KARACHI: When we say there’s a pattern to our lives, what do we mean? We mean there’s a certain routine to our daily goings-on that we follow. But the subtext of this admission is the known complaint about monotony in life. Nothing can impede our psycho-social growth like a monotonous schedule. Artists, as we all know, constantly push the boundaries in search of something new, something fresh that lends more and more meaning to existence. A two-person show titled Patterns, which can be seen at the Canvas Art Gallery, underlines the fact that the artist community constantly strives to explore the unseen in the visible and unearth what’s concealed.

The participating artists are Fawad Jafri and Yaseen Khan about whom the gallery informs the viewer: “Fawad Jafri’s abstract visuals are a result of his countless hours working with graphic artists for games and advertisements. His fascination and obsession with the ‘line’ prompted him to develop a composition of shapes that gave him a nostalgic sensation.

Yaseen Khan’s artwork is a personal journey and a culmination of his experiences, travels and relationships he built over the years. He has a deep connection with the cultures and history of Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa allowing him to study the different colours and nuances associated with each region.”

The two takeaways, rather words to take note of, from the statement about each creator are ‘line’ and ‘travel’. Jafri wonderfully uses the most basic element of design — line — to show how vast the world of art is. They say in music, if a singer can learn to hit just the first note ‘sa’ with all its permutations, it may take him ages but will make him an extraordinary vocalist. Jafri achieves a great deal here with a similar attempt. In works such as the ‘1 By 0’ series (acrylic on canvas) he employs shapes in ways that personify circles and squares, turning them into everyday characters the viewer can identify with.

Khan, on the other hand, turns the process of embarking on a journey into a visual treat with tremendous kinetic energy. A case in point is the piece called ‘Sound of Colours’ (chamak patti on steel). So what’s being done here is that patterns are broken to come up with new patterns. Great work!

The exhibition concludes on Thursday (today).

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022