Moon and the Body in Miniature

An exhibition of new works by miniature artists, Shams-ud-Dinn Tanwri, Imran Haider and Ejaz Saeed, opened at Rohtas Gallery here on Tuesday.

Titled ‘Moon and the Body,’ the exhibition showcases contemporary themes blended with traditional miniature techniques. Exploring beyond boundaries, the artist trio attempts to connect to the viewer in a fresh and innovative way that portrays their individual styles. Though the themes and techniques followed by each artist appears to be different, yet they seem to be bonding together in a diverse expression of miniature art. Another connecting bond is that all three are graduates from the National College of Arts, Lahore.

The works on display show power of aesthetic thinking and impulses that most artists used for their narratives and employed it to their work embodying principles that story-telling also works in creativity to shape the response of the viewer as much as the forms they capture. Mostly done in figurative forms, the works appear to the viewer, as a dialogue between the creative mind opening up in diverse ways in a density and complexity of narrative action and discursive reflection through deployment of elaborate imagistic and metaphorical abundance. Connected to rural Sindh, Shams-ud-Dinn tries to re-connect to the much-urbanised Lahore through his creative eyes and tries to capture the environmental difference that impacts his work.

Experimenting with the traditional miniature format using Gaouche on Wasli, Shams explores the contemporary enigma to portray the suffocative urban culture and the freshness of rural environment. To show elements of growth and expansion, he has juxtaposed his images with shadows of blackness and suffocation Using Polythene imagery as a symbol of the suffocation, he experiences in urban lifestyle, Shams captures his male figurative, as opposites to express his creative thinking. Apart from male figurative, he has also captured the circle of life through one of his work on display.

Imran Haider’s work is all about form and revealing the visual eloquence in all things that he sees around him. Capturing his imageries in both the details and abstractions of the object, Imran makes an attempt to capture the special out of the ordinary. Imran says that by taking the part to represent the whole, he explores ordinary forms across a variety of subjects in many diverse processes to create the perfect work.

Ejaz Saeed focuses his creative eye on the importance of personal subjectivity and acceptance. Using circles as a as a recurring symbol, he tries to portray its power and significance as in a halo or a crown. His circles also represent both a closed space reflecting his ideas of freedom and resignation and the possibility of escape.

The exhibition would continue at Rohtas Gallery, House No 57-B, Street 26, F-6/2, Islamabad, till February 18.

(TheNews)

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