LAHORE – Lustrous marigolds dot the canvas of Matloob Baig’s centerpiece on display at Royaat Gallery’s latest show: “Changing Seasons”. The show, opening on March 24, seeks to capture the beauty of the ephemeral seasons. “Using a vibrant colour palate and vivid strokes, Matloob has captured wonderful movement in his landscapes, depicting the interplay between the wind and sunlight,” says Royaat Gallery Director Faryal Arif Latif. Baig, one of Pakistan’s most exciting painters, received his Master of Arts from Punjab University, Lahore and has received critical acclaim at numerous shows throughout the country.
His paintings have the quality of peering through the looking glass, and witnessing an alternate, more idyllic reality. Baig’s delicate rendering of nature provides his paintings a crystalline quality, most often associated with the Photorealism School that emerged in the 1960 and 1970s. His extravagant, multi-layered images draw the viewer in to celebrate the glory of nature and its transformative powers. However, some of his water paintings almost have a surrealist quality, as if the glassy surface of the water led to the gateway of a different world.
The sophistication of Baig’s images transforms commonplace scenes into a source of wonder and a celebration of nature’s life cycle. The show opens on March 24 and will be on display for two weeks. The gallery timings are 10am to 7pm, or by appointment. Royaat Art Gallery was established in Lahore in 2001. “Royaat”, translated from Arabic, means “a place of beauty”, as seen by many displays of the works of Pakistani master painters. The mission of Royaat is to ensure the highest standards of installation and security and create a space to promote Pakistani arts. To date, Royaat has over fifty shows to its credit and manages the sale of Pakistani arts in Pakistan as well as internationally.
