Calligraphy, historically used for the means of preservation of Quranic text, is one of the most revered forms of Islamic art. Practiced in Pakistan for years, artistic geniuses like Sadequain brought the art form into the mainstream.
Gallery Louvre (GL) on Thursday opened its doors for an exquisite contemporary calligraphic display, furniture and jewellery items by a noted artist Muhammad Azeem Iqbal for remembering the Muslim heritage.
Iqbal’s Calligraphy pieces displayed in this exhibition are like Dostoyevski’s works with the profundity of thoughts. It is a Japanese ‘NOH’ theatres’ soul searching for a concrete epiphany of the divine, and with such rapid changes of modes and style that remind one of the greatest innovators’ Pablo Picasso.
The panels displayed in the gallery dare even the most casual onlooker to skip over. The minute one glances at the pieces of art, he finds himself bewitched by the succession of grandly conceived and masterly executed calligraphy lines, the sculptural and monumental innovations so beautifully intertwined. The antiquity is symbolised by charred wood and the sanctity imbued with “Aab-e-Zamzam”
Azeem’s panels are not calligraphic pieces in its puritan sense. “It also has got nothing to do with the critic’s description of three hundred and fifty different forms of calligraphies, wherein each form has its own creation. And, where the stress is less on the structural variations then on the meanings of the written words which are used primarily to express feelings, emotions, thoughts, wishes, desires, commands, pleasure and so forth.”
Islamic Calligraphies have strong components of communicative vehicles in the shape of its words in all the known languages of the world, which are governed by strict rules. The observance of these rules enables the word to achieve its utilitarian function – that is to communicate. In the hands of an artist like Iqbal, however the rules are imbued with the subjective aesthetics and these subjective aesthetics are an important element is iqbal’s work.
For the pure visual effect like an orientalist, Azeem has used numerous traditional arts to embellish his work. These decorative arts are used not only to visualize beauty of the works but also to capture the spirit of the written words. The deeper meanings as the artist perceives it.
Azeem’s calligraphies are decorated with floral and geometrical patterns in the oriental tradition. The technique of collage is used in the broader sense to complete a crafty art panel. As such Azeem Iqbal’s panel is a fixture of ten twenty.
Aleena Saeed, the curator of the Gallery Louvre while talking to Pakistan Today said that Azeem Iqbal’s artwork depicted the golden period of Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) to different eras of Islamic civilizations to the present century.
“The artist has adeptly used various mediums like leather, stone, wood, bamboo, gold, bronze, copper and hand crafted paper using Aabe Zamzam (the holy water) to create beautiful art pieces,” Saeed added. The exhibition will continue at Gallery Louvre, House No. 8, Street No. 41, F-6/1, till March 8.
