Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: December 15, 2021 | 
| 中文
Focal me by Hamza Qazi
Modern figurative painting since the mid-twentieth century has sought to deeply explore the psychological and environmental aspects of the human condition. Artists employ the study of portraiture to offer viewers the chance to see their own humanity, thoughts, and emotions reflected back to create a cathartic experience and moment of transformative connection. The current group show on display at Ejaz Art Gallery opened on the 10th of December 2021 bringing together a new wave of figurative artists that are pushing the traditional boundaries of painting, by offering new perspectives and techniques to the classical subject. "A Slice Of Life" is a modern showcasing of painting works by Adnan Khan, Aun Raza, Gul e Shazma, Hamza Qazi, Javaid Iqbal Mughal, and Lariab Ahmad.
Being Stared by Aun Raza
The control of scale and perspective in Aun Raza's paintings shows subjects from various cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Using compositions inspired by studio photography, each painting captures glimpses of high fashion intersecting with mystical symbolism and popular culture motifs. His compositions are layered with portraits creating a multiplicity of narratives for the viewer. Raza plays with scale creating larger-than-life portraits with intricate detailing and blended skin tones creating cinematic portraiture. He deliberately leaves conversational elements using recognizable statues, clothing, animals, and foliage. In "Eternity's on loop" there is a horse with a gaping mouth coming out of the side of the frame, "Brawl Of Divination" shows a miniature man tied with a red rope while a larger portrait laughs behind him covered in bright flowers. The absurd and unusual pairing offers a deeper reading into the image as seen in "Being Stared" there are two distinctly different subjects layered into one central figure with a singular butterfly resting on the shoulder of the female in the foreground.
Gold gifts by Adnan Khan
Artists are using abstraction as a means to creating portraits, Adnan Khan uses mark-making in the form of pointillism in his series of paintings. "Gold Gifts" and "Innocent" are portraits of children with different expressions. From a distance, the paintings look photographic with illustrative rendering but on closer examination, there are thousands of individual dots in a wide range of pixels of colors coming together to form a complete picture. The vibrating geometry of Khan's dots captures the authentic emotional responses experienced by children, his work explores the sincerity and reality of their emotions. By choosing to create portraits of children he shares that their state of being is incorruptible and pure. He offers viewers the chance to reconnect with their inner child through the playful and unfiltered expressions of children.
Cityscape 2 by Gul e Shzma
The series "Cityscape" by Gul e Shazma has a symposium of colors that look graphic and digitally manipulated. They depict a busy street seen through the filter of colorful forms and irregular linework. The result is spontaneous and improvised, capturing the hustle-bustle and fast-paced environment of the city. The interesting silhouettes of people, vehicles, pavement, and shops create an otherworldly architecture. The composition is in motion unpacking the scene in relation to the human figure. The people in her paintings are familiar as we see roadside traffic and neighborhoods every day of our lives. Shazma's compositions are carefully reassembled views of her environment that feel like collage or etching yet are within the realm of traditional painting techniques. The bright neon colors of yellow, orange, green, and blue feel like a jigsaw puzzle as the eyes travel to each corner of the painting.
Hunters by Javaid Iqbal Mughal
Javaid Iqbal Mughal has explored the nature of men and their gathering together in his paintings. The painting "Hunters" shows a group of men looking down positioned on the top half of this painting within a tight and compressed space, underneath them is a larger rectangle of bright red solid color field. The unspoken tension and pressured silence between the men are transferred onto the viewer. The faces of the men are hard to read with shadows and hints of light showing some facial features. Mughal's color palette has moody dark hues of blue, ochre, and red is paired with a large void of space that Mughal fills with vibrating primary hues of red and yellow. The final composition purposely reframes subjects within brighter sections of color that disrupt and push back on the viewers' gaze. In "Give but give until it hurts" there is a solitary figure with his arms folded and mask on his face with a soft backlight that traces his body's silhouette positioned in front of a deep red background. The expression of the subject's face is pensive but he seems withdrawn from the world around him.
I am the best reason why I should stay in the flames by Lariab Ahmad
A burst of color and shapes can be seen in Lariab Ahmad's paintings that feel immediate and impulsive. In "I am the best reason why I should stay in the flames" she has created her own world with figures dancing and coupling in a Cirque du Soleil tableaux. The bodies in motion create a subconscious reality where these figures feel like the emotional responses of the artist. "Melancholic Sketch" has an intense grouping of theatrical masks or statues with nightmarish melted features paired with an uplifting palette of light hues of colors. Her paintings invite the viewer with their fresh violets and pinks yet there is a haunting sadness to the figures staring out of the painting. Ahmad uses her paintings as a journal of observations of relationships creating her own visual language with illustrative bold black paint and figures with vacant expressions.
Hamza Qazi explores the shape of the body through light and shadow. The light in his paintings is modern and controlled using photography studio techniques to create sharpness and detail on his subjects' hands, feet and face. There is a sense of suspense and intimacy in his work as the rendering is kept hyperrealistic and feels almost airbrushed. The blurring of mediums is evident in each of his paintings as it is hard to tell if the image is painted or digital. Parts of the body are highlighted which creates a psychological environment. His painting "Swaddling Girl" is also available as Non-Fungible-Token (NFT) where the blanket worn by his subject changes color creating a wave of motion. The organization NFTOAR is Pakistan's first NFT gallery representing Qazi's work in collaboration with Ejaz Art Gallery presenting metaphysical artwork in Pakistan. The artists in this group are dedicated to their exploration of the human figure and its relationship to its environment.
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