Text | Mariam Qureshi
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Visuals | As mentioned
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Issue 48
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The Surrealists sought to channel the unconscious as a means to unlock the power of the imagination. They believed the rational mind repressed the power of the imagination, weighing it down with taboos. The Surrealist impulse to tap the unconscious mind, and their interests in myth and primitivism, went on to shape many later movements, and the style remains influential to this today.Sigmund Freud was profoundly influential for Surrealists His exposure of the complex and repressed inner worlds of sexuality, desire, and violence provided a theoretical basis for much of Surrealism.

Miró created elaborate, fantastical spaces in his paintings that are an excellent example of Surrealism in their reliance on dream-like imagery and their use of biomorphism

René Magritte’s works tend to be intellectual, often dealing with visual puns and the relation between the representation of something and the thing itself. The hyperrealist painting style often used by Surrealists makes the odd setup seem dreamlike.

Dalí’s ability to render his vivid and bizarre dreams with seemingly journalistic accuracy. He referred to his work as “hand-painted dream photographs” because of their realism coupled with their eerie dream quality. Although Surrealism was started by the poet Andy Breton in Paris  it had had enormous influence in art till to date. Although the concepts and mediums have changed. Now dreams and the psychological unconscious are being dealt as an interplay of the artists intrinsic thoughts, needs and desire shaped through the stimulus attained by their environment and society. Ripples of influence of the movement have had a great effect on the contemporary art in Pakistan, as well. Prominent artist are dealing with dreams, desire and personal quests with a very Surrealistic stance. Pakistani artists have gone to show Surrealism is not limited to certain mindset and technique but it can inculcate various thought, ideas and ideals.

RM Naeem is a super realist and a surrealist artist. He deals with spaces -mostly empty spaces juxtaposed with objects which are a depiction and symbolism of what the artist wants to talk about. He talks about the status of women in the society and he does this by placing obscure objects composed next to a human figure executed in a super realist technique. The canvas has a very dream like quality and the diagonal lines running along the canvas add a balance, symmetry and enable the viewer’s gaze to travel across the canvas. RM Naeem uses the buddha’s head and horse to signify how precious these museum pieces are and in context to women he narrates that a woman should be considered precious and placed on a pedestal of respect. Both horse and Buddha also represent strength. His painting titled “Superwoman” the woman depicted with photographic accuracy is floating in midair as if to take flight. In the painting “Connected” a girl is seen bowing down to a mosque minaret. R M Naeem work although dealing with real, conscious concepts but the series of canvases have a very dream like quality. On the whole RM Naeem’s work is beautiful because their something honest and heartfelt in his preparation of all his canvases

Afshar Malik’s work is beautiful because it is spontaneous and nothing about it is preconceived. The forms are biomorphic and interplay of colors and obscure objects give his paintings and ink based images a very mysterious and other worldly feel. Every time you observe his images a new set of images emerge to satiate a imagination mind. Hence there is a new story each time the canvas is looked at.  Afshar talks about his work “My work is too personalized to be commercial. I work on my images every day. I keep working on it until i feel it should be left as it is. Some painting take years.” Afshar’s work is surreal because it has an otherworldly ethereal effect especially his acrylic paintings like “Catch whenever it falls.” and “Either way it is about giving” are acrylic painting which talk about psychological yearning beyond the obvious. But Afshar’s work is reminiscent of the French- Russian Artist of the early 19th century Marc Chagall. Marc Chagall was expressionist and a cubist. Like the surrealist Miro. Afshar’s work is biomorphic, obscure and imaginative.  “The artist’s direct experience of his subjects, his emotional response to nature, and his intuition are more important than academic theory.”

Donia graduated from National College of Arts in 2011 and her work represents common man or rather the local street culture in her miniature paintings. What is special about her work is that she has dealt with a very real concept but she has inculcated surrealism in traditional miniature. The empty space and a sense of loss in her paintings is very real. Her work deals with multiple layers and a higher conscience of which perhaps even the artist is unaware of.When she talks about poor people they are placed in a very stark often black background. The pessimism towards the predicaments of the human race in general. Images of her late father with a picture of the deceased friend of her father placed in background with no other object has a stark dismal quality to it. When she paints the vasli maker at her college or an old loyal servant or the donkey cart driver the element of sympathy with a sense of isolation. An explicable loneliness that even the artist doesn’t realize.

Irfan Gul Paintings are very realist and on the whole his compositions are aesthetically very appealing and convincing. His skill and choice of objects or elements are extremely effective. He catches the viewer off guard when he depicts a school student dressed in his school attire also carrying a warrior armor and helmet as depicted in the paintings “Waiting to be picked” and “Recess”. These paintings are a take on the unfortunate killing of school students in the Army Public School in Peshawar. “Still Noise” talks about child abuse and semi infantile, dwarf monster like image “This this is my expression of coming face to face with fact that i was abused as a child. The overgrown child depicts how vulnerable a man can become when made to confront childhood traumas.”

Like Rene Margritte Irfan Gull plays with visual puns.

