Parde Main Rehne Do

  • 20 Jul - 26 Jul, 2019
  • Eman Saleem
  • Art

Sanat Gallery, borrowing its name from the Turkish language, is a well-lit, understated space that almost spells out minimal with its interior. Its high walls are washed pristine white making the perfect backdrop for artwork to shine and even more so when the frame spill a hue of every colour.

The Sanat Initiative recently hosted Ghulam Hussain’s solo art exhibition titled Parde Main Rehne Do, a framed ode to the Pakistani film industry and their scandalous posters we see plastered outside cinemas in crowded inner markets in Lahore. It centers mainly on Punjabi films, highlighting the uncanny contradiction of free advertising on our walls that is shared by film posters with scantily dressed women and religious slogans, a conflicted reality hidden in plain sight, confined to a frame. The solo artist Ghulam Hussain (otherwise called ‘Guddu’) is National College of Arts graduate that comes from a background of crafts. Weaving a tradition craft, Hussain found a way to alter it enough to bring it forth in the contemporary world, and quite successfully one might say. The exhibition of the seductive imagery of Pakistani film posters that one might find offensive or look away from on the streets, were displayed in different light at the exhibition. They were censored in the course of the weaving, bringing forth a point of view to ponder over. In the artist’s own words, he aims to exhibit the irony of the advertisements on our walls that are excessively claimed by un-endorsable services and ads by the means of mainstream media. Hailing from Hyderabad, Sindh and moving to Lahore to attend the prestigious NCA, the artist shares that he let the idea sit and breed itself for a while as he walked and let the streets of Lahore speak to him. Graduated in miniature painting, Hussain has a way of finding ways to amalgamate the tradition and low craft such as brick building, weaving and miniature painting. Challenging the norm of calling these “low craft” and integrating them as high craft – the stark contrast between what is considered high craft and what is low – is a line many attendees wanted fainted. What’s most interesting is his technique; so distinct yet simplistic, opening new ground for fellow artists. Weaving, to him is an art of the childhood, the famous ajrak and ralli weaving of bedspreads now translated, and well too, into patterned images weaved in paper on canvas. Not only is Hussain a nationally acclaimed artist, he’s been showcased on international waters multiple times at high end events like Fifth Beijing International Art Biennial in National Art Museum China, Rockefeller Brothers Artist Residency, New York and more. And as for Parde Main Rehne Do, no matter how intriguing sounding the title was, the sheer profoundness of the context made it all the more interesting and thought-provoking and a serious attempt to tickle the fancy of woke individuals.

– Eman Saleem

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