Just when one thought the contemporary miniature had already somersaulted many times over a Karachi (IVS) / Lahore (Lahore Arts Council) traveling exhibition, Irfan Hasan rolls out as yet another variant. A miniature enactment within the theatre of the absurd, this delightfully crazy selection is a potpourri of wit, observation and youthful exuberance spun into an individual voice.

A 2006 graduate of NCA Irfan Hasan has earned just the right credentials to spotlight his work to advantage. A distinction in his thesis project at art school was followed by 'Best Young Painter Award’ for two consecutive years at the Alhambra Arts Council and his work first drew attention in Karachi when it was shown as part of the third Vasl Taaza Tareen 2008 residency. The rapid growth and emerging maturity in his work is also attributed to his affiliation with Studio RM where he was given the opportunity to share work space, immediately after graduation, with mentors RM Naeem and his group of talented artists like Mudassar Manzoor, Sadaf Naeem and Ali Kazim. Hasan points out that for young graduates, especially those who come from lower middle class families, the greatest problem is how and from where to initiate ones art practice. Accepting the challenge to adjust in the RM Studio environment he admits that "it is impossible to explain how much I learnt from the experience – it is like putting the sea into a bottle. Due to this training, a tremendous growth occurred within all aspects of my work, intellect and personality."

Today with a debut solo in Karachi and then Lahore Irfan Hasan has exercised his training in the art of miniature painting to move forward. Extracting the technique of miniature painting from the genre he has reapplied it to a vocabulary of his creation. His figurative compositions spell a bizarre circus of surreal antics, whimsical and funny at first glance, but potent with meaning when deliberated upon. Far removed from everyday reality his protagonists emerge as players in an imaginary world but strangely enough this fantasy is underpinned with everyday concerns. It is culled from his subconscious or referenced from his personal experiences, thoughts and feelings but it critiques the anomalies in the apparent world. This is where he displays his perceptive abilities, stoking grave concerns with a humorous and at times outré expression. Thus his whizzy 'genie out of the bottle’ images, the audacious monkey, the dim-witted donkey the cheeky child and the quirky dwarf are not deliberately inflated to create dramatic effects. Rather for him they are live creatures that he identifies with and seems to be developing as his signature vocabulary. He adds that the "donkey and dwarf point to the deprivation, the lack of acknowledgement and status that these characters have in our society." Similarly the gas mask alludes to detrimental effects of environmental issues like pollution – "the 'delusion’ of survival from suffocation … or the cause of suffocation itself."

Stripped of its traditional borders / frames and embellishments the void / space in the new miniature can be problematic and is often refilled with contemporary substitutes or trivia. Unafraid of empty space Hasan seems to have a flair for using it to his advantage in his compositions. Concentrating only on his area of activity he leaves the rest of the page undisturbed, but not on a jarring note. Here he makes clever use of soft tonalities which harmonize with the acute whiteness of the page and his painting becomes part of the surface. It is also interesting to note that he succeeds in building a quirky comical narrative not with bold, garish or multiple hues but with just a minimal palette of soft browns, grey blues and mild greens. Inspite of colouristic restraints he is still able to infuse energy into his characters.

Faces always tell a story of their own. Just an expression on one’s face may tell a great deal without a word being spoken. Artists taking up portraits and postures try to capture a language to communicate. It is said that true feelings are always visible through one’s face no matter how much the person may try to hide it. By looking at a face, one can read the emotional reflection of joy or pain, worry, stress and/or fear; it is in this that lays the grasping power and rendering for an artist.

At the VM Art Gallery in Karachi, British artist Belinda Eaton has displayed her paintings – 'portraits with a difference’. Belinda, a highly acclaimed, much travelled artist, well projected in print and on electronic media, has painted portraits where added decoration on faces brings out a nuance as a compliment to expressions, embodying a landscape terminology.

Painting faces in different colours, helps to highlight cultural practices in adorable forms and with purpose simply to be different and to be recognised. Belinda takes it to a level where it simply becomes complimentary rather than anything remotely connected with symbolism.

Belinda has travelled a lot and wherever opportunity offered her a chance to stay and study the local art and culture she took it as something that would enrich her in the terms of a wider art environment. In Africa, as a child, New York in the 80s, Pakistan and France in the 90s, and lately in Spain, her travels have given her a depth and understanding about people, their cultures and their social behaviours.

In one of the interviews, replying to a question about, whether the energy and colour in her paintings have been influenced by her cultural background, she replied, "… I don’t think I have any fixed perception or conceptions. Quite simply because they are constantly being challenged and may be if anything, that causes me to create a 'Belinda reality’, from which I can dive out of when it suits me, and grab an image, a discipline, from anywhere, occasionally mixing them all up in a single painting." Further saying, "If anything, the studio and the canvas are the one constant in my life and when I stand in front of the canvas I am in the present, allowing the painting to tell me what’s going on and creating a space for intuitive painting and adventure."

Although, being it England, United States, Kenya and Spain as her upbringing countries, where she learned to reveal art and expressions on canvases, Karachi (Pakistan) holds a special significance when it comes to knowing some of the art journeys she undertook, during which she encountered various cultural norms and thus highlighted the same in her paintings.

