KARACHI: Fresh from Hong Kong, where he and his life partner and co-miniaturist Aisha Khalid had a successful two person-show, Imran Qureshi is holding an exhibition of eight paintings at Canvas Gallery. Four of these are figurative works and are grouped under the familiar title — ‘Enlightened Moderation’. The figures are all those of men with flowing beards.

The man in one painting is shown exercising with weights, the other is seen taking off his shirt (what is artistic about it is what I wonder but am discreet enough not to voice my views, when I am given a guided tour by the artist) and yet another shows a man wearing a floral shirt and ordinary jeans.

“I am trying to dispel the notion that all people with such long beards don’t lead a normal life”, said Imran Qureshi. “I have students who are bearded but they paint, they sing and they enjoy life, but they are deeply religious too”. One wonders what makes this theme so important to one who is rated among our top-ranking miniaturists.

The four abstract paintings that he has titled Portraits (one doesn’t see portraits but the artist insists that the two oval shape figures have faces) are also on display. I am reminded of the famous line from Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn: “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard/Are sweeter…” Maybe Qureshi had the great 19th century poet in mind when he was painting invisible faces.

Faces or no faces, one cannot help appreciating the craft of the miniaturist. Minute details that are strong points of miniature art — traditional or modern — are very much there. It’s good to see that miniature art has been revived in Pakistan, thanks to the likes of Ustad Bashir Ahmad. In India miniaturists are in business too but haven’t wriggled out of the traditional themes. Our artists, such as Shazia Sikander, Imran Qureshi and Aisha Khalid, use modern figures and contemporary themes, which is why they command higher prices in the West than the miniaturists across the Wagah border do.

The paintings on display at Canvas are in the region of Rs700,000. “Why are your paintings so prohibitively priced?” someone asked Qureshi. “Outside Pakistan I get the same prices. Initially, I priced them low for domestic buyers but then my buyers abroad protested. So, I had a choice either to sell my paintings at such low prices abroad or price them uniformly high”, he replied. That’s a sensible decision and the fact that all his eight paintings are sold on the opening day shows that there are people for whom money is no consideration, but miniature art is.

Imran Qureshi teaches miniature painting at Lahore’s National College of Arts, where his wife is a thesis advisor. The exhibition will be on till the 13th.