A solo painting exhibition entitled “Roads, Less Travelled” by a French artist of Pakistani origin, Raja Najam-ul-Hassan Najmi, opened here at Jharoka Art Gallery (JAG) on Friday.
Thomas Ditt, Cultural Attaché, at the embassy of Germany was the chief guest on the occasion. Often playing with horizon line by placing it in the top or bottom quarter of the canvas, Raja produces the offset impact of the sunny blue sky and indigo waters with the shimmering hues of the sandy shoreline. Strong contrasting expanses of colours and spots of dark shadow areas make for a limited but dramatically juxtaposed palette with impact value. Talking to this scribe, Raja Najam-ul-Hassan said, “I often paint in bright sunlight” when Najmi remarked he was referring to the most obvious aspect of his work, the blinding glare of the noonday sun and the dark cast shadows dramatically cutting through the picture plane of his crust Impasto art works. Najmi’s colour pellet mimics the hues of nature and pale ocher, shades of brown, terracotta and blue are applied with the touches of reds, yellows and green inserted for special effects. His landscapes are devoid of any human presence relying mainly on natural atmosphere to convey mood and intention. According to Marjorie Husain, an art critic, there were no figures inhabiting the landscape paintings of Najmi, but only the tranquil pattern of nature reflected in deserts, fields and seas.
