LAHORE: The Royaat Art Gallery on Wednesday showcased the paintings of fifteen artists which contributed to the theme of water—a substance that has both inspired and challenged painters for millennia given its ephemeral quality.
The artists have drawn from a diverse colour palette to capture the elusive substance. The colours ranged from muted pastels, vibrant primary colours, as well as monochromatic tones which emphasised the surrealism of the watery underworld. The paintings also revealed a wide stylistic influence, drawing from impressionism, realism, and surrealism.
Many of the paintings depicted nature as a sublime—an isolated, fantastical realm. Especially noteworthy was Muhammad Arshad’s depiction of the vibrant rushes that part just to reveal a quicksilver stream that passes through them. He also painted hidden ponds, a wonderful curtain pulled back on a scene lost to the country given the increasing urbanisation and pollution.
The soft golden hues in Mughees Riaz’s sunset cast the most amazing colour on the waterscape outlined by the shadowy silhouette of trees growing on the river banks. Munawar Mohiuddin also captured picturesque scenes of forest clearings drenched by the first spring storm. Najam- ul-Hassan’s classic paintings of the riverscape were a triumph of the realistic technique.
Other paintings underscored the desolation of the landscape pointing to sand dredging that erodes the river banks, forest clearings, and the devastation that man has wrecked on nature.
Shehla Farooq’s masterful depiction of the setting sun highlighted the ravaged, lonely landscape below. An orange sand dredger dominated Ali Saad’s melancholy landscape, depicting the awesome power that humans have over nature.
Other images showed a more harmonious exchange between man and nature—city boys swimming in the Lahore canals, a nomadic tent camp on the brink of the river, as quiet as the river water. A wooden dinghy docked on the edge of the water by Ali Saad pointed to a simpler time and provides hope for a more symbiotic relationship between man and nature.
The exhibition will continue through March 25, 2017, and gallery hours are from 11 am to 7 pm.
