Work of Austrian artists displayed at COMSATS

DIPLOMATIC CORNER: Austrian Ambassador in Pakistan Dr Brigitta Blaha on Friday inaugurated a two-day art exhibition – Contemporary Art from Austria – at the COMSATS Art Gallery of the COMSATS University here.

The exhibition, attended by people from all walks of life, displays art works of two renowned Austrian artists Anna Stangl and Linde Waber. Anna Stangl is an Austrian-born artist who studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and later studied from Paris as well; she has travelled across the world and exhibited her work almost in all regions of the world.

On Thursday, Anna Stangl conducted a workshop at the Architecture Department of the COMSATS University. She gave an art talk about her work, techniques and her projects. The workshop was attended by students of the design programme who took great interest in Anna’s work and each student produced a drawing on mixed media technique. Selected art works of the students were also displayed in this exhibition.

Linde Waber is renowned artist and a writer as well; she specialised in drawing on different papers using all mediums. One unique aspect of her work is to visit studios of other artists and to draw their studio taking inspiration from the art works of the very artist. In Pakistan, she has worked in different artists’ studios such as Farrah Mahmood’s Studio, Sana Arjumand’s Studio, Zaira Zaka Studio Residencies (the art works of all the above mentioned artists were also displayed).

Linde also visited library of Kishwar Naheed, a renowned Pakistani writer. Naheed read her poetry at the event, her poems added to the beauty of the show and the audience gave her great round of applause. Addressing at the event, Dr Brigitta Blaha said that she was very happy with the COMSATS Art Gallery especially with Farrah Mahmood for providing a platform for the promotion of the Austrian art work and for the cultural exchange that took place between both the countries.

She said that Austria has always been a good friend of Pakistan and such events prove to take the friendly relations to the next level and she looks forward to inviting Pakistani artists to Austria in near future. Head of International Office of COMSATS University Dr Arshad Malik gave vote of thanks to the guests. “I am so happy and humble that Austrian artists chose COMSATS University to exhibit their art works and provided us this opportunity to play a role in bringing both the countries closer,” he said.

“I am glad despite all controversies against Pakistan how foreign countries and their residents still travel to Pakistan and witness themselves how loving Pakistani nation is,” he said. The artists, officials and visitors enjoyed the show and praised gallery efforts. The show will remain open till Saturday (today).