Abdul Rahim Nagori (1939-2011) was a prominent voice in Pakistani political art whose style relied on direct pictorial imagery. He had a series of three paintings called the ‘King of Spades’, ‘King of Hearts’ and ‘King of Clubs’. Each one depicted on three military dictators of Pakistan.

The painting ‘King of Hearts’ has the face of the first military ruler Ayub Khan. Nagori theatricalised figurative art as is present in this painting. According to Nagori, art should visually educate and lead people to awareness and eventually towards the creation of a better society. In his work he used colour symbolically and dramatically, juxtaposing horizontal and vertical lines. Every stroke was placed with meticulous care. Many of his paintings were worked with the palette knife over which he clearly exercised total command. The painting is in the private collection. S.I.K.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 11th, 2015

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