Constructing meaning:

A two-person show, titled ‘Piece of Land’ opened at Rohtas2, Lahore, on March 8^th 2012, featuring works by Saba Qizilbash and Saamia Vine. Why the two painters decided to show their works collaboratively, under the title ‘Piece of Land’ (which is also the title of 4 of Qizilbash’s paintings in the show and is perhaps only suitable for her body of work) is a question worth asking. The gallery filled with some 13 paintings in varying frames, forms and sizes was perhaps missing a curatorial statement.

Whenever I experience a lack of response to works of art, I often wonder about this process of ‘experiencing art’. Art is most definitely subjective but the matter is not of personal taste here, but perhaps an assessment of the ‘experience’ offered by the work, it’s simply either rewarding, or not. And essentially it’s a form of communication, just like language is.

In order to find that entry point into the work, sometimes it helps asking; What do I see, feel, hear, smell, taste? What does the work depict? What processes and elements did the maker choose to use and how? What is the artwork about? Can I express what I think the artwork is about in one sentence? What evidence inside or outside the artwork supports my interpretation? E.t.c.

Vine’s investigation of application and techniques can best be explained as ‘experimentation’ into the unknown, the work probably needs some editing and some more time to simmer. Though ‘Black stencil with box exploration, model 1’ is a painting that stood out, which employs bold geometric imagery in a reductive approach that gives the work a certain complexity and transitory nature, engaging with the viewer as a painting, a sculpture, and a temporary vision.

Where as Qizilbash’s concerns, varying from more subtle references, such as; satchels, children’s shoes and frocks to the actual presence of children in one of the paintings, expresses the longing for a release from a restrictive surrounding, through more definite (than suggestive) visual references (perhaps too definite!). Also, in each painting, Qizilbash seems to be retelling the same portion of the same story, that too, in not a drastically different manner. The warping/bleeding canvases also lacked finesse and the white paint used to correct some areas drew even more attention to those otherwise ignorable contours. Perhaps all her concerns were best summarized in a single image, ‘Play Ground’, in a style which is charged with narrative that is subtle, while the title provides a touch of irony.

(Limiting my discussion to these two paintings alone) Contrary to Qizilbash’s work that deals heavily with the political and cultural tensions in Pakistan, Vine’s is a dialogue about art through art perhaps, bypassing literal perception in order to reach into this otherwise impenetrable world of unconscious emotion. And if I push too hard to draw some similarities between the works of the two painters, then may be, it’s the ‘investigation into a realm of unbounded imagination’.

Having said that;

“Paintings are like poetry in that they evokes certain feelings, certain emotions that function within our psyches on a more primitive level. They have something to them, something you can't define, something just outside of the light of our campfire (to paraphrase Gary Snyder). To be sure, paintings need structure and all the other elements, but they also need that primal ‘Oomph!’ to reach out to us, be they by Da Vinci, Pollock, Picasso, or Bob Ross.” -- Mreierst