PESHAWAR: Noted artist Pir Hamid Ali Kheshgi recently garnered a widespread fame when an Italy-based organisation selected his art piece for an international group exhibition in watercolour painting contest.

It was for the third time that he grabbed the honour of being selected for the biannual group paintings exhibition held in Italy where art pieces of noted artists from across the world were displayed after a meticulous selection process.

About his recent recognition, Mr Kheshgi told this scribe that it was for the third time that an Italy-based organisation had selected a piece of his artwork for a group paintings exhibition in watercolour contest that he said would help promote cultural diversity and tourism of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the world level.

The organisation, also known as watercolour artists organisation, had invited pieces from artists worldwide for a group exhibition in watercolour contest. The artworks of two KP artists, including Abdur Rahman and Mr Kheshgi, were selected for the year 2021-22.

Artist Hamid Kheshgi paints landscapes to promote local cultural diversity and tourism

Mr Kheshgi presently serves as assistant art professor in Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, and is recipient of 15 awards and commendation certificates from both national and international art organisations.

He has participated in several solo and group exhibitions and also delivered papers on the significance of landscaping, character design and textual illustrations. He has been doing online illustration and animation projects for private firms in UK, US, China and Vietnam.

Mr Kheshgi elaborated that his artwork selected for the world group event was a painting of a hut in green village fields, reflecting KP’srural culture that still existed with all its natural manifestations and through which the world artists could understand it in the language of vibrant colours.

“The first time, I had sent my painting showing a typical scene of a rural town with two bicycles parked in front of a village shop, and my second painting was again a village Ghanai (an improvised Ghur-making place) selected for the biannual art exhibition event in 2017 and 2019, respectively. I have in a way done a hat-trick,” Mr Kheshgi said proudly.

He said he wanted to show to the world the KP’s indigenous culture through the universal language of art. He said being a multimedia artist he had done most of his artworks in several mediums, including oil and watercolour, with an objective to promote cultural diversity and tourism.

“I want to launch an art gallery based on the concept of art of Italy, which in fact is the origin of visual art,” he said and showed his desire for doing a doctorate from the foreign country in the field, if he got a scholarship.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2022