LAHORE – Qaiser Habibi’s paintings displayed in the Collectors’ Galleria depict forts and monuments of long ago, when the land was not divided, and monarchy still ruled the sub continent.
The buildings he has shown are famous for their beautiful architecture, their arches and minarets, and their magnificent tile work of various shades of blue, azure and white. But maybe this is where the familiarity ends.
Each building is seen in a kind of fantasy world, which never existed, or even if it did, it must have been many more years ago before the buildings were even made!
The Lahore Fort for instance is drawn in complete white hue, where only one side of the fort can be seen (the one that overlooks the main Fort Road today). The fort’s pillar has a typically Mughal minaret on top, and along this is the very high and long wall moving towards the eye of the viewer. Below there are some traces of gardens, and right opposite the fort is a balcony where three men stand talking to each other, dressed in old Mughal era colourful robes and turbans. However, upon a single glance, one can see that this is not the realistic replica of the centuries old Lahore Fort. The balcony’s architecture may be from the same era, but it is nowhere near the location of this wall and minaret. There is also a small bridge which crosses over water, and has a sun house behind it. This is not in the Lahore Fort, instead this section of the architecture is found in the Shalimar Gardens. To make matters even more confusing, the artist, probably inspired by the surreal imagination of Salvador Dali, has painted in the background, dark mountains, smudged because of the fog in the air.
The most unnerving aspect of the image lies in the entire painting being done in a white hue, while the tree (near the balcony) and the three men, are the only elements that have any colour whatsoever, thus giving the whole scenario a dreamlike quality to it.
Similarly, very strangely painted is the mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam. Here the artist has not stopped in jolting the viewer out of his reality. In fact, the building becomes almost unrecognizable because the tomb is made without its great, white dome, (showing that the tomb probably originally looked like this until the dome was built), and even more surprising a transition – the tomb has been placed in the middle of deep blue water – probably the Arabia Sea. The only ‘animate’ object is a small boat anchored near the island that tomb is situated upon. In all probability, those who want to pay a visit to the tomb have reached there on a boat.
In Sindh, there is another small and unknown tomb of a Sufi Saint which is situated exactly in this manner, on land so constricted that a person may fall off, while trying to climb it, resulting in bad luck, as the saying goes.
In a night view of this tomb in water, the artist has painted even mountains in the back this time, ragged and old, while boats with lights are converging towards the tomb. The scene may be surreal, but it is magical and beautiful all the same. The tomb in fact is surrounded by rocks and is now (in this painting) in a rocky cove.
Besides tiny dot of the white moon, the entire painting has been done in blue depicting the evening of a rainy day; therefore, it also has a melancholy aura in it.
Rocks and mountains as well as the sea equally inspire Habibi it seems. A Slice of the Lahore Fort has again been painted this time, right next to a rocky cliff, as if it has been carved out of rock itself, with a wild sea splashing at its feet, surrounded once again by rockery.
Other scenes that Habibi has painted are also from pure imagination but contain no surreal elements in them. Instead, scenes from an old marketplace or bazaar, a busy street, a rural scene, or the Shah Rukn-e-Alam tomb (this time painted on dry land), with people on camels and on foot commuting near it, can be seen. The camels are understandable, as Multan (where the tomb is) is the last ‘urban’ area in South Punjab after which the Cholistan desert starts.
Qaiser Habibi’s display of paintings is a wonderful experience for those who are particularly interested in seeing works done in oil and acrylics, projecting images with dreamlike and surreal characteristics incorporated in them.
Realistic illusions
