Ahmer Farooq, a Lahori with a passion for art has devoted his creative energies to creating some powerful pieces over the years. A marketer by profession, his aim is to produce contemporary art depicting current concerns of the society—anxieties and aspirations—by focusing on personalities and movements in an alluring manner.
He has displayed his work internationally at various galleries and this time, he hit the Sanat Gallery in Karachi earlier this week. His painting exhibition titled ‘Forbidden Love’ positioned figures on the canvas to trigger emotions from shame, fear, insecurity, self-loathing and loneliness to longing, passion, love and desire.
The title of the exhibition ‘Forbidden Love’ reflected on the artist’s work where he portrayed the contemporary art in a very elaborative manner and highlighted the tabooed love exquisitely.
While talking to Pakistan Today, the artist said, “The objective behind this exhibition was to convey my message to the world through my paintings. Most of my work talks about social issues of Pakistan and how we as a society look at them.”
Ahmer has contextualised his work within the local community by using the Urdu language for the script, to frame the figures and also managed to incorporate words as incomplete sentences. Furthermore, he aimed to project the incomprehensibility of the relationships from the outside – fully known only to the lover and the beloved – and equally the incompleteness of the relationships that long to be but are never accepted by the outside.
Furthermore, when asked about the message behind the artwork displayed in the exhibition, Ahmer said, “I turn my gaze away from the oppression of the woman to that of the lover(s). I wish to highlight the existence of courtship, homosexual relationships and extra-marital ‘affairs’ in an overtly conservative Islamic country where heterosexual marriage is the only accepted form of intimacy.”
He continued to add that the collection “underscores the web of emotions, bonds and tensions that tie couples together, as they are crippled from the outside. Bound to secrecy, a lover is seen as a shadow figure often reduced to sex”.
As this was his first exhibition, Ahmer was amazed at the response he received from the locals there. “All the guests who came to the exhibition were really delighted to see my work and were very interested in my concept,” he said.
As people who visit art exhibitions tend to have a lot of questions about the concept and the idea in order to get a better understanding of the artist’s work. Similar was the case with Ahmer.
“People asked me a lot of questions about my work to get a better understanding. Having said that, I got a very good review from the critics and excellent response the collectors,” he said.
As he wrapped up his exhibition in Karachi, the art-lovers in Lahore should gear up for his show in Lahore later this year. Moreover, the artist is keen on showcasing his work internationally as well along with commission projects lined for him.
