Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: June 16, 2022 | 
| 中文
REVERIE by Ammama Malik
Anatomical perfection of the figure has been a historically documented quest for artists choosing realism as their forte. Their observational studies are the building blocks in creating the body language that highlights the emotive and psychological exploration of the human figure. Combining elements of oil painting, life drawing, scholastic research and mastering techniques in traditional portraiture and figuration the exhibition “Emergence: a revelation of self’ by Ammama Malik and Jibran Shahid is a testament to their immersive admiration for Renaissance painting. The artists have attended university together and are marital partners sharing a studio space, which instantly reflects in their individual painting practice as the works compliment and complete each other's narratives.
The artists, Jibran Shahid and Ammama Malik
The showcasing is curated by Zareen Khan, who represents artists through her initiative called The Artistic Scene. The artists and Zareen are based in Islamabad, and have travelled with their work to Karachi with their desire to expand their national viewership. Sanat Initiative has high ceilings and industrial construction with the aim to provide artists expansive space to showcase their work. The paintings were installed to provide the viewers a metaphorical opportunity of seeing both sides of the same coin, as the artists paintings were deliberately hung alternately to create direct associations between them. Viewers walking through the space are able to trace the painting's evolution, with Malik’s gentle blending of muted natural tones in oils contrasts to Shahid’s more electrifying, dramatic choice of palette, which creates a sense of urgency in the flow of the series.
WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR by Jibran Shahid
Zareen has brought these two artists together in one show to amplify their painterly decisions and abilities to capture an imaginative perspective on figurative realism. Shahid’s academic background has been in sculpture fueling his visions for painting, while Malik has dedicated herself to traditional painting. Their inspirations are similar, yet the execution is designed to be drastically different from each other. While Shahid’s male protagonist is on a journey into otherworldly and illusionary realms, marked with illustrative symbolism of aurora borealis colours, the distant moon and deathly mangled trees, Malik’s protagonists are confined either in an unconscious state or actively hiding themselves inside an interior space or behind folds of drapery.
DEEP WITH IN by Jibran Shahid
The principles of aesthetics are immediately activated when viewing their body of work as a whole, bringing to mind the iconic Michelangelo’s “David”, or the controversial writing of Oscar Wilde in “The Picture of Dorian Grey”. Malik’s subjects are captured sleeping, as if they were dreaming the premonitions painted in Shahid’s paintings. These central figures start to come to life as we begin to recognise their pain and confusion. The viewer becomes the spectator and the participant as we move between the subconscious to the conscious, creating parallels between reality and illusion. In the painting “Dilemma”, Malik has chosen a singular source of light meticulously painted to reveal muscular definitions marked by shadows of the crevices. The pose suggests the subject is regretting by prostrating helplessness by covering his face. The neutral colours of the bedsheets and the soft linen seamlessly merge into the skin, keeping the focus on the strain seen in the hands and legs.
EMBRACED by Ammama Malik
The selection of visual language by both artists creates an intertwined narrative. The painting “Between Two Kingdoms” by Shahid, opens with an infinite expanse of sky with clouds as the figure feels suspended between the upper and lower half of the painting. He is surrounded with a warm light falling on his face and shoulders, while the lower half of his body transitions into a pale veiny corpse like tones. The posing of the figure for his upper half of the body is familiar, seen as the thinker where the forehead is resting against the open palm but the lower hand is clenched with his heels off the ground, indicating the chance of falling.
THE AWAKENING by Jibran Shahid
The drama of Shahid’s painting showcases the figure basking in the moonlight and sunlight, walking and meditating in the open, whereas Malik’s subjects seem to be immobilised and static. The defined muscles and clenched body of Shahid’s protagonist seem alive, whereas Malik’s figures are losing consciousness and nearing a state resembling death. Perhaps these are the moments before Malik’s subjects leave behind their physical form and are reborn in a celestial light seen in Shahid’s paintings. “The Awakening” by Shahid shows a relaxed figure having completed his life’s cycle emerging resilient and calm. On the same wall, the painting “Surfacing” by Malik, focuses on the portrait of the subject being engulfed by the surrounding drapery as it begins to have a life of its own, moving into the foreground of the painting.
SURFACING by Ammama Malik
The discipline with which each artist has compiled their series is a testament to their passion and technical control of the medium. This exhibition deeply examines classical painting, the traditional art of figuration, while incorporating modern motifs of storytelling and theatrical production seen as whimsical compositions. The show will continue to be open to visitors till June 23, 2022 at Sanat Initiative in Karachi.
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