Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: November 15, 2018 | 
| 中文
Sheena by Iqbal Hussain
Tanzara Art Gallery, nestled in the narrow busy street of Saidpur Village, has brought Iqbal Hussain’s works to the capital for many years. Mr. John Wall, former country director of World Bank Pakistan, is generously showcasing his personal collection of Hussain’s works at the gallery. Over the decades, his relationship with the artist has been that of a supportive patron. Through this collection, we can panoramically glance at thirty years of Hussain’s life as an artist. The retrospective includes oil sketches, lino cut and etching, watercolours and a variety of oil on canvas and board. The exhibition is a real treat for any viewer looking to understand the versatility and whimsical transitional silhouettes in a painting practice.
Hussain’s paintings have a diverse collection of strong female protagonists, reminiscent of many Rabindranath Tagore stories. There are cinematic similarities between the two artists, both depicting South Asian women facing trial and tribulation, indifference and complacency at the hands of an amoral, unforgiving society - Tagore being literary and Hussain being visual. These women in Hussain’s works are being painted in rooms separated, even if momentarily, from their environment to become his painting subjects. The simple play of light and shadow in these works suggests a singular light source, maybe a window or a doorway, creating an immediacy and intimacy between the painter and his subject. There are unresolved compositions and unfinished areas on canvas, yet again bringing an urgency to capture the subject, in what might be one sitting pose.
Part of the collection is from the 90s, with figures painted in oil on paper, showing a younger Hussain using gestural line work, along with a vibrant psychedelic colour palette. His practice, much like a swinging pendulum, moves from the neon frenzy of colour during the 90s to cardinal vintage hues in the early 2000s. The loud and violent noise of the streets behind the women he had painted in the 90s, fade into the background as we enter the 2000s. Subtle strokes of paint create a complex figurative narrative through women gazing back at the viewer, or by a suggestive male subject included into the composition as seen in the painting “Reflection.” A larger oil painting titled “Self Portrait with Muse” has Hussain posing with a paint brush and cloth rag in hand, next to a female subject, both gazing out of the canvas at the viewer; the painting is resolved as the detailing and perspective drawing feels premeditated along with its use of light. Unlike traditional and predictable visual representation of women found in the history of art, the women in these works are not awaiting salvation. They are not assigned the role of the virtuous figure of liberty, responsible for upholding the morals of society. In fact, they are found idly resting, as the world goes on around them.
The retrospective includes Hussain’s watercolour paintings from 2011 onwards. These works, such as one titled ‘Waiting,’ are gentle, kind and fleeting in their execution. From a distance, similar to an old washed out sepia photograph from the 50s, these watercolour paintings are a culmination of having witnessed and observed women for decades. He carefully draws on his own painterly vocabulary, creating images that are compositionally balanced, without compromising the authenticity of his subjects. Hussain champions the women living on the fringes and peripheries of our society, without idealizing their bodies. He is creating a painting practice that communicates presence of his subject, while maintaining spatial realism of colour and form. His work is impressionistic, yet not belonging to the tradition of “Impressionism,” since there is a localization and familiarity to his works that can be found on dimly lit street corners, neighbourhoods and a plethora of backroom conversations. We are not gazing at these subjects and into their spaces but in fact, we as the viewer, are being invited into the space through the subject’s gaze.
Hussain counters mainstream decorative Pakistani art with these confrontational women in their casual bedside mannerism. He expands our figurative vocabulary, by allowing women to direct their own tableaus, while he is merely a witness to the moment they share amongst themselves or with their environment.
Click to view picture gallery
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