ISLAMABAD:Satrang Gallery and Serene Arts Sunday organized an exhibition titled ‘Ruminations’ in which collection of Affan Baghpati, Dua Abbas Rizvi and Imran Ali Kazmi was presented to support and promote the artists and artisans of the country.
This exhibition seeks to explore the archive, the nostalgic splendor of it but also the materiality of it through objects which absorb memory and emotion.
The processes of collecting, mapping, preserving, rearranging and combining are continuously in motion,said a press release issued here.
The artists in this exhibition work with the archive in their own ways, looking to their own or a larger repertoire of lived experiences,material remains and fictional narratives to create alternative histories and current realities.
An artist Affan Baghpati said “I work with items from different cultures to understand the gaps and disconnections of the present time. Object-making techniques and borrowed imagery are part of my studio practice”.
Material culture with non-material culture is one of the recurring ideas in my work. These combinations of various materials are joyful constructs for me, and they provide counterarguments that are contrary and symmetrical to the norms in the socio-politics of today, he added.
Dua Abbas Rizvi said “My art is predominantly about women’s lives and history and I look to autobiography and family archives to broach this broader subject. In recent years, my work has moved from a pictorial representation of women and their stories to an exploration of how women gather and pass on stories and articulate their own and their family’s histories”.
Imran Ali Kazmi said, beauty alone is not art, but art can be made of, about or for beautiful things.
He said, my work addresses an expression of how I have developed and experienced the essence of art, beauty and life – in contrast to the world I grew up in. To me, the philosophy of art and its magnificence make an individual feel positive and alive – I try to channel and express this concept through my paintings”.
In my paintings I express my feelings rather than illustrate them. It doesn’t matter what or who I paint, ordinary or extraordinary, as long as I am successful in conveying an emotion to the viewer, he added.
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