Karachi's art scene presented some rich and vibrant canvases of local artists and also those coming in from other cities. Most of the art galleries remained busy mounting new shows regularly.

The many faces of art

By Mohsin S. Jaffri

At Ocean Art Gallery

A play with colours

Azra Fatimi chose to display her work at Ocean Art Gallery, Clifton, a semi commercial outlet plus an art gallery. She was displaying some 20 paintings, all in abstract made up of 'all bright and beautiful" colours. In a colour packed composition, in acrylic and with flat shapes and sizes, some canvases projected moving colours and reflected a sense of balance.

The artist, in her statement talks about society and art and the intricacies of life. She has this way of communicating with her canvases.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Syed Mahmood Hashmi, CE, Orient Advertising, very much into art and culture and social events. He not only appreciates all these happenings but at times participates and helps organise such events.

At VM Art Gallery

A cultural snapshot

This was an interesting setting and a beautiful installation. 60x60 seconds in fact gets the name from 'sixty one –minute' films made by some twenty artists and film makers from three countries. The artists from Britain, India and Pakistan, in a collaborative mood managed to get together and produced highly moving shots well thought off, filmed with the subject in mind. The films deal with the complexities of issues, cultures, migration, nationality and the dividing lines.

It was something to watch, think and try to see the inside – the meaning and depth – some abstract issues, sensual and provocative with a meaning, defining human emotions and relationship - various other issues and elements. The whole set up was deeply thought-off taking concerned aspects of life and designed and presented by artists and their sense of vision.

At KSA Art Gallery

Images conversing

Newly opened and well organised KSA Art Gallery in fact is situated within the school building where the environment is highly artistic and appreciative. This is a fine place for holding art exhibitions as it provides art within art and among artists of all calibre especially the ones learning to be one.

After a great success of "Sentiments" an exhibition based on the works of some senior artists, the second one, 'Its all about Image' an exhibition of photography. In today's world, with technology taking over our lives, it is difficult to imagine that it's the man behind a camera that can make the difference to the camera capturing images, Here, one needs to grasp the environment, the object, the central theme before an artistic image may be captured. At the same time, an image may be worked with and played around for the artists to fuse it with images in their own minds. Some seven artists, Imran Mohammad, Yawar Abbas, Kashan Ahmed, Asif Shah, Moeed Ahmed, Saleem Ansari and Amir Taj participated and received appreciation.

At Unicorn Gallery

Zest for life

Seemab Arzam Tariq exhibited his works at Unicorn Gallery. Here is an artist who mixes his words and reflects the same in his paintings. A stylist painter produces images resembling more than one thing and a style that defines lines, figures and bright colours, He dwells in abstract yet finds and produces meanings on his canvases. Although, the shapes, lines and motifs are very much intermingled, the clarity, as an overall image is obvious.

ISLAMABAD (APP) – President Asif Ali Zardari Thursday night deleted the following four laws from the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution thereby allowing the provinces to make any changes in the local government laws they deemed appropriate to suit their own peculiar needs and circumstances. The laws thus deleted from the Sixth Schedule on the eve of the New Year include (i) The Balochistan Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XVIII of 2001), (ii) The North West Frontier Province Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XIV of 2001) (iii), The Punjab Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XIII of 2001) and (iv) The Sindh Local Government Ordinance, 2001 (XXVI of 2001). Spokesperson to the President former Senator Farhatullah Babar said that while signing the Order few hours before the strike of the clock the President described it as the New Year gift to the nation to further advance the process of provincial autonomy and harmony. He said that as the clock strikes tonight heralding the advent of 2010 the provinces would be free to make their own laws relating to the local bodies either through legislation or ordinances. The provinces will also be free to do whatever they liked whether to hold elections to the local bodies on the expiry of their term or appoint administrators instead to run the affairs of local government. Farhatullah Babar said that although the Local Bodies is a provincial subject, the then dictatorship had included it in the sixth schedule of the Constitution thereby barring the provincial governments from making changes in it for six years until 31st December, 2009 without the prior approval of the President. The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution states that the laws included in it cannot be changed until December 31, 2009 without prior and formal approval of the President. Although this was patent interference in the provincial autonomy and against the spirit of the 1973 Constitution and was roundly criticised by the provinces and the people, the dictatorship insisted on usurping the provinces powers to manipulate politics at the grassroots level for pursuing its own political agenda, he said.LINK