PAFSOIREE 2021 opened on March 22nd in Lahore. The show comprised on an array of artworks by 42 artists displayed under the Pakistan Art For
PAFSOIREE 2021 opened on March 22nd in Lahore. The show comprised on an array of artworks by 42 artists displayed under the Pakistan Art Forum (PAF). As the title of the exhibition suggests, it is a gathering of young and significant Pakistani artists who have been displaying their art on the Facebook page of PAF on regular basis.
Pakistan Art Forum is a platform for artists, gallery owners and art enthusiasts who have a passion and blaze for art. It’s a platform that celebrates the sheer talent of Pakistani artists and promotes their art to a wider audience.
The Pakistan Art Forum was established in 2014 by Imtisal Zafar who aims to give a consolidated platform and promote established and young artists of Pakistan who can reach out to the growing local art market. A lot of times many people do not have access to brilliant new artists from around the country who are young and super talented but are waiting to be discovered thus the Pakistan Art Forum’s primary goal is to establish a vast and seamless network between artists and art lovers through the miracles of social media. It also plays a role of a catalyst to promote these brilliant artists.
On enquiring about the proclivity of the art market in Pakistan and how the genre of art is categorized by a collector, Imtisal Zafar said “The genre of figurative work is on the top priority and the abstract is the least preferred one among the collectors in Pakistan. After figurative works, there comes miniature painting that is quite popular as a choice whereas, the general public prefers to buy landscape and calligraphy.”
“The future of the art market is quite bright. It has grown exponentially. According to my analyses, the spaces like Pakistan Art Forum provide an opportunity for artists to share their art with collectors and to the public to review and appreciate it. This way it connects people and trains them to be appreciative and incline them to prefer buying art.” He further explained the future of the art market.
The artist participated in the show are Kiran Saleem, Mohammad Ali, Mohsin Sheikh, Mughees Riaz, Noori Malik, Nyla Talpur, Rabbiya Ilyas, Rajesh Ram (India), Sadam Murad, Samara Shahid, Shamsuddin, Saqiba Suleman, Saud Baloch, Shiblee Munir, Syed Faraz Ali, Tanya Shah, Ujala Khan, Usman Hussain, Zainab Aziz, Zainab Mahmood, Abdullah Ali, Ahmar Farooq, Alfirdous, Amra Khan, Araimish Malik, Brishna Amin Khan, Bushra Khalid, Eloy Pereira (Uruguay), Fakhra Asif, Farhat Ali, Fatima Faisal, Fawad Jafri, Francisco Vazquez (Mexico), Haiya Zaidi, Hina & Sehrish, Irfan Abdullah, Irfan Cheema, Irfan Gul, Irfan Hasan, Javed Iqbal Mughal and Karim Ahmed Khan.
Imtisal Zafar believes in the freedom of expression through art. The national and international artists displayed their work on the same platform. These works were of his choice and the collectors liked almost the whole display.
“Pakistan Art Forum is not been actively involved in the dealings between artists and buyers so far but for the past three years, we have organized the annual displays like the current one PAF Collector’s SOIREE 2021. I have selected the artist of my choice and put them together with their particularly produced masterpieces on the show, resultantly my collectors liked them. Regarding insights into the growth of the forum, in 2018 the show was successful, in 2019 the addition of highly acclaimed Mexican and Spanish artists and selling of their work became the significant point to uplift the form. The year 2019 to 2020, the economic recession and later on the emergence of pandemic Covid 19 became the reason for a break. The year 2021 has brought a massive success for the show and we sold out 95 % of the works on our display.”
The beautiful array of display showcased the artists’ innovative mindset and speculation of their findings; while penning down the review, I found Kiran Saleem rediscovers the truth into the objects that she interacts within routine life as she believes that usually these objects are analyzed just by surface, not by their inner core. Muhammad Ali has several international appearances that present an amalgamation of fantasy and the metaphysical realm. He renders human-wired situations with these two unseen worlds. Mohsin Sheikh discovers contemporary beliefs of humans. According to his philosophy, everything in nature exists with contradiction and all these minor existences affect our mind and soul. His artworks execute his observations thus leaves an effect on his canvasses.
The audience seemed interested in buying the artworks that popped a question in my mind that what is the use of this platform if the artists are dealing directly with the clients? Zafar defined “It is always going to be a direct relationship between an artist and they can deal on their accord but when a curator is in middle, he gives a lot of credibility to the artist’s work and specifically matching the preferences of a collector to the corresponding artist’s work. As far as the concern of benefit, in the end, the platform is going to convert into a website with the connectivity of artists and art collectors. Pakistan Art Forum is now a registered entity. We are launching our website very soon and it’s www.pakistanartforum.com. It will be a sales website and you will be able to buy the art of any represented artist on the website and the art products will be available on the globe.”
Mughees Riaz is an acclaimed artist who paints conventional landscapes with realism and essentially a concept behind the work that lets the viewer explore the imagery according to their perception. The unique and innovative perspective of art produced by Noori Malik is that she finds a sole and essential center of oneness between nature and the whole. She uses geometrical forms and the human forms as a matrix resulting in an illusion. Nyla Talpur addresses socio-political and human issues using visuals borrowed from geometric, floral and wallpapers.
