ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON YOULIN MAGAZINE
The latest edition of the Studio RM project "Trilogue" is on display at Khaas Contemporary in Islamabad, featuring the works of three talented artists: Ahsan Memon, Hamid Ali Hanbhi, and Suleman Faisal. Curated by RM Naeem, the exhibition space has been divided into three transient colour phases, creating a walkthrough experience for the viewer.
Memon's melancholic portraiture painting series has been deliberately hung on the left wall of the gallery space, perhaps creating a symbolic west to the opposite wall that showcases Hanbhi's paintings featuring figures in blue burqas in a landscape setting creating immediate associations with the east. Between the two walls are Faisal's tinted resin-encased objects, with entombed domestic objects. The transitions of light and colour are activated by the see through quality of Faisal’s clear resin that acts as glass, and captures distortions and abstractions of its surroundings. The multiplicity of visual perceptions is united by their explorations of luminosity and depth of colour. As viewers traverse these distinctly different colour fields, they begin to shift their focus towards the thematic and psychological qualities imbued into the work. Memon’s ephemeral textures in “Neeli Jheel” rise to the surface through a formation of delicate translucent layers of paint, rendering the skin fluorescent. The female subjects in “Khawabeda” and “Mitti kay Khawab” have closed their eyes, as if consumed by a hypnotic trance-like state of consciousness that is reminiscent of the famous ghost photography era of the early 1860s. Their spirit-like presence carries the same atmospheric illusion that can be experienced in a fog or a cloud of mist.
Hanbhi's “Outland series” has four parts and begins with a larger painting, where figures are closer to the viewer and spread evenly across the plane. In the following paintings, the horizon and the formations of the figures begin to shift. The identical burqas start to feel architectural in “Untitled II”, as the artist chooses to spread them into a road trailing in the distance or into a circular human chain boundary in “Untitled III”. These dreamlike scapes or perhaps nightmarish formations, create otherworldly environments that transport you into Frank Herbert’s novel “Dune”, which combined religious iconography with desolate geological terrains. Memon’s portraiture sought to capture the realism of witnessing the subconscious, and Hanbhis landscape paintings can be read as the hallucinations and visions experienced when the subconscious mind is active. The resin exoskeletons created by Faisal use a surgical approach in examining the politics and personal experiences of gendered domesticated objects. The deliberate pairing of a larger handle with a masculine toolbox for “Reification”, and a feminine smaller handle for “Reclamation” for the sewing machine, can immediately be associated with a particular gender. In “Dichotomy”, the viewer can clearly see a gun paired with a pair of scissors, here the artist is introducing the subject matter of pain, suffering and violence. Within these monochromatic installations, Faisal is able to trigger the collective and personal memories that are attached to these objects.
The curatorial note of the exhibition describes the work to have the qualities of communication and collaboration, which is evident in how each artist has used the female experience as an analogy to explore the role of representation, the politics of domestication and the nature of the subconscious. These particular artists when shown together have created an atmospheric environment that distorts the passage of time, where it can be viewed as a construct that can be distorted and stopped. The display created by the coming together of their works has an immersive effect on the viewer, that temporarily separates them from the outside world allowing the inner world to be activated. The third-person mentioned in the curator's notes that is ever present in a trialogue, can be interpreted as the subconscious that is formed at the advent of experiencing the work of all three artists as a unified body.
For over fifteen years, Studio RM has curated several exhibitions, organised artist residency programmes and created countless opportunities for showcasing artists of all mediums and backgrounds. The exposure and opportunities that Studio RM provides, have been a source of artist mentorship and a catalyst for paving the road for other art collectives being formed across various disciplines. An art collective is able to share experiences and ideas to forge alliances that strengthen the future of practising artists. Studio RM has made it possible for artists to come together and connect with art galleries all over the country so that they are able to share their work with wider audiences.
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