Momin Khan and Shaista Momin recently had their show’s opening at the Alliance Française de Karachi. The event was hosted by Consul General of France in Karachi Christian Ramage, who takes personal interest in promoting Pakistani art through the French Cultural Centre.
Khan’s art has rhythm and gust, and dynamism and energy that are easily felt. The men in his artwork with their northern, rugged faces look fierce and intense while the game of buzkushi is on. Several large canvases are on display, and a number of them have already been sold.
In another of his works, the goat carcass seems to be dragged as men voraciously try to peg it, horses a little breathless and in movement. This game is mainly played in Gilgit in summer and it is a tradition.
There are some paintings with polo players as well. The use of colour is bold red, yellow and blue, with brushwork in abstraction in places and very strategic compositions. Paintings that show Pakistani traditional sports and culture appear wonderful to the foreign visitors and hold great interest for them.
One of Khan’s other works was a little different. It had strong abstract faces with flower motifs and a few caught my eye. I detected strong influences of Rahi and BM in them.
As for Khan’s wife, her work was a pleasant surprise. She definitely sends a powerful message for women through her works. Her lines are strong, and her subjects are Pakistani women in a large figurative style and on large canvasses – standing, sitting or reclining.
Their body language communicates to the viewer that they do not want to interact. And with their faces hidden, they had an air of mystery about them, emphasising that self-expression and searching for their own identity is taboo.
The use of light added to the drama of their environment along with the symbols of chess players. Their lives manipulated by their families – first by the parents and then by the husband. Resultantly, she is lost and voiceless as an individual.
Shaista’s work has a sensitivity about the way she catches her women’s expressions or the creases on the folds of a dress or saree, oblivious to their environment. In one painting, as a woman stares in the distance at her future, the barbed wire above and below seems to cut her to size. In another painting, a woman reclines, hiding her face, while a woman curiously peeks from the window behind.
All in all, her paintings speak volumes about her compositions and geometric interplay with strong colours, blended efficiently in the backdrop, creating an air of intense emotional drama.
Mehreen Ilahi is the Chief Executive Officer of the Majmua art gallery situated in Phase V of the Defence Housing Society, Karachi.
