‘Culture on Canvas’

* Australian Damon Kowarsky’s etching work displayed at Alhamra Art Gallery

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: Printmaking exhibitions should be held frequently in Lahore to promote this genre of art, said former National College or Arts principal Salima Hashmi at the opening of an etching exhibition by Australian artist Damon Kowarsky at the Alhamra Art Gallery on Monday.

Talking to Daily Times, she said Kowarsky’s exhibition, Home and Away, was about the experiences of a lonely traveller, putting cultures on the canvas. “The works tells of a sensitive, delicate and touchy lonely traveller,” she said. “Mexican buildings etched by Kowarsky suggest looking forward into Lahore’s future,” she added.

David Alesworth, art teacher at the Beaconhouse National University (BNU), said the artist’s etchings were illustrative. “Etching tends to be ponderous but the work is immediate, fresh and sketchy which adds to its charm,” he said. He said the artist’s dark black work was eye-catching and interesting. “The Mexican roofs bear resemblance to those of old Lahore,” he added.

One of the etchings showcases a man turning away from huge buildings. The engraved painting speaks of the modern man who has had enough of the world’s materialism and is not willing to go on with it. Alesworth said a naked man in one of the etchings stands for surrealism.

US artist Lani Tangeman said Kowarsky’s work showed the artist’s knowledge of human anatomy. She said his work was thought provoking and serene, suggesting the modern man’s troubles which keep him running from one place to another. Jane Dowty, a visitor to the exhibition, said Kowarsky’s work marked the ‘pain of the modern man’. “His work is clear and expresses a sense of alienation,” she added.

Sophia Khan, an art student at the BNU, said the artist had delivered a strong message using architectural images. She said the artist had made the traditions and culture eternal by portraying them on the canvas. “The artist’s techniques suggest a sequence in the work,” she added.

Tanya Masood, a student of art at the BNU, said the work was an awakening call for everyone to come forward and preserve their culture. She said experiments in the field of printmaking were required to open new horizons in this field.

Australian High Commission second secretary Angela Tierney said the art could help build stronger people-to-people interaction. She said the people of Australia and Pakistan could know about each other by seeing the other countrymen’s art.

Kowarsky told Daily Times that his recent work was a discovery of old things that were new to him. “Mostly, people don’t observe the things around them, but to a stranger, they are unique and that is what my work is based on,” he said. He said Lahore was a very fertile city for an artist and helped creat unique things.

The exhibition will continue till December 1.

Damon Kowarsky is an Australian artist. He studied printmaking at the Victorian College of Arts and the Glasgow School of Art. He has exhibited internationally, including in Mexico, Egypt, New Zealand, and Finland. In 2002, he received an Ian Potter Cultural Trust Grant to assist as an archaeological illustrator in Egypt. In 2005, he travelled through Yemen, Djibouti and Ethiopia. He undertook residencies at RMIT and continues to print at the Australian Print Workshop in Fitzroy.