Written by: Shameen Arshad
Posted on: February 01, 2022 | 
| 中文
Dasein ( Human Being )
Zaam Arif, a Pakistani- American Artist, has exhibited his intellectual and artistic prowess in his first solo show Being and Becoming, that opened to the public on the 27th of January 2022 at Tanzara Art Gallery, Islamabad. The show, well received by the denizens of the capital, is centred on the complexities of human existence, more specifically the constant internal struggles that plagues us.
Arif’s melancholy figures, unlike fabricated portraitures common in art history with curated getups and artificial splendid settings, do not put up a façade. His images reveal human vulnerability, the gloomier and more authentic aspects of life.
Being and Time
The artist’s astute understanding of the human psyche had resulted in images that are brimming with human angst, presenting an overwhelming sensory experience. One can almost feel the wind hissing through the barren landscape or feel the damp muddy ground beneath one’s feet. This sensorial quality is further enhanced by the prominent bold brushstrokes. The thick paint application contains a sense of urgency and restlessness mirroring the discontent of his characters that lethargically lay on sofas, or wearily resign to their bed and stare into the distance. The exaggerated and sombre colour palette further adds to the desolation within the frame.
However, the artist is seen to alter his painting technique when moving from canvas to canvas. He shifts from a largely impressionist paint application to relatively thin coats of paint in others; the vacillating technique, perhaps presenting the fluctuating passion and intensity experienced by the artist while creating each individual piece. The brush strokes greatly determine the intensity within the paintings; the level of turmoil experienced by his figures. “Dissonance” consists of more wild and quick brush strokes portraying heightened tensions, while the painting, “The Roots of fear II” and its more muted layers of paint show a quiet melancholy. The edgy paint application hints at an impending doom; a build-up of frustration and sorrow that is looming just beneath the surface.
Becoming
Each painting title suggests a sense of transition. Whether it is “Limbo”, “Becoming” or the more obvious “Time”, they represent a progression, reinforcing the idea of life present within the frames. The artist presents the human condition as motile, therefore, so are his paintings. The most striking title “the sacrifice”, not only enhances the menacing quality within the canvas but adds ambiguity to the subject matter, demanding more attention and intrigue as the viewer questions what precedes the scene and what is to follow.
The cinematic compositions result in the paintings being seen as a part of a larger picture. It also aggrandizes the theatrics of the scene. The cinematic quality is further adopted in “Being and Becoming” that is split into three different frames. The individual frames warp the viewer’s understanding of in what time and space each event occurred, whether the frames have been put together due to the likeness in nature, mood, or time.
Being and Becoming
The artist’s off-centre compositions are reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s work. Similar asymmetrically cropped canvases, untampered lighting and general reduced choreography of the scene, offset the afore mentioned histrionics, successfully engaging the viewer who does not see the scenes as taking place in another- worldly space.
The uncanny expressions and the empty eyes of the characters unnerve the viewer. The characters appear completely unaware of their audience or even other individuals within the frame. When they acknowledge their presence, they are too exhausted to react, reinforcing the presence of an internal struggle, rather than external conflicts.
The Stranger I
Men half-dressed and some fully clad in suits, show the same level of vulnerability. Characters of varying age, physical traits and environment reveal the ubiquity of such tribulations. This helps the viewer to empathize with the figures making them less like strangers. The work feels intimate due to the display of fragility, yet the averted gaze of the characters hinders that connection, ingeniously capturing the social isolation and distance felt by Arif’s characters.
The landscape suggests strong references to the romantic period where the roaring seascape personifies the upheaval within the human mind. Arif’s landscape possesses similar human characteristics, at times more than the numb figures in the scene. The stillness within the figures is offset by the natural world around them. Thus, the images possess both an eerie stillness as well as dynamism. The water bodies and seemingly never-ending rows of trees promote a sense of infiniteness, perhaps representing the perpetual turmoil experienced by humans. Thus, the artist uses the austere environment to serve as a metaphor for human decay. Furthermore, Arif extricates the woods or the sea from the particularities of region, space and time to increase their universality, as they can now be perceived as autonomous entities.
My Memory Betrays Me
Arif creates landscapes farther from what we know as reality, dousing it in his opinion, thus making it as close to the artist’s truth as it gets. Though the setting might seem fantastical, the viewer can acknowledge the sentiments as authentic. Zaam Arif gives tangibility to the aspects of life that aren’t palpable in the material world, raising the question of how we define a surrealistic approach to art-making compared to a representational one.
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