LAHORE – While the world is in debate of whether there are twelve star signs or thirteen, Naqsh Raj, Saadia Hussain, Saira Ansari, Wajid Ali, Zobia Yaqoob are some aspiring minds creating constellations of their own. Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery NCA opens to the thesis display of the MA honours Visual Art Degree Show 2011.
UNENDING SPACE: Naqsh Raj is one such individual who takes the most simple, reluctant everyday things and transforms them into mesmerizing pieces of art. Her main body of work lies in mix media on either flex or canvas. Capturing raw detail of things is where Naqsh’s integrity and genius as a visual artist comes into play. Her installation and all the other works are in semblance to each and other, giving the viewer a feeling of unending space and logically looping compositions.
One thing that is present and ‘screams’ throughout her works is the bold and confident use of brush strokes. Each brush stroke is individualistic yet part of the overall work. Naqsh’s work is flat in terms of the style yet bursting with spontaneity and vibrancy of thought.
THE WHIRLPOOL: Saadia Hussain in plain terms is the sort of artist whose type is ‘extinct’. Insightful, bold yet at some level, a feeling of de-allocation is prevalent in her work. Her work is more thought oriented, and once the viewer gets stuck in the whirlpool created by Saadia, it gets hard to lose focus, after which it’s just a question of passing yourself from one art piece to the other.
Her Installation with the army trunks and digital print is the heart, if not the soul, of her total display. Where as the acrylic box with drawings and the works in pen and ink on paper were both exceedingly big to be aesthetically devoured in one go; requiring prolonged viewing and attention.
ART INTERROGATION: Saira Ansari holds the spot of being the nexus of this exhibition. Her installation is not only an art piece in its own right but also something that comments, rebukes, interrogates, questions and above all plainly talks about art and the direction it is taking in our fervent country. The wooden box and its soothing yet overflowing body of work was something to ponder upon and be amazed of.
Her fake art reviews on the other artists exhibiting their works and even her own work were not only thoughtfully executed but aesthetically curated.
CELESTIAL BODIES: Zobia Yaqoob’s work is the reason why the article started with the mention of heavenly bodies and stars in the first place. Her mixed mediums on canvas are subtle, breathing and fascinating. With the use of intriguing colours and carefully laid down body of paint, Zobia creates works of a quality that is hardly seen in the works of artists today. Her paintings are intermingling yet at a certain level open to interpretation at a singular more individual level.
A THOUGHTFUL STROKE: Wajid Ali is the maestro who weaves his magic with a single stroke or rather in this case a single line that goes on as far as your eyes can perceive. His work containing overlapping line drawings displayed with light-box ant, the diaries that contain a non stop singular line that extends itself when you start unfolding them, is quite cleverly creative and extensively worked upon.
His work deals with travel and if a picture could convey a thousand words and a multitude of emotions, Wajid’s lines convey that much too if not less. Profoundly the most simple yet ingenious Wajid’s work demands a whole piece of writing just for its own sake.
