ISLAMABAD: Gallery 6 opened its doors to a new group show that exhibited the works of eight landscape painters.

As the title ‘Spring Will Come’ suggested, Abid Khan, Ajab Khan, Arif Ansari, Asma Abbasi, Fareeha Shahid, Najmul Hassan, Sadia Arif and Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi send out a message of optimism through their floral landscape paintings.

Abid Khan, who has a master’s degree in English Literature from the University of the Punjab, has carved out a career as an artist.

His work was a reflection of withering moods of mother nature that focussed on the colourful landscapes of Pakistan.

He was struck by the beauty of different areas, especially those with a lot of greenery.

In this exhibition, his two landscapes celebrated blooming flowers in spring in strong colour tones to create that dramatic feeling. His canvases had an interesting impressionistic and realistic mix painted with the utmost attention to aesthetics.

Ajab Khan appeared to have a strong and intimate observation of nature and masterly skills to transfer it on the canvas.

Arif Ansari had done a four-year diploma from an art school in Karachi and obtained certificates in watercolour and oil paintings. He has worked as an interior designer and also teaches art in a prestigious school.

His current series was focused on lotus flowers, which he presented at different times of the day. The two paintings at sunset time are likely to draw attention of art collectors.

Asma Abbasi loved to paint landscapes in different seasons. Art lovers in Islamabad have seen her works from her home city of Bahawalpur and areas of Islamabad.

She had also produced some exciting landscapes of the UK during her visits.

Her current work was based on the flower Gul Mohar, also known as flame of the forest or flame tree.

After her MFA in paintings from Punjab University, Fareeha Shahid did different types of work, mostly commissioned by clients, for the first 10 years.

However, her interest grew in landscapes and since 2015, she has been painting the splendour of landscapes of Punjab in bright sunlight.

Najmul Hassan usually painted landscapes of areas around Chakwal and was known for his impressions of mustard. However, for this exhibition, he had produced two paintings of beautiful bougainvillea, which was a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes and trees grown widely in Pakistan.

Sadia Arif was the only artist in the show who had worked in water colours.

Her three beautiful compositions were also based on Bougainvillea, spreading on walls or growing in front of different buildings. The orange, pink or purplish coloured vines or trees with interesting contrasts against the olden architecture made these paintings a treat.

Also a graduate from the National College of Arts Lahore (NCA), Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi is a well-established landscape painter.

One can find an element of spirituality on his canvases. He gave a lot of breathing space to the viewer by painting sky in his compositions. His sky also was an indicator of time and season. At times it was all misty and on some canvases, it was festooned with colours subtly merging into each other. This assimilation announced the time element and the viewer could guess that it was dawn, dusk or bright mid day. Interestingly, there were no birds, animals and people. However, in a few, flowers at a distance created their own ambiance.

The exhibition will continue till Oct 13.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2022