KARACHI – “It was from a daily visit to the cinema that you learned – or tried to learn – how to strut, to smoke, to kiss, to fight, to grieve. Movies gave you tips about how to be attractive, such as ‘it looks good to wear a raincoat even when it isn’t raining’.” These words once uttered by the late Susan Sontag – American author, literary theorist, public intellectual and political activist – could describe the reality of our times that is reflected in the way Ahmed Ali Manganhar constructs his imagery, said a press release issued by the Canvas Gallery where an exhibition of Manganhar’s works titled ‘Disrupted Desire’ opened on Tuesday.
Driven by films, Manganhar’s work is meditation on the world of emotions that is aroused by, identified with and recognised through the narrative on cinema screen.
Converted from celluloid to slates and canvases, the scenes from films appear as the embodiments of our desires, which are disrupted in the realm of reality. Yet a new reality is created in and through his paintings, which include diverse sources of image-making from art and cinema, all converted and projected as a solitary man’s ideas, illusions, hallucinations, demons, dejections, layers of love, as well as the metaphors of our milieu.
The exhibition of Manganhar’s works, which is curated by eminent art critic Quddus Mirza, would be running at the Canvas Gallery until March 10. Photos courtesy Canvas Gallery
