‘Hybrid’ of art, rulers and politics

By Fawad Hasan

KARACHI: Understanding ideas of war, history, and politics had never been that easy. Atif Khan and Damon Kowarsky have done their best to express the political atmosphere of their respective countries in a rather comprehensible language of art.

The show, Hybrid, began on October 25 simultaneously at the ArtChowk Gallery Karachi and Joshua McClelland Print Room Melbourne.

Atif Khan is a graduate of the National College of Arts who passed out in 1997 and is currently teaching at the same art school, while Damon Kowarsky is an Australia based artist who met the former when he came to teach at the NCA.

There are around 20 artworks on display, which have astounding stories to tell.

The process, entailed in the making of these masterpieces is even more fascinating. The work was developed throughout 2012 by sharing ideas and subsequent intervention by each artist via e-mail. "Damon would send me his painting having scanned it, and I had to add my input to complete it," said Khan.

One of the most, if not the most, captivating piece is their etching work - a technique used in art - named 'Kite'. It shows a person sitting on rocks clad in the Moghals dress code having a leash in his hand that controls a Kite-like-drone. In the words of Atif, "The person who is seen sitting in the painting is actually a person form the elite ruling class who is shown controlling a drone which attacks people on our land. There are many versions of truth in this case. Some people assert that it's the American government behind these drone attacks whereas we have shown not so provocatively in our work that it's the rulers who are responsible. The leash is a 'mild' way of expressing the thought."

Another piece, 'Borders', manifests beautifully how an innocent life, a bird in the painting, is surrounded by danger and threats. The mentioned work shows a border of sophisticated weapons, inside which is a jungle on whose tree lives a bird. This reflects the vulnerability of delicate souls living in our society.

Their work uplifts ones feeling and lets the mind easily understand the otherwise incomprehensible political, social, historical dynamics of the country and the world at large.

"The finishing of the work is quite impressive and the concepts are simply awesome," said Abdullah Qamar, founding member of the Dhaba Art Movement, who was among the many people who came to see the exhibition.

When asked if he saw any difference between the Art of Karachi and Lahore he said straightforwardly that there indeed was. "There are a huge number of artists based in Lahore, perhaps mainly due to NCA. Besides, there have also been two categories of Art Galleries in both cities; Traditional and Contemporary, providing the grounds for the difference. The former sticks to the conventional art whereas the latter bolsters the emerging, novel art for example the ArtChowk Gallery in this case," said Atif with a smile.

The exhibition is one of its kinds and as hoped will pull many an art-lovers to the gallery to admire the works of both the established artists.

The show will continue until November 15.