The Penitence of Nasooh:

The Story of Maulvi Nazir Ahmed in his words and mine"

By Ahmad Baig

Published by:

Oxford University Press

No: 38, Sector 15, Korangi

Industrial Area, PO Box 8214,

Karachi-74900

Price: Rs 300.00 Pages: 129

Some books flourish even when they are translated from their original language into any other language, while others are not so fortunate. At times translations of classical works leaves more to be desired, especially if you have already read the original. Sometimes the mood is not captured properly in the translations, sometimes the flavour is not right and sometimes the feel in the original is lost in translation.

This is what those who have read Maulvi Nazir Ahmed in Urdu might feel when they read "The Penitence of Nasooh" – "The Story of Maulvi Nazir Ahmed in his words and mine". The translation is excellent as far as the language is concerned, and the storyline is accurate but the story is missing soul of the old era. The story which is based in a particular timeframe seems to have been lost in time during translation. The old feel does not come across in the translated version of the story to the reader in the same way as it did in the original.

However, the translation as such is a classic example of good literature, which will be appreciated a lot by many who will be introduced to one of the finest writers of his times. In fact it will help them to get an insight into what Urdu writers were writing during that era, even though it is a one dimensional one.

Having said that it must be appreciated that a very good effort has been made to expose the works of  such literary giants of Urdu literature like Nazir Ahmed to the rest of the world – and that is a feat in itself. And this way more and more readers who are unable to grasp the richness of the Urdu language in the original, stumbling with words not in use today, will be able to revel in the richness of Deputy Nazir Ahmed writings.

Deputy Nazir Ahmed’s works were to improve the youth of his times, guiding them in the right direction. His works, like many of his contemporaries were imbibed with morality to help people learn something good from his writings. The writers of that era were playing a dual role that of writer and teacher.

Reading such strong writings, the reader of today may feel a little overwhelmed and may not relate to the text. But it will no doubt be an enriching experience for any literature lover to read such good literary pieces, in a time when the style of writing has changed completely and many prefer to write pieces based on current affairs.

Meanwhile, Nazir’s "The Penitence of Nasooh" will help even the reader of today as he is sermonising in this piece. He is trying to show his reader that their acts have an impact which goes past the regular dimensions of one’s life, and even after death. Such were the writings of those days, especially around 100 years before partition, where the writers and intellectuals tried to bring some sense and direction in the chaos in society because of the English in the subcontinent. There job was extremely tough as they had to remain within certain parameters and still say enough to guide the restless youth of the day.

Thy pristine presence enshrouds my soul

Knocking at the door of my unfulfilled dreams

Unleashing and punishing me

With indelible memories of the hands tender

Clasped within my grip

A shooting star

You left a blazing trail of light and glow

On the dark horizon of my lonely world

Traversing like a meteor

Went through my heart bleeding it, endlessly

Enveloped within thy

Warm and soft embrace

Is my pain and misery

Planted deep into thy being

Is my aspirations and hope

Buried in your tomb of life and love

My ashes will eternally kindle.

- Sirajuddin Aziz

Embryo

O’ little embryo, embedded in the womb;

Waiting to flourish and striving to bloom,

Your mere existence, a miracle of God;

He is the Creator; your being invokes the thought.

Ignorant of the future, you lie in peace;

The warmth of mother, soon you have to leave,

Soon shall you enter, this world of wonder,

Provoking their thoughts, trying to ponder.

It’s shinning sun, and the meadows in flowers;

The glowing moon, where the rain showers;

And the beautiful deserts with sandy dunes;

Where the wind blows in musical tunes,

Exposing God’s hidden runes.

The tall mountains, strong and proud;

With their high peaks, kissing the clouds,

And the deep oceans with their unknown ends,

The sparkling water, in the river bends,

All in submission to the Creator’s trends.

And all the seasons with the changes they bring;

The hurricanes, storms, hot and cold winds,

Summer, autumn, winter and the spring;

Arranged in a manner to make the life swing.

The dark universe spreading to eternity;

And the blue sky stretching to infinity,

The twinkling stars and the milky ways;

Suspended in the heaven in a balanced way,

Swaying in their orbits and never go astray,

For Lord’s will, destined to obey.

Alas! Little embryo, the world has changed;

By the sinful deeds of the humankind,

Divided into races, religions and creeds,

Against the Lord’s creation from single Adam’s breed.

Fighting each other with deadly weapons;

Destructive wars and their heavy cannons;

Catastrophic bombs, where the cities flatten;

Resource, space and greed, their passion.

Spreading pollution in the name of progress;

Industries, factories, and machines, in excess;

Black smoke and the refuse, they process;

Contaminate the rivers and the land’s bareness;

Threatens the laws of nature, they transgress;

Undernourished children suffering from poverty;

Perished food and their bodies scrawny;

Asking the world with their eyes teary;

Why the deprivation and their futures foggy.

Hear, O’ embryo my pieces of advice;

For every great deed you ought to pay a price,

Strive for restoring the pace of the nature;

Struggle against the odds like a strong creature;

Loving the nature and singing His song;

God is with those who are steadfast and strong.