Manifest as a lively mix of tradition and modernity, art in Pakistan straddles the radical and the conservative with remarkable ease. Mutually exclusive, partial or hybrid an eclectic art practice has given birth to modernist innovation, neo realism and the renewal of genre. Free to express the inherently intimate or impersonally public artists explore stylistic concerns in the light of their personal preferences. Be it descriptive narratives or abstract postulations, art emanating from the soil inevitably identifies itself with its roots. Regional realism variously informed by tradition focuses on shaping rituals of social life and portraying social prototypes and for many artists the real and the apparent are quite inextricable in their work. In general, realist concerns, motifs and strategies gain expression through a diversity of conventions some typical some unusual. But it is generally seen that even while observing the binding strictures of pictorial representation the personal and the intimate does manifest itself in the artists expression.

A prominent faculty member of KSA (Karachi School of Art) watercolorist Zahin Ahmed, originally a painter of genre scenes and rural landscape abandoned the literal as he began to gravitate towards technical experiments. Some early mountainscapes sketched on a rare trip to the northern areas are excellent examples of Zahins facility with the brush. He could maneuver it to produce the jaggedness of a rough pencil butt, thin striations of a graphite point, dashes and stubbly marks – all with the brush in constant motion. This often placed his work somewhere between a drawing and a painting. As the propensity for the brush took over he eventually succumbed to abstraction and became a master of stroke play with broad, (dry) brush on textured paper.

Following a similar route towards quasi abstraction AQ Arif, a disciple of Zahin at KSA, accesses the objective and non – objective with relative comfort. A portrait study by him, entirely representational in character nonetheless, carries hints of his ability to break with form and reconstruct an imaginary environment. Initially a painter of urban street scenes it was his play with collage and surface effects in his early paintings that first revealed his innovative skills. Today he has found his niche as a painter of mystical landscapes rendered in the naturalistic vein as well as a painter of cityscapes built on an abstract format of grid structures.

Yet another painter who has turned realist methods to express modern ends is Salman Farooqi. His representational tendencies are clearly visible in his recreation of vistas dominated by natural vegetation yet he confidently self directs himself towards a freer more objective play of light, colour and space to bring individuality to his expression. Grappling with the challenge of creating novelty in an oeuvre devoted entirely to treescapes Farooqi sustains viewer interest with stylistic ploys. Painting dense foliage dappled with glints of light, radiant beams slicing through shadowy undergrowth, and glowing sunsets beaming on to dark foregrounds enables him to create dramatic contrasts of light and shade. A colour palette of harmonious hues speckled with luminous interludes and the simple beauty of nature make for pleasing art.

Embracing the modern with enthusiasm these artists are nevertheless beholden to the traditional. But realism as a significant ingredient in their art has not hampered them from evolving indeed the grounding has strengthened their thrust and ability to deconstruct, mutate and reinvent whilst still retaining vestiges of their origin. This realism of modernism is a liberating force which enables its practitioners to grow and cultivate their aesthetic without aligning themselves to confining ‘isms.

In his work, Qamar Siddiqui explores the psychic actuality of ordinary people. The artist documents fragmented experience in various stages of life, observing the material goals predominant in the world as he sees it, with poignant romantic cameos easing the programmed life cycle.

Qamar in his view is in accord with such artists as Hogarth, mapping out the story of the Rake’s Progress: or Marriage a la Mode, included in the collection of the National Gallery, London. There are also spiritual elements as seen in the work of the British artist of World War II, Stanley Spenser. Though he is not familiar with these artists or their work, Qamar is an archetypal example of the visionary through the ages. He shares concerns for the human existence with an accomplished mastery of line. The disciplined palette is enhanced by cross hatching that speaks volumes on form and colour. The artist’s work is of a series yet not in sequence. He paints episodes from Birth to Death; each image on its own complete yet linked by destiny. Using oil and acrylic paint on large size canvas, every one is a separate tale and yet a complete narrative. In a powerful narration titled: Death, he relates the social tragedy of man’s obsession with material gain; a factor that shadows his life and ensures the continuation of the cycle in subsequent generations. Another, very beautiful and gracefully rendered image is symbolized by women represented by crows, and the assault of the birds on a gracefully portrayed Swan motif, a girl with white feathered shoulder.

Qamar Siddiqui is a deep thinker, who confides he spends hours thinking of each composition before beginning his work. “My work is literature,” he explained, “The paintings are a book and each one must be explained, written down in detail.” He is currently a faculty member of the Karachi School of Art, where he is thesis advisor. Qamar spends his mornings in his studio, thinking, sketching painting, and mixing his colours. He uses a palette knife with great skill, and while he works on the canvas, he is totally focused on that alone. Most afternoons he works with his students with whom he has a great rapport, and who he guides with concern and understanding. In exhibitions in cities in Pakistan, he has excited interest from the media, and from art enthusiasts who are fascinated by his sometimes enigmatic articulation.

The artist articulates his inner feelings with extraordinary power. There are no unnecessary lines or marks in his work, each piece is carefully thought out and articulated, syntheses of love, envy, romance, aggression and greed. His is also a message of peace, incorporating motifs of other cultures and beliefs in his quest for world wide understanding, tolerance harmony and peace. Here is an artist with a lot to articulate. He is a young, dynamic artist who spreads energy across the canvas in his urgency to voice his views on life, love and peace for all mankind.