Gallery Louvre Paints a Spectrum

MUNIR AHMED

Gallery Louvre, on Wednesday, presented the flickering visions of whom two artists, A S Rind and M Hussain, belong to Sindh, while the third participant Natalia Kakar is a Ukrainian. Interestingly, the images they paint belong to the same soil. Despite the varied media and treatment, experimentation with line and colours is common among them.

All three artists are struggling to express their thoughts and visions about their surroundings. Somewhere in their experimentation, the spontaneity merges with creativity to bring out an uncommon flair.

A S Rind has shown, in his expressionistic forms, the women from his region. Doe-eyed women with long necks are the usual and phenomenal visual treat when we talk about the best eastern art. He has continued the tradition with his own narrative. He has added poetic verses of renowned poets Mirza Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz, which disturb the flow of rhythm in the imagery.

Born in 1960 in Rahim Yaar Khan, Rind - with an immense amount of talent and a four-year diploma from Karachi Arts Council - has been painting since 1984.

His present work is in oil on canvas that shows off his inspiration from his rich culture, which he expresses in the form of motifs and jewellery adorned by the female figure in his paintings. Rind’s paintings carry a strong cultural influence of his area, as his paintings are deeply influenced by the regional aesthetics, splendour, colours, and motifs.

He has participated in for over thirty exhibitions with ten exhibitions at international level. His work is getting tremendous popularity at national as well as international level.

Experimenting with colours, Rind has given effects of embossing and carving to his paintings. His works reflect heavily the faces and moods of the women of his native land adorned elegantly with ethnic jewellery in distinctive styles.

Rind says Cholistan, Thar and Rajasthan are what influence his paintings and it is mainly the colours and moods of those areas that I enjoy depicting.

Acrylic bubbles make M Hussain Chandio’s work more experimental. This is the first time Chandio has exhibited his work in Islamabad. The talented artist from Jamshoro keeps practicing with a variety of mediums and techniques in a contemporary fashion.

This is his eighth exhibition that he preferred to call it “Sundar Chahra” that he tried to form through the dot art technique, an unusual form of expression in Pakistan.

Alina Saeed, curator of the exhibition says, “Up-close the paintings look as abstract art however at the distance you can see a very clear formation of a face in a very tight frame. Treated in a manner of chunk close large faces in big canvases are painted in small grids. Chandio has certainly synthesized the colour hues with various fragments of colour dabs, which are not only challenging but also excite the aesthetic interest.”

In his artwork , Chandio very carefully crops close-up faces mostly of rural women. What is most challenging in this technique is that not only do the faces take forms but so do their expressions and ornaments.

The forms are developed in small grids and circles that are meticulously outlined with the darker tone. These darker tones are then weaved together, creating an expression in the portrait, this is the unique and interesting part of his work.

In his own words, “Everything created by God is beautiful. Sometimes the beauty of life stops us in our tracks. We are arrested by it and are bounded by it. Faces of our loved ones possess such beauty in my humble way I try to capture this beauty on my canvases.”

Natalia Kakar carries the art from her origin, Moldova that is a hub of Asian and European culture. Her art is also a mixture of western ideology with eastern additives, and typical native treatment.

She has titled her work as “Myths and Beauty” that is mainly carved out from the pen-and-ink sketches. Mostly known for her paintings Natalia unleashes her fantasies in her sketches. Her fantasy goddess wears different faces, from Greek myths to eastern brides but her European art school education reveals itself in every line.

She says, “Goddess myths have inhabited the human imagination and spirit for thousands of years, representing the eternally feminine qualities that pattern women’s lives. Each of the goddess myths is different just as each goddess is unique – motivated by different values and priorities. Each has goddess-given characteristics, both positive and potentially problematic ones. What I do is draw them on paper.”

Memories: Remembering Rauf Khalid

Munir Ahmed

On the sets of ‘Guest House’ at PTV Islamabad Centre in 1991, I saw a young, well-dressed and well-behaved man very confidently briefing the stock actors of the drama series. Producer and director of the drama series Syed Shakir Uzair delivered his briefing in a desi style while the young man used English words and slangs.