Rabbiya Ilyas uses a mirror as material to highlight the social taboos. She points out the deceptive appearances of people who are in false practices inside as a society whereas reflecting themselves as religious-minded to show off their piety. Rajesh Ram belongs to India; his medium is the sculpture with 3d hybrid of two different species like plants and animals or animals and humans. He brings the idea of the growth of different species through odds and anomalies to attention. The popular combination of floral surroundings and female presence informs about the intricate skills and detailed identical flora of Saqiba Suleman. She focuses on sensory perceptions. Saud Baloch unveils human burdens regarding his geographical and historical inheritances. He uses 3d hybrid forms to express his ideas and present those as the reality of human life. Shiblee Munir is a mid-career artist who criticizes socio-cultural changes that he observes in his surroundings and human behaviors with the changing time and modernism. He uses the traditional technique in their pure essence but with imagery, it is updated with messages about real life and happenings. Syed Faraz Ali addresses the issues of life survival of migrants in Australia through a variety of mediums. Tanya Shah unveils the layers of the conscious and subconscious mind with multiple layers of imagery and thought that belong to the surreal world. Ujala khan is an abstract artist who deals with multiplicity, contrasting shapes, bold colors and forlorn feelings simultaneously. Usman Hussain through 3d metal sculpture offers rhythm and movement. Zainab Aziz is a prominent emerging artist who exposes the flimsiness of surreptitious and vice versa the reaction that has damaged trust. Zainab Mahmood signifies the issue of human misperception regarding the correlation between two people and resultantly they classify all people into the same category based on their judgments.
Abdullah Ali is a supporting voice for females. His art encourages women and proves them a strong milestone against all feminist taboos of society. Ahmar Farooq discloses the contradictory aspects of human emotions using variant creative brush strokes and abstract shapes, furthermore, he displays the same observation using contrast colour combination. Alfirdous creates a folded drapery with Arabic verses of the Quran. She simply conveys her message for realizing the importance of God’s words (Kalam Allah) in form of folds of the cloth. These verses are parallel to coverings for humans that are meant to show the human a true path when the misdeeds are done by them. Amra Khan addresses gender issues, power and identity issues through the lens of patriarchy. She usually uses female hair as a symbol in her work. Araimish Malik’s work displays the coexistence of opposing forces of nature in human behavior, emotions and events of life. Her working style seems inspired by Baroque compositions and settings.
Brishna Amin Khan deals with the idea that human emotional reaction depends on the climatic changes around and surroundings. Bushra Khalid is a popular artist from PUCAD. She paints her inner conflicts with realistic approaches onto her surfaces. Eloy Pereira (Uruguay) photographic realism with some symbols engages the viewers towards the recognition of profound human feelings. Fakhra Asif paints the human torso with hands to show human gestures and situations around psychological and real happenings. Farhat Ali’s unique combination of imagery provides an amalgamation of eastern and western cultural mixes through humans. Especially he combines a group of cinema-oriented characters, few royal characters from the colonial period and some from western art history. He presents them in black and white that shows historical impact.
Fatima Faisal presented the secret moments of human life and their psychological confrontation between inner tensions and outer circumstances. The availability of time and space creates a vulnerability of human emotions due to pandemic confinement. Fawad Jafri driving the inspiration from the Scandinavian school of America creates linear patterns and illusive impacts through his art. Francisco Vazquez (Mexico) is an international artist, who discovers feminine beauty by his method and executes it onto his surfaces. Haiya Zaidi’s art tries to convey a typical social behavior regarding the brown complexion of females and non-acceptance by society. Hina and Sehrish have worked together and presented social connections using metals in their oeuvre. Irfan Abdullah is a rare 3D sculptor who realistically creates human sculptures which provides a real tension and drama of human psychological disorders like frustration, powerlessness, depression etc. Further, he has learned the sacred art of calligraphy and produced its 3d forms. Irfan Cheema is painting realistic still life under the theme of flora and fauna with dramatic singular focused light and background. Irfan Gul Dhari suggests a surreal realm where the situation and odd occurrences may appear around humans and hybridity of objects, humans, animals and materials become a possibility of life. Irfan Hasan uses the juxtaposition of eastern and western historical imagery with a camouflage of contemporary real-life characters which makes his works distinguishable. Javed Iqbal Mughal presents cinematic settings of a male figure with vivid complementary colors. Karim Ahmed Khan captures nature and its emergence from dead and dark to the sprout and life.
“It has both aspects. In my experience people bought a lot of art on the other side, people’s income was lowered and they were forced to reallocate their budget which they had for art. You could see a lot of bargain deals to buyers so they could buy art conveniently. The buying strength had reduced yet in 2020 a lot of people bought art.”
Each masterpiece was perfectly fulfilling the aesthetic quality. Overall, it was a figurative selection but the other genres were also presented. The venue had a nice environment with a selected piece of music to mesmerize the viewer and create pleasing effects. The methodology of placing art pieces on a right point or corner with a required level of lights was playing a sound role in helping to leave a good impact on viewers and conveying the right messages and purposes of creation. The notable point is that usually it takes time for a gallery to sell the show but here the show was already sold because of the wise selection criteria, observation and strategy of the curator Imtisal Zafar. As an art writer and curator, I have always been looking for a platform that should encourage online business and market which now I see happening and a bright and progressive future of art entrepreneurship and online business is ahead. I wish good luck to the curator and team for future successful displays.
The show ran until March 24th, 2021
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