Written by: Khadijah Rehman
Posted on: December 12, 2019 | 
| 中文
Panchait
The need for power is hardwired into human beings. It is either a desire to influence, or a deep, unsettling craving, a need for authority and control, and rarely does it ever bode well. This yearning for power is the backbone of most of the great epics that humanity has told throughout time.
Lord 3
But the warnings concealed behind most of the lessons in these stories often boil down to two things: the anti-hero shies away from power, and yet it is thrust upon him. The villain chases after it and it ends up devouring him. Such a conundrum forms the very warped backdrop of real life, wreaking havoc and causing disaster in our lived realities. It is this unearned and misused power, that artist Aakif Suri challenges through his works, in his show How Long Will a Goose Sit on Dead Eggs? at the O Art Space in Lahore.
The egg plays a monumental role in Suri’s miniature paintings. In its stark whiteness and attribute of concealing its contents, the artist has discovered a metaphor for ambiguity and secrecy. In Panchait, seven eggs arranged in a circle seem almost human in their postures, leaning towards one another as if conspiring together. Their arrangement has an insidious quality, thrown into further emphasis by the rendering of the eggs, which are black in their lower halves, with fleshy membranous tops, and white animal hair adorning them. These strange forms are reminiscent of a goose or a vulture in their color and texture, and are almost repulsive to look at.
The artist’s mastery is evident in the glistening pink of the flesh, rendered in the classic and painstaking miniature techniques of pardaakht and tippai, which uses small dots and dashes to render a form. Each vein is so laboriously and realistically rendered, that it seems to throb and pulsate on the wasli paper. A panchait, which is usually a council of village elders which has recently come to be known for its unjust use of power, has been recreated here using the inanimate egg forms, heads put together to pass prejudiced judgment with woeful consequences.
In Daddy’s Boy, too, the eggs make a reappearance, this time as an exploration of the sort of power that comes from having wealth and social standing. A small white egg stands in the foreground, its ovoid form gleaming purple, blue and pearly white, while a gigantic, fleshy egg stands behind it. Its orange membrane is covered in fine black hair, and every strand is painted so delicately. The viewer holds their breath, half expecting to disturb the wispy hair with each exhale.
Daddy's Boy
The power dynamic created in this painting is one that is all too familiar, that of an entitled young boy, supported by his political father figure, unaccountable for any wrongdoing. The large, looming egg, in all its fleshy hairiness, is evocative of the same abhorrence one feels in the face of such blatant exploitation of power.
Suri’s ability to create a satirical narrative, using nothing but inanimate objects concealed as living, breathing forms, is extraordinary. The artist has put up through his paintings a reflection, gently goading the unjust nature of hierarchy into view. His works are sensitive renderings that pack a wallop in their ubiquitous quality of truthfulness, combining mirth and misery to comment on a world that is crooked beyond repair. The exhibition continues till 15th December.
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