I observed his gestures quite keenly. I did not know his name but I was curious about him. I didn’t dare to ask anyone because I was new and a little shy.

After long discussions with the stock characters and Syed Shakir Uzair, he returned to his seat, which was luckily just adjacent to mine. He shook hands, looked at me carefully and said, ‘Rauf Khalid’.

I introduced myself.

He asked, ‘What role are you performing?’

I told him it was only a supporting role.

‘Are you a Kashmiri?’ he asked.

When I told him I was not, he said, “Your complexion and light hazel coloured eyes give a pure Kashmiri look.’

We exchanged phone numbers and he asked me to meet him the next day.

Those were the days of my struggle and I was exploring every possibility. The next day, I went to meet him at his office in the Civic Centre, G-6 (commonly known as Melody Market). Then, he was working with the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) as a Second Secretary.

We talked about everything we could. Rauf also told me about his paintings and a passion to make a serial on the Kashmir struggle. He very kindly offered me to perform in that serial too besides working for his monthly magazine ‘Knowledge’ that he had launched from Islamabad.

He invited me to his home in Sector G-9/3 for our next meeting. During my visit, he showed me his village landscapes and paintings of horses with beautiful feminine eyes.

I saw him working hard for his brainchild ‘Guest House’, the popular comedy series of PTV’s Islamabad Centre. I know how hard he worked for the production of drama serial ‘Angar Wadi’ that he produced and co-directed in collaboration with the ISPR and PTV. It was the first time that ‘real effects’ were used on screen similar to those used in Hollywood. This serial helped him financially and he moved from G-9/3 to his own house in F-11/3.

Later on, he produced another super-hit serial ‘Laag’ for PTV. Somehow, his first and last film ‘Laaj’ turned out a big flop because it was not a formula film. His close friends know that he wanted to produce ‘Once upon a time in India’ with Julia Roberts performing the lead role. Somehow, it did not work out.

About four years back, he entered into a public-private partnership with the Lok Virsa. He infused life into it by establishing Craft Bazaar, Virsa Cafe and an institute for cultural studies. I personally know that he put in every effort to popularise this venue.

Somehow, I could not have the chance to work with him, but we remained in the loop of friendship that lasted until his last breath, and continues even after. He was sharp, smart, innovative and a workaholic with all nationalism. He delivered to the nation what many could not.

Of ‘Angels or Demons’

Munir Ahmed

The contemporary miniatures by Lahore-based artist Akbar Ali brings the actualities of the global village, and the realities that come with it as a change in the human behaviours. The exhibition of his artwork titled ‘Angels or Demons’ opened at the Khaas Art Gallery Tuesday.

Ali has played successfully with the tonal variations of pallet and lines to portray the inner-selves of people of our society – that is on the gateway of global inspirations and influences.

In many ways, his characters are on the same place at a certain time, but they seemingly remain indifferent to each other. No signs of communication, however, are evident between the two characters in the case of his ‘couple series’. Through different compositions, Ali has aspired to take the art enthusiasts to a voyage of the void.

Some of his large-size miniatures in particularly are reflective of the face-off the society go through in the fast-changing value-system. His strength of ‘line’ and treatment speak of Ali’s skilful genius. The precise details in the smaller miniatures and the use of negative and positive spaces have made his art pieces a teat to watch.

His aspirations in creative pursuits are inspired by the renowned artist Jameel Naqsh.

Ali Akbar is one of the brightest young stars to have emerged on the scene in recent years. An artist trained in the miniature tradition, Akbar graduated in Fine Arts from the National College of Art with honours in 2008, but his experience, and initiative far outreaches the boundaries of an art institution.

Art critic Marjorie Husain says, “I first encountered him in the mid 1990s at Jamil Naqsh’s home in Karachi. He was in his early teens, a boy determined to make his way in art and in common with Naqsh. Akbar Ali imbibed the discipline of the miniature tradition with the aspiration to continue the classic art from with a contemporary viewpoint and revitalize the exquisite art form.

“From childhood Akbar was fascinated by the `line’. He drew and practiced calligraphy learnt from signboard writers in his area. His vocation has been fuelled and directed from many of the country’s leading artists.”