Ali Kazim’s work is very personal. Some of it takes inspiration from history and is modified in an eloquent manner to represent modern issues and personal ideals. One such piece is the image titled “Shah Sawari” which shows a boy riding a wooden horse. The background is stark and the main focus being the figure and the inanimate object. This image has taken inspiration from a piece at the Victoria Albert museum called Tipu’s Tiger. The toy shows a tiger attacking a man and the tiger folds down to reveal the small key board of a small pipe organ.

The tiger was created for Tipu and makes use of his personal emblem of the tiger and expresses his hatred of his enemy. Ali Kazim also played with hair as a medium. One of his interesting hair pieces is heart made out of hair and another in which a tunnel like projection or rather an installation suspended from the ceiling with invisible wires. The viewer is caught off guard by this strange obscure projection made out of hair. Ali Kazim talks about his hair series “Hair has played an important role in history and religion. I am drawing with hair. In Europe women used to give their hair to theirs lovers for keepsake.

The removal of hair during the ritual of performing haj. The ritual growing a part of ones hair in shrines. All these historical facets related to hair have inspired this series.”

His series depicting a single man doing various different types of activities be it holding a taweez, shaving his armpit or listening to a secret. He explains i was interested in finding about the history of portraiture. My inspiration was the   Harappan figurine of the Male king priest. This is one of the earliest depiction of male portraiture. I took inspiration and drew a study of its characteristics. i have inculcated his dravidian features in my portraiture depictions. Ali Kazim graduated from National College of Arts in painting 2011 and then went to Slade School of arts for his Masters.

Irfan Hassan’s choice of objects and their juxtaposition is very surreal. His work is filled with dark humor which satires aspects of society and human foibles. His work is a humorous and political satire which is placed on the canvas depict the uncanny. The painting “Blue Salute”depicts a man saluting a winged donkey. This is a depiction of how we follow norms, tradition and customs without knowing what is good and bad. The blue represents sorrow. This work is inspired by Picasso’s blue period. The painting which is titled “Composition 1” is a uncanny choice of objects with a gas mask metamorphisizing into a man’s torso which in turn is transforming into a barren tree. A dog is majestically in the middle. And other image called “Target Kisser” is a pun on Obamas policy of drone attacks and also about the time when target killing was rampant in Karachi. In the “Serial Kisser” Obama’s skin is stretched and from his chin emerge drones which are targeting a seminude woman.

Both the images remind one of Dalis painting “Persistence of time”. In the manner in which the objects melt and liquidate and encompass the space.

The painting titled “Maa Kali” is a take on a picture of Damian Hirst the artist in the GQ Magazine in London. In this picture Damian Hirst is depicted as a snake with fangs and the picture had the same violence as traditional images of the Hindu godess Maa Kaali. Hence i painted it such.” The painting “The Guardian” depicts dogs that resemble Asif Zardari and Rehman Malik. Irfan’s is bold not only in his uncanny juxtapositions but on how humanity is rotting and smells of decay.

Mudassar Manzoor is a miniaturist with very existentialist ideas. His paintings have a sufi ethos to them. The warrior series is inspired by Shahnama.

The Shahnameh is the world’s longest epic poem written by a single Persian poet Firdousi in 997 C.E. Mudassar is inspired by the “Book of Kings” and uses this to express his personal quest for a higher conscience. He places warriors dressed in armors in ethereal places. The warriors don’t look hostile in fact they seem to be in a sort of recluse and searching for something. The warriors are a passive figure. Mudassar maintains “The search for completion and divinity is a universal human trait. Be it a religious extremist or an artist. The artist uses his creation as expression for fulfillment while an extremist uses Jihad. One has the pen and the other a sword.” Scientists have discovered that the atom consists of nothing but a vibration. This emptiness is extremely important as it signifies silence. When one explores the nature of reality silence is the answer. Stillness is essential for completion and peace. Silence is the language of god everything else is a poor translation. It is also musical.”  Mudassar expresses the silence with obscure linear patterns along the canvas in a very pattern like rhythmic fashion.

Muddasar’s work has a calming effect and depicts violence in a unique nonviolent manner. Muddasar graduated from the National College of Arts in 2005 from the department of miniature.

Adeel Uz Zafar seems to be an artist who seems to be inspired by solitude. His images are beautiful and unsettling at the same time. Beautiful because of their immaculate intricacies and attention to detail and unsettling because the objects which are a subject to his attention are stuff toys that are wrapped in gauze as if they are mummified. The paradox between the fact that stuff toys are associated with childhood and innocence and the fact they are bandaged is associated with something broken- something amiss  and not right. Adeel talks about how he developed the idea of stuff toys in bandages. “After graduation i started illustrating course books for British council for students of Gilgit and i was confined to the northern area the seclusion and lack of art materials led me to experiment with plastic sheets. I scraped the surface of plastic vinyl and hence created highly detailed and interact drawings through this medium. The illustrations were whimsical. Upon retuning back to Karachi i started buying stuff toys and started wrapping them in a bandage of gauze and painted them in infinite detail showing every stitch and weave of the gauze. I played with iconic characters such as the Simpsons and the Power Puff Girls.” The activity of scratching surface of plastic vinyl led the artist initiate dark drawings in a super realist and detailed fashion. It is the life like quality of these images which make them morbid and disturbing.

Hence Surrealism has been extended to encompass issues beyond the individual psyche and address issues of the universal unconscious as well by artists of Pakistan.