Written by: Areej Ahmed
Posted on: September 8, 2022 | 
| 中文
Stainless steel
In his latest exhibition “Void”, opened on the 3rd of September at Khaas Contemporary, Umar Nawaz informs the audience by implementing pragmatic reformation in his work. Through his lens’s extension we were able to witness the results of his experiments which reflect a truth within textures. A truth the human eye is unable to interpret until it is magnified.
Umar Nawaz is a visual artist based in Lahore, who graduated from the National College of Arts (NCA) in 2014. He is currently a faculty member at NCA, has had various art exhibitions and participated in residencies all over Pakistan. He specializes in working with material that has been deemed redundant, explores its usage in various ways, giving it new meaning by experimenting with it.
Umar Nawaz
The image that comes to one’s mind when they think of the word ‘Stainless steel’ is silver matter molded into different shapes and forms. Umar Nawaz enriched this experience for us by allowing the audience to see a secret that was concealed from them: secret of textures, mimicking nature and its delicacies.
One of his pieces lures the color white as it begins, and shades of gray, dusty brown and black cover the surface. What once was just stainless steel suddenly transforms itself into a story. Here it can be depicted as the aging process of a human being, the truth of faded youth, dusty brown representing a skin that was once smooth, the rigidness within the white lines mimics tangled aged hair. What could be seen as hair in one shot, begins to imitate vein-like roots of an old tree.
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The second piece conceals a light that is striving to make its way through, like the light at the end of a tunnel. There is a hesitance to view what is being concealed, an ironic moment as the art being observed itself is stainless steel, yet it hesitantly and successfully is able to reveal itself to the human eye for what it is then, or perhaps for exactly what it isn’t.
The third piece brings his collection into a moment. A moment where it all comes full circle. Where the name of his work corresponds in this piece; The Void. The audience witnesses what looks like an innocent sky right before sun rise, and it continues to have an element of subtle surprise in the 4th piece where the concept of ‘time’ is woven into the audience’s imagination. The center of this piece or perhaps the core of this piece seems to imitate a starry night. Compared to the previous piece where it mimicked a sky just before the sun rose, the audience is left wondering whether this was before the delicacies of a sunrise. The intentional order of his work is a creative force in itself.
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The 6th piece is a turning point in this journey as the beams of lights increase, there is a subtle form of unspoken acceptance from behind the roots/veins of what is stainless steel, yet simultaneously playing the role of intertwined roots. The element of nostalgia becomes heightened as this piece begins to speak to the viewer with familiarity. It is about the yearning to be accepted vs. the compassion that it requires for acceptance to take place.
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His 7th piece has a twist to it. Here void is represented through extravagant colors, while also keeping the element of subtlety intact marvelously. A dusty champagne hue, followed by shadows that create a wavy effect. Suddenly and simply, what once was merely told to be stainless steel is now dangling strands of divine hope. However, nature seems to find a way into all of Umar’s art pieces. The void of a golden yet hidden waterfall. Understanding that beauty too enjoys being hidden, that hope too is rather a secret to be kept and only nature can achieve the selflessness required to understand the void that comes with this knowledge.
Umar Nawaz fathers this project with the intent of ‘small details’ and ‘textures’, magnifying a visual image that remains unfamiliar to the human eye. Our minds learn to memorize words with associations. These could vary from color, texture, exposure, shadows. Similarly, the theory of these pieces succumbs the audience to an inevitable epiphany. A realization when the brain is unable to associate the visual in front of them to the material that it captures.
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The word ‘Stainless steel’ gives a simple imagery and color theory. Yet upon seeing most of these art pieces the first time, the audience would associate it to the generic concept of what ‘stainless steel’ is expected to look like. The ability to witness and understand the transformation of this thought into a realization is what adds to the experience of this art journey. It is indeed an attempt to challenge perception. Allowing the audience to see the bravery it requires to see it in a different light. Embracing the order of these pieces turns into a journey, an opportunity to tell a silent story. It begins to flow like nature would be expected to, and morphs into different textures.
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The exhibition will continue till the 15th of September at Khaas Contemporary, Islamabad.
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