abstract expressionists, evoking an emotional response through bold colours, veiled symbols, and textures created through multiple layering of paint. As for Sana Horani, her video projection was unavailable for viewing, so no comments on that.

The visit to 39 K did indeed reinforce the feeling that change is in the air, and that our youth and their mentors, are likely be a moving force to encourage a more honest approach to both art and life in general.

{Source: DAWN}