KARACHI – In Zarah David’s artworks, there is a subtle mood of timeless calm and unexpected interpretations of space, prominent art critic Marjorie Hussain says of David. “Here the artist is not concerned with the representation of the observed world. What she portrays are imaginative, strongly atmospheric scenarios touching on the surreal,” Hussain says.
To the observer, they may suggest landscape or mirage-like dreamscapes slightly distorted as though seen through a mirror, she explains. David is an impressive painter who early on divided her time between art and music, perhaps to elude the tempestuous parentage of Anna Molka Ahmed and Sheikh Ahmed whose robust differences on art are documented and were surely absorbed by their intuitive daughter.
“Like her mother before her, David paints continually, but seldom exhibits her work. She keeps her links with the Punjab Artists Association and annually contributes to their exhibitions where her works stand out identifiably.”
David is well-known in Lahore art circles among the discriminating art connoisseurs who visit her studio and enjoy her work. “It is at their persuasion that she is now taking active participation and, one hopes, will continue to do so.” Her collection of art pieces executed in oil on canvas with disciplined simplicity tells a story of her own concept of the order of the universe.
