Written by: Muhammad Hamza
Posted on: November 19, 2025 | 
| 中文
Unstable equilibrium (almost) by Hassan Churchill
Khaas Gallery shows “Somewhere (as) Being.” It features two artists from Lahore: Abdul Wahab and Hassan Churchill. Their paintings and drawings show people in soft lit rooms and foggy spaces. These works explore how our bodies fit into places of waiting where we feel half here, half somewhere else. The title’s little break, like (as), hints at this: being is not solid. It is a moment of starting or fading.
Wahab’s oil paintings turn everyday rooms into maps of feelings. Simple things like chairs or curtains carry hidden stories of quiet thoughts. In Untwine, a person curls up on a bed in soft shadows. Their arms and legs fold close, like hiding in a shell. Warm brown and orange colors mix with the wrinkled sheets, feeling like sun on dry earth. The brush marks add layers thin and see through on top, thick and bumpy below, like real skin. A cup by the bed shines gently, holding the room’s quiet breath.
Untwine by Abdul Wahab
His paintings build on this back and forth between body and space. Reconcile shows two people side by side, facing away from each other in yellow light from curtains. Their hands almost touch, but do not. Earthy reds and blues blend in a careful balance. It feels like Lahore’s hidden yards, safe spots away from city noise. Magic Hour has one person at a window, staring into evening fog. Yellow and deep blue mix softly, making the body stretch