In Rahim Yar Khan, he met up with the artist Chitra who impressed by Akbar’s work, invited him to join him in Karachi. Chitra was a student of Jamil Naqsh and in Karachi he introduced Akbar Ali to the maestro. Though he was a student of Science at the Kairpur University, Akbar met and took advice from the city’s senior artists.

In 2003, he left his studies and left for Lahore where he was fortunate to be guided by R M Naeem before taking admission at the National College of Arts (NCA) in 2004.

The four years at NCA gave Akbar the experience he sought; he referred to the institute as a ‘heaven for arts’. Eager to learn more of the world, he found a studio of his own in 2005, and revamped it as a gallery/café.

There he ran classes and enjoyed meeting a diverse group of people. His ability soon caught the attention of his teachers and he was involved as part of a team assisting Jamal Shah on a large permanent sculpture project for the Tokyo Expo Centre (TEC). He was one of the team assisting Ustad Basheer Ahmed in a roof-based painting for the Centre. The energy and capacity for work saw that the artist did not neglect his class projects.

His paintings were included in exhibitions in London, as well as Lahore and Islamabad. Ali Akbar’s work was selected for an exhibition titled ‘Sacred Marks and Spaces’ held at the Gallery 11, Bradford University, UK.

Acclaimed and sought out as an exciting young talent, Ali’s work is unique. Observing diverse facets of his experience and surroundings, he expresses a viewpoint that encompasses spiritual, emotional, and corporeal issues in work of great beauty and distinction, says Marjorie Husain.

Published in daily Dateline Islamabad, December 28, 2011

Melting mountains put millions at risk in Asia: study

Munir Ahmed

Increased melting of glaciers and snow in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau threatens the food security of millions of people in Asia, a study shows, with Pakistan likely to be among the nations hardest hit.

A team of scientists in Holland studied the impacts of climate change on five major Asian rivers on which about 1.4 billion people, roughly one-fifth of humanity, depend for water to drink and to irrigate crops.

The rivers are the Indus, which flows through Tibet and Pakistan, the Brahmaputra, which carves its way through Tibet, northeast India and Bangladesh, India’s Ganges, the Yangtze and Yellow river in China.

Studies in the past have assumed that a warmer world will accelerate the melting of glaciers and snow in the Himalayas and Tibetan Plateau, which act like water towers, the study published in the latest issue of the journal Science says.

But a lack of data and local measurement sites has hampered efforts to more precisely figure out the magnitude of climate change impacts on particular countries, the numbers of people affected in coming decades and the likely effects on crops.

The issue is crucial for governments to assess the future threats from disputes over water, mass migration, and therefore political risk for investors.

Lead author Walter Immerzeel and his team conducted a detailed analysis looking at the importance of meltwater for each river, observed changes to Himalayan and Tibetan glaciers and the effects of global warming on the water supply from upstream basins and on food security.

Immerzeel, a hydrologist at Dutch consultancy FutureWater and Utrecht University, said he believed his team was the first to use a combination of computer modelling, satellite imagery and local observations for all major Asian basins.

They found that melt-water was extremely important for the Indus basin and important for the Brahmaputra basin, but played only a modest role for the Ganges, Yangtze and Yellow rivers.

The Brahmaputra and Indus basins are also most susceptible to reductions of flow because of climate change, threatening the food security of an estimated 60 million people, or roughly the population of Italy.

“The effects in the Indus and Brahmaputra basins are likely to be severe owing to the large population and the high dependence on irrigated agriculture and meltwater,” the authors say in the study.

For the Yellow River in northern China, the reverse appeared true with climate change likely to lead to more rainfall upstream, which, when retained in reservoirs, could benefit irrigation downstream. The findings are a warning signal for Pakistan in particular whose growing population of 180 million people is heavily dependent on the Indus to grow wheat, rice, and cotton from which the nation earns hard currency. Immerzeel said adaptation was crucial. “The focus should be on agriculture as this is by far the largest consumer of water,” he told Reuters in an email interview.

Published in daily Dateline Islamabad, December 28, 2011