Written by: Haroon Shuaib
Posted on: August 06, 2024 | 
| 中文
Farazeh Syed
Farazeh Syed’s journey as an artist was not a conventional one, although raised in a household full of music, literature and poetry, she did not initially envision herself as an artist. She wanted to study psychology, pursue a law degree or join the military. Grand-daughter of legendry songstress Malika Pukhraj, whose later years were spent in Lahore and who was considered nothing less than an institution in the city, Farazeh spent her formative years closely attached to her. Malika’s larger-than-life personality and the home where Farazeh grew under her towering shadow, left an indelible mark on her personality and art.
Attire by Farazeh Syed
As a child, Farazeh read philosophy, wrote poetry, and was trained by her grandmother in music, but never even kept a sketchbook until she decided to apply for an admission to the National College of Arts. That was when her interest in the fine arts were kindled, and she joined the renowned portrait artist Saeed Akhtar’s classes to learn figure drawing for a year. Farazeh later studied at National College of Arts (NCA), Gandhara College of Art and the Parson’s School of Design in the US.
A big influence that is reflected on Farazeh’s canvases is of the maestro artist, Iqbal Hussain. She spent sixteen years under his tutelage, going to his house, in the inner-city Lahore, from dawn to dusk, painting people and landscapes. She still considers that rigorous training, painting live models for hours and days at end, as most consequential in discovering her signature style.
Farazeh likes to experiment with mediums and forms
For Farazeh, her inspirations come from her surroundings, observations and experiences. She also has a deep fascination with the works of Iqbal, Gauguin, Lucian Freud, and Amrita Shergill. During her travels abroad, she has spent hours staring at the works of Gauguin, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. While drawing parallels between Iqbal and Gauguin, she describes how both have an element of honesty with which they paint. “No frills … so truthfully done!” These are the elements she admires in any work as she emphasizes the quality of being truthful as an artist. While she admires Amrita’s choice of colours, Farazeh’s women are different from Amrita’s stylized representation of women. Amrita’s subjects are dainty and always seen through a romanticised lens. Farazeh on the other hand paints her subjects with brutal honesty. Her women are strong, empowered and seen exuding a sense of agency. Farazeh’s women are burly, earthy and actively engaged in some preoccupation, almost always oblivious of their surroundings, with flora and fauna curated around them, each object adding a new layer of meaning to her composition. Men rarely make an appearance in Farazeh’s art.
The Absurdity of it all
“I celebrate the dynamism, strength and resilience of womanhood and the abundance and generative power of the female body. Deeply rooted in my own history, culture and subjective experience, I create visual narratives that are autobiographical, yet universal, " Farazeh declares.
Shakti by Farazeh Syed
Farazeh does not describe herself as a conceptual artist but is not averse to politics in art. She claims, “Everyone is entitled to do what they want to do as long as it’s from the heart and truthful.” However, art should not be too conceptual and exist in a bubble. It should be accessible to the people at large. While we expect the masses to educate themselves, it is also the artists’ responsibility to make them aware. For this purpose, art should be comprehensible to the public. The galleries are intimidating because we have this “drawing room art culture,” which makes them limited to a certain social class. “Too elitist,” Farazeh chimes in, which makes art inaccessible to the common people. Farazeh also expresses concerns about too much commercialization of art. She says that it takes the focus away from quality and hard work where there is a drive for instant success. You are painting to merely sell and show, which should not be the case. Farazeh recounts how Iqbal Hussain was not too pleased with her doing her first solo show, as he believed that she was not ready for it. However, her focus has never been on selling while she paints. Her art is inspirational!
Gaia by Farazeh Syed
Farazeh, now with numerous international and local shows to her credit, further elaborates her creative process and workspace. She does not force symbols, characters or elements in a painting. The process is quite organic, as she wakes up at four or five in the morning to work in her studio. The time she spends outdoors is spent observing. One is an artist in every moment. The studio is the creative space where the work is produced. A lot of time Farazeh can be found reading or researching to find new dimensions for her art as she makes it a conscious pursuit to not get set in a monotonous style.
With a little forethought, Farazeh chooses the scale of her canvas and the colours. The vision comes first for her and then the canvas. One can see Farazeh’s art in all shapes and sizes. She likes to constantly challenge herself as an artist and break the monotony of scale. In her art, we see the figure and its posture determining the scale of the painting almost naturally. One can almost feel that the artist drives as much pleasure from experimenting with canvas sizes and compositions as she does with what she puts on those canvases of varying sizes. In this process, she even leaves behind the concern for content and believes in spontaneity, and objects effortlessly make their way into the stories of each of her canvas.
The Empty Bottle by Farazeh Syed
The symbols in Farazeh’s work are, again, not something deliberate. Rather these are the observations that keep accumulating in her subconscious and get dispersed later in her work. Her art depicts foliage and animals frequently, reminiscent of the countless evenings spent in the orchard of her grandmother’s haveli (mansion) in Lahore. The inspirations and references gathered during her childhood experiences of living in a house surrounded by orchards and wild animals that were kept as pets by the inhabitants of the house. For a long time, she kept wondering where the monkeys came from into her work, until she made the connection with her childhood. She likes to draw what she can feel a relationship with, and her work represents the culture of Lahore.
Farazeh’s mediums are also as forceful as her subjects, giving her art a dimensional quality and making her consider taking up ceramics as the next form of expression that she wants to explore. Till then, one can only wonder how Farazeh’s poignant and robust subjects lend themselves to a rather genteel art form.
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