The only exhibition that displays works of more than one hundred artists from all over Pakistan
It was a beautiful evening of January with soft sunshine. The elongated shadows were creeping down the cubic shape brick-architecture of the Alhamra Arts Council, where almost a hundred artists were together for the opening ceremony of the 13thNational Show which eventually was the 28th Annual Exhibition of Paintings, Sculpture and Graphic Arts under the umbrella of the Artists’ Association of Punjab, commonly known as AAP.
This show has some unique features as this is the only exhibition that displays works of more than one hundred artists from all over Pakistan. On the genre-based categorization, this show encompasses landscapes, figurative paintings, still-life paintings, portraits, drawings, miniatures, calligraphy and graphic art prints whereas oil colours, water colours, pastels, acrylics, pencils, ballpoint pens and inks; all mediums seem bursting into the various frames and scales of creativity and emotional emancipation.
To quote Mian Ijaz ul Hassan, the chairman of AAP: “In the present exhibition, there is a considerable range of art works on display. They represent several interests and points of view ranging from calligraphy, traditional and modern miniatures, perceptual and conceptual works and modernist and post-modernist endeavours.”
In the present exhibition, there is a considerable range of art works on display. They represent several interests and points of view ranging from calligraphy, traditional and modern miniatures, perceptual and conceptual works and modernist and post modernist endeavors.
–Mian Ijaz ul Hassan,
Chairman AAP
Pakistan is considered a dangerous zone, especially in the recent years after engaged in the brutal challenges of War on Terror, Talibanization, militarization, martial-law invasions, Ziaism, Bhuttoism, Corruption and Political gains, Enlightened Moderation and Liberalization; all together with no space to think or decide! Therefore, this country has become an experimental pulpit for numerous sermons that have been driving almost 180 million individuals from one point to another, physically as well as psychologically. In this situation, an art show that provides an equal-opportunity platform to nearly 120 artists from all over Pakistan seems really a valuable effort.
However, the assortment of the artwork in this exhibition provides a visual documentation of varied thoughts, ideologies, and atmospheres along with facial and anatomical expressions of this land. For the last 28 years, this show has put together various trends, styles and techniques to document and record the development of different art forms and their exponents in the brochures; published yearly with images of paintings.
One cannot ignore the professional efforts of the Artists’ Association of Punjab (AAP) in organizing this gigantic show. The AAP is formally divided into sub-committees for this purpose under the chairmanship of Mian Ijaz ul Hassan. The Selection Committee comprises on Mr. Ghulam Mustafa, Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali, Ms. Maliha Azami Aga and Mr. Quddus Mirza; the Display Committee has the services of Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Ms. Amina Cheema and Mr. Raza ur Rehman; the Seminar Committee is studded with Dr. Musarrat Hasan, Dr. Rahat Naveed Masud, Ms. Maliha Azami Aga and Ms. Kehkashan Jafri. The Printing and Publication Committee consist of Mr. Ghulam Mustafa, Mian Ijaz ul Hassan, Mr. Quddus Mirza and Mr. Mahboob Ali whereas the Media Committee’s members are Ms. Shela Farooq, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi and Ms. Amna I. Patodi.
On the genre-based categorization, this show encompasses landscapes, figurative paintings, still-life paintings, portraits, drawings, miniatures, calligraphy and graphic art prints whereas oil colours, water colours, pastels, acrylics, pencils, ballpoint pens and inks; all mediums seem bursting into the various frames and scales of creativity and emotional emancipation.
This show not only has always been serving novice artists as a reputable platform but also providing them the opportunity to exhibit their work alongside the big names in the art of Pakistan. This is a unique show keeping in view the diversity and range of the displayed artwork. Over the last three decades, this venue has helped many emerging artists to grow and skill themselves as notable names of Pakistani art.
Education, research and publication have never been a priority for the ruling elites in Pakistan, who never bothered to allocate a good percentage of the state’s budget for this purpose. In the field of arts, this scarcity is even worse with a handful of publications on the subject. Moreover, these books and catalogues are usually authored by individuals who, either were foreigners or immigrant Pakistanis like Anna Molka Ahmad, Marjorie Husain, Marcella Nomen Sirhindi and Barbara Schmitz, or were related to other subjects rather than purely to the visual arts with exceptions of Musarrat Hassan and Ijaz ul Hassan. In this scenario, the continuous publication of the AAP brochure every year, over a span of almost three decades, is a precious, visual as well as analytical, contribution to the documentation of the general evolution of art in Pakistan.
This is a unique show keeping in view the diversity and range of the displayed artwork. Over the last three decades, this venue has helped many emerging artists to grow and skill themselves as notable names of Pakistani art.
Apart from the exhibition, the Artists’ Association of Punjab has to its credit, a seminar every year, on art-related issues of Pakistan. This seminar provides the opportunity to the researchers, art-historians and art-critics of our country to share their views, analysis and observations. It is a universal fact that today, the appropriate documentation of various art schools and art movements, of the Western world, is due to the proper and timely efforts of their art historians and art critics who not only preserved the history and changing patterns of diverse art forms, but also provided guidelines and ideologies to the generations to come.
Had the café Moulin Rouge not been a hub for painters, scholars and writers of France, we would not have been able to have the refined and sophisticated vision of the Western or modern art. In Lahore, Pak Tea House once used to serve the writers, scholars and painters of the city in the same manner. Now this place is only confined to literary activities, and seldom any artists, art-historian or art-critic is found in the subdued and serene atmosphere of that café.
In these circumstances, the annual seminar on Pakistani art is a blessing unmatched.