Exhibition Of Still-life Paintings Concludes

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Dec, 2022 ) :An exhibition of still-life paintings by various artists concluded here Thursday at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).

Organized by For Art's Sake in collaboration with PNCA, the show titled "Life Is Not Still" has a collection of 47 works by artists which include Aasim Akhter, Ali Hammad, Amina Cheema, Amna Ismail Pataudi, Aqeel Javaid Teetu, Buland Iqbal, Dure Waseem, Ghulam Mustafa, Hadiqa Asad, Hira Siddiqui, Ibrahim Ramay Jimmy Engineer, Kahkashan Jafri, Kaleem Khan, Mariam Arslan, Masood Kohari, Mian Ijaz ul Hassan, Minaa Haroon, Mohammad Atif Khan, Mughees Riaz, Muhammad Asif Naela Amir, Najia Azmat, Rabia Asim, Rahat Naveed Masud, Rahat Qavi, Rifat Dar, Sakina Akbar, Sara Riaz, Shahnaz Akhter,Sumera Jawad, Sundas Azfer, Tassaduq Amin and Zafar Malik.

Curated by Dr. Rahat Naveed Masud and Amna I Pataudi, the show exhibited unique still-life imagery. According to the curators, still-life drawing and painting is the seed which sprouted all other genres but unfortunately it lost a lot of ground compared to modern art forms like portrait, landscape, computer graphics, and digital art.

For Art's Sake is a platform where we endeavor to celebrate the diversity of Pakistani art, to provide an opportunity to talented artists who may have been ignored by powerful lobbies in the art world. For Art's Sake also aspires to initiate intellectual debate on relevant issues related to art in Pakistan, he said.

Ali Hammad preserves the great legacy of great painters like Rembrandt, Solomon J Solomon, or even Ilya Repin and follows in their footsteps as their Names would remain indelibly etched in the minds of art lovers.

Amina Cheema says that Mughal paintings do not seem to have a tradition of still life painting as a genre.

Their miniature paintings are dominated by figure representation, and objects are not exclusively used to represent thoughts, ideas, or feeling as in Western tradition. However, besides apparel and jewelry, the objects of various natures have aided whenever the ideas of sovereignty, wealth, or leisure were to express. "By removing the figures from iconic Mughal painted imagery, I wanted to explore the integrity and capacity of those objects that helped the emperors to represent their selves as wealthy or powerful beings. Moreover, the approach also takes the viewer on a journey to imagine how still life paintings would have looked like if painted under the Mughals," she said.

For Buland Iqbal, every portrait that is painted with feelings is a portrait of the artist. "The neglected, mistreated, and abandoned appear as a manifestation of my own self, whether they are living or nonliving. I adore them with a very personal palette of colors and execution. Each of the ordinary subjects becomes a celebration of my own being as it finds its way on my canvas," he said.

"Being inspired by several professional artists in my family I majored in Art and started as an instructor at the same university. It was during my teaching years that I explored myself as an artist with a better understanding of seeing and interpreting. I enjoy the process of painting in several mediums and my choice of subject matter also has a wide range. Like the majority of artists, I started as a realistic painter, seeking to be more abstract. But at this stage I just want my journey to never end," said Durre Waseem about her work.