KARACHI, April 24: ‘What’s in a name’ famously said Juliet in one of Shakespeare’s tragedies. But in this day and age it seems names have begun to matter like never before. A six-person exhibition titled ‘My Name Is…’ opened at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture Gallery on Wednesday.
The title of the show is taken from an Indian film My Name is Khan mainly because the sir name of each of the six participating artists is Khan.
Atif Khan brings up the issue of migration (archival digital print). Looking at his two artworks the viewer does not get the feeling of ‘migration pangs’ as is often is the case with books and other media on the same subject, though the issue is there. Birds in the exhibits and the vibrant use of colours have kept the aesthetics side to the ‘journey’, which might not care about the destination, intact.
Maria Khan’s depiction of an ostensibly deranged looking person (acrylic and cante on paper) is a striking work of art. The trick is to look at the artwork for a longish period of time and the viewer will tend to empathise with the subject matter, or perhaps with just the subject.
Sara Khan comes up with insightful commentaries through her work. At first they might appear as phantasmagoric images. They are not. They are everyday characters seen with a different lens. For example, in a piece called ‘Living Room’ (mixed media) it becomes difficult to ascertain whether the view that the family is trying to see is more intriguing (and hence inspection worthy) or the family itself. Sara Khan Pathan’s portrayal of some famous personalities, miniature style (gouache and watercolour on archival print) is quite different from the rest of the exhibits in which there is no obvious representation of things. Sara Khan Pathan has chosen the simpler path and to good effect. Amra Khan beautifully touches on subjects that are often not discussed openly in a delightfully absurd way. The artist scores very high points with ‘Conjugal Burns’ (oil, acrylic, gold dust on canvas). The artwork tells an obvious tale and yet has its concealed elements.
Saba Khan turns inanimate objects (such as teapots) into animate beings signifying certain social activities that take place in society on a regular basis. Her ‘Bubble Gum Tea Party’ is an example of that.
The exhibition will continue until May 15.
