ISLAMABAD – A painting exhibition ‘Sublime Encounters’ by two artists Qadir Jhatial and Tahir Ali opened at Rohtas Gallery on Wednesday.
Qadir Jhatial has done Bachelors in Fine Arts in painting from National College of Arts, Lahore, and has 12 exhibitions on his credit. His collections have been displayed in US Embassy Islamabad and private collections in UAE, Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore.
“My work, inspired from the elements in my surroundings, is about a multiple level of aesthetic inquiry. I transform the objects/ environments into visual of complex chromatic order. The interplay of space, surfaces, textures, and materials and the sensitive use of domestic and familiar items are sources for me to make my work personal and imaginative and visual object,” said Qadir Jahatial.
He said his interest in exploring new ideas, media and methods of working have led him to experience a different visual vocabulary, especially flat colour paintings. “This form of expression inspired me to study works the theory of art and other concepts related to our aesthetic experiences.”
Tahir Ali has done Bachelors of Fine Arts from National College of Arts, Lahore, and University of Sindh, Hyderabad. So far he has done seven exhibitions and has been awarded top ten young artist award at Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore. He believes his work is created by gestures, expressive lines and intuitive colour choices. “It is not an observational record, but contains elements of an emotional experience in nature.”
“This work has been evolved from photographs that I took of landscapes and cityscapes. I inverted their colours, and it changed the mood of the photograph entirely- from an everyday typical scene they transformed into dark, gloomy, chaotic images that reflected unrest and unease. These works still retain a similar feeling of this previous work,” he explained.
The paintings play with the two dimensionality of a canvas - some explore and enhance the flatness of the surface, while others create an illusion of three-dimensional depths through multiple layering, imagination and mark making. There are familiar objects and things present in the imagery, accompanied by a simultaneous feeling that dismisses their recognition.
The exhibition will remain continue till December 24.