Exhibition of Prints Sydney-Lahore at Saeed Akhtar Studio

An exhibition of prints titled ‘Sydney-Lahore: Prints from the Collection of Cicada Press and Saeed Akhtar Studio’ opened at Saeed Akhtar Studio on Tuesday.
In this exhibition around 200 prints of 72 artists from across the world, including Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, China, United Kingdom, United States and Pakistan, have been showcased. It is also noteworthy that prints of three renowned late artists, including Shahid Sajjad, Jalal Shemza and Zahoorul Akhlaq, have also been displayed.
A large number of art lovers visited the studio and admired the work of artists.
Michael Kempson, convenor of Printmaking Studies and director of Cicada Press at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, has displayed art works of 20 artists at the exhibition.
Exhibition curator Usman Saeed said that despite having had an incalculable effect on science, technology, archaeology and ethnology, it was the emotive spirit of an artist’s print that aligns most with the inventive tools of modern life and thought. He said that the studio celebrated this spirit in an attempt to make prints from diverse regions of the world, converse with each other. While the idea of this show was originated when printmaking graduates from the National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, Fatima Saeed and Imran Ahmad, enrolled in the postgraduate programme at the UNSW College of Art and Design, Australia, he added.
Senior UNSW Lecturer Michael Kempson said that educational scope of this show was extended further in a twofold way: both the collections in Sydney and Lahore present a survey of the milestones in the development of printmaking and through exhibiting them together, aim to foster a dialogue between art practices in the two cities. He said that they invited Saeed Akhtar and Usman Saeed for Cicada Press Residency in July 2013.
Exhibition was followed by a lively conversation during which Michael Kempson, former NCA principal Nazish Attaullah and Saeed Akhtar discussed the importance of printmaking studies. The exhibition will continue until September 20.
(dailytimes.com.pk)