The air in Sanat Art Gallery always channels creativity and dialogue, the two driving forces of every individual who values their artistic abilities, be it writing, poetry or paintings. Maybe this alone is the reason why trips to art galleries are such a cherished experience and speaking to an artist, is a whole other dimension.

In a beautiful arrangement were ten paintings by Dr. Mohsen Keiany, and exhaustively detailed mechanical gear in the form of birds in shades one could associate with the interior of machinery. A perplexed and curious me failed to grasp the context and right on cue the artist took his attendees on the journey of what inspired this collection.

Growing up in a village, framed will the utmost cinematic sets, with winding streams and rich greenery, and under the shade of trees with birds making a beautiful view, Dr. Keiany holds onto these pictures, now only existing in memory. Coming back home after a span of decades, his childhood scenery has been taken over by technological advancements, climate change and neglect. The birds, he says, were gone. Disturbing natural habitats and nature has these effects and if we stay blinded to this down the road, the only birds to wonder about would be the ones we engineer mechanically, like the ones in his fine and intricate paintings. It was certainly a moving speech that ignited a stir with his audience.

“I see myself as a bird too, how they immigrated and how I did from Shiraz, my home village. The reason why I thought as human beings we all look like a bird if we have been forced, don’t have enough freedom of speech or other things along the same line, then we leave for better places.” A truly mesmerising collection it was, the fine lines representing artistic mastery.

In conversation with the solo exhibitionist I ask him what is integral to the work of an artist. “If we look at the masters in the art world like Picasso, Van Gogh and even contemporary artists, if you look at their work, you can automatically tell who the artist is. To me that automatically comes after some time and all the artwork will integrally be known for each artist.” Dr. Keiany says change in practice is of utmost importance if an artist wants to survive. Replication of work, and worse, copying another is the death of artist; change is inevitable, much like his collection depicts, and as a person grows, so does the artist in him. According to him, he sees a lot of artistic talent in Pakistan, but also a lot of repetition and lack of opportunities. Dr. Keiany is also a teacher and has taught a range of skills from animation, illustration, painting and drawing in various schools across Birmingham, where he is now settled.

His collection, much like him, is also touched with religious symbolism which is another area of interest to him. He narrates to his audience the tale of the Simurgh from the fabled collection of the celebrated Persion poet Farid-ud-Din Attar. At present, the artist is conducting research work with the Birmingham City University on ‘Hidden Symbolism in Muslim Community in Birmingham.’

Dr. Keiany has a special interest in multiculturalism and he says that is why he brought this exhibition to Karachi. A mega-city where millions have immigrated from the time of the Indo-Pak separation to this day, it was the perfect place to talk about immigration and what fuels it: more freedom, better opportunity and space to practice skill and have it valued. When I pose the question that how does he find inspiration, as I do to most artists, I get the most surprising answer to date. “I don’t find inspiration in a mechanical way. I can’t go somewhere and just be inspired by something. It comes suddenly. I need to go buy something for my car, let’s say, and I go to a scrap yard and I see tons of metals laden on top of each other. I see how this is our world, the one that we are living in at present, and it hits me just like that; this is why my artwork is more mechanical,” said the Visual Arts Awards winner. •