Chiselling away impurities

By Syed Hassan Ali

Carving out images to life is not an easy task, but for some young artists who exhibited their sculptures last week, it didn’t seem very difficult either. From fibreglass to terracotta, wood and white cement, each material was distinctively chosen to suit the figures and their subjects that were put on display.

The Russian Science and Culture Centre (Friendship House), which has been hosting a variety of cultural activities for five decades in the city, offered its premises free of cost to the sculptors for the exhibition. The group show that remained open round the week ended here on Sunday.

Four large-sized relief sculptures in fibreglass by Saqib Jamal have one thing in common: all their figures are dancing. “The world looks to me in motion as if it has been placed on a dancing board. Everyone is running away from love, beauty and nature,” he says, describing his subject as naach. By using figures from different backgrounds, the young sculptor, a graduate of the Central Institute of Art and Craft, perhaps has tried to make the point that cultures do not make any difference when it’s about ‘the dance.’

The impassive face and the one with sad expressions depicting the growing despondency in the world are put up by Saleem Raza, an NCA graduate and currently teaching the art of sculpture at the Sadequain Institute. He has given a refined look to the wood that he used to express his subject. His small sculptures are equally impressive as he has skilfully used terracotta to perfect the heart-rending figures in desperate plight.

The very emblem of declining human values is two big and three small sculptures of limbs. Using mixed media for her artwork, Kanwal Khattak Khan – through big and strong to small and weak limbs in series – epitomizes the regression of mankind. An alumna of the Arts Council of Pakistan, the young sculptor says she does not want to compromise the art for the sake of commercialism. “See, one may not like to decorate his home with this ugly face of society,” says Ms Khan while referring to her sculptures and adds “these are my true feelings and I have not compromised on them.”

Shahid Hussain, who could not attend the exhibition for personal reasons, is represented by his four sculptures of a woman. He has used white cement and mixed media.

Of the three relief sculptures in fibreglass put up by Nazia Islam, ‘Approaching the hands of a wall clock’ grasps the viewer’s attention the most. The sculpture reflects time’s fleeting nature and people running after it. Rafia Maniar put up only two sculptures, both figuring a straight-faced man. They are so aesthetically sculpted that they look deceptively simple. Through their positioning, however, they become the bearers of the artist’s observation of the world around her. The kneeling man with an impassive face depicts the slavish behaviour of our society in general.

The force of profound hard work by young sculptors does touch the heart of viewers and the curator, Shakeela Waheed, who has also taught the art to some of the young exhibitors, deserves commendation for a job well done.