Monday 16 April 2012

MY FIRST PAINTING EXHIBITION

Thanks to early guidance by my father, i  started making pencil sketches at a very young age, when i was in the middle school.. Later on my studies forced me to not to go too far in the world of art. However once i qualified as Chartered Accountant, in 1979, the road was wide open to me .

However, as if freed from a prison, i started off in various directions at the same time. Music, journalism,running, painting, plus my job, i set off for all at once. However, with the limited time at my disposal, i could not do much that i wanted to do.

But even before that when i use the word Exhibition, i recall the time when i was in class 6th i thnk. My father had showed me how to draw a portrait on paper, by making small squares  on the original photo and then making the same number of larger squares on a piece of paper, and then draw every line in each square as it appeared in the same square on the photo.

I made the portrait of a boy, just lines, no shades. I showed it to my father. He was more than pleased. As a recognition of my achievement, he pasted that sketch on the entrance door of our sitting room. So every visitor used to have a look at the portrait that i had made. The same portrait remained there on the door for quite sometime. It was the first exhibition of my art work.

I had been making pencil sketches for years, however by looking at the penworks by famous artist EQBAL MEHDI http://www.eqbalmehdi.com/ in Subrung digest, i had started making sketches by ballpoint pens and marker. However i did not know how to make sketches by pen and ink. I was too afraid to start oil painting.

EQBAL MEHDI


beautiful-drawings-and-paintings-of. EQBAL MEHDI

I had joined M/s Rahim Jan & Co. Charterd Accountants, as an articled clerk for doing my chartered accountancy, in 1974. My first audit assignment was Khairpur Oil Mills, Khairpur Miras, Sindh. I stayed there for quite sometime. I was staying in the guest house of he mill. I was having much free time , after returning from work. There were around 8 quite large photos of sceneries in glass frames, ahnging in the dining hall. An idea struck my mind. I started copying the sketches made by EQBAL MEHDI in Subrung digest, on large drawing cards, with pencil colours. I had been completing a couple of sketches a week, and replacing the sceneries in the frames with my colourful sketches. In a month's time, their was none of the sceneries left. The dining hall had become my exhibition hall. There were 8 large sized (about 24 x 20 inches) framed coloured sketches , made by myself, hanging there. There were not much visitors there, except three or four regular visitors there. Even then it was a matter of pride for me.For the first time I had put my art works on display.

Later on in  the year 1983. We were going to have  the annual get together of Rahim Jan & Co, in Sana Palace, Federal B' Area, Karachi. I was the main organisor. One of my articled clerk RIZWAN HASHMI was interested in calligraphy. He had had some good pieces of calligraphies done by him in oil. I had written an article about his calligraphy, which was published in the youth page of  The Dawn.

While organising the annual get together, the idea of exhibiting our paintings in the function came to our minds. It was a good idea. Resultantly i pasted my pencil works on hard boards. There were i think 10 or 12 sketches in all. Rizwan was going to put 4 or 5 pieces of his calligraphy.


On the day of the function we put a few tables in the corner of the hall and put our works resting by the wall on them. It was a moment of extreme satisfaction seeing the guests appreciating our efforts.,

I continued making sketches in pencil and pen, when in the year 1984  my friend Iftikhar Hussain, who used to be my old class fellow and the singer of our musical group,(i used to play drums in the group) THE GRADUATES, took me to the annual function of ZUBAIRI ASSOCIATION. There i met a young artist (Razi Ahmet Zubairi) who had put some of his art works on display there. Indeed that was the only thing that i was interested in.The quality and standard of his works made me realise that i must be working hard if i want to do something in the world of art. Iftikhar introduced me to the artist  Lately my friendship with Razi fostered.

However, thanks to my friend Razi Zubairi, i started doing oil painting too. My field of work has always been portraits. I started doing experimenting with oils. Once i made a portrait of an old man by rubbing black paint on a white canvass and then etched the black colour by a piece of cloth. The result was a good portrait of an old man. Razi Zubairi asked me to put the painting in a competition which was being organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan,  Karachi (1984). Reluctantly i submitted my painting. I was more than happy when i was awarded the special prize. This helped me gaining the much needed confidence, and i started taking painting more seriously. But ofcourse finding time from painting was the biggest problem for me.

It was early 1985, when Razi Ahmed Zubairi, took me to Eqbal Mehdi. I had never thought of meeting the artist, who had always been my favourite. I showed him the sketches that i had by then made. In his peculiar style he said,"hmmmmm acha kaam hey". (good work) On my request he allowed me to visit his studio whenever i get time. That was just what i had not even thought of. I started visiting his studio, whenever i could get some time. However, the most time that i could take out of my very hectic schedule, was usually not more than an hour a week.

One day i asked Eqbal Mehdi, that i wanted to have an exhibition of my paintings. He told me that i must have sufficient number of paintings to start thinking about organising a painting exhibition. He advised me to do some calligraphy. Under his guidance i started  writing the word ALLAH in various styles on paper, in black ink with the oil colour wash over it. It came out to be something different. But due to the limited time that i used to have at my disposal, it was going to take months for that. But i was too eager to have an exhibition of my works.

I charted out a plan. I used to go to the YMCA almost daily for running. I spoke to the president of the YMCA one day, and asked for his permission to exhibit my works in a room. There was no art gallery or lounge sort of place there, where the paintings could be exhibited. He was reluctant, but agreed ultimately, when i told him that i would be arranging everything by myself, and would be extremely careful that nothing is damaged there.

In a matter of week, i hurriedly sorted out my old pencil and penworks. I decided to make Eqbal Mehdi its chief guest. I told him about that. He agreed. I got the invitation cards published and started distributing them. I always had a very limited social circle. However, i managed to invite each and every person that i did know.

The room where i was going to exhibit my works, was a small one. There were cupboards with glass doors. I pasted my paintings (drawing cards) with tape on the glasses. My makeshift art gallery was ready. In the nearby lounge of the YMCA hostel i managed to bring chairs from each part of the YMCA. Luckily a good number of friends, mostly from my office (Rahim Jan & Co. Chartered Accountants), turned up.

It would be improper if i do not thank my colleagues , who helped a lot in organising the event.




Eqbal Mehdi arrived with his students. Tanweer, Siraj, .........., Shehnaz and Shabnam. They were all there. The ex film star turned journalist Asad Jaffery was also there. Eqbal Mehdi was kind enogh to say some nice words about me. In his peculiar slow style he said," ACHA KAAM KURTEY HEIN". (His work is good).


Eqbal Mehdi toured the room and looked at the sketches. The visitors looked at my works with interest. I was too happy. The first exhibition of my paintings (howsoever amateurish that was) but that helped me a lot in gaining confidence, and i started working for my next paintings. Fortunately or unfortunately i had always been more interested in exhibiting my works, since my marketing side is very very weak, so i always failed to sell to meet even the organising costs of the exhibitions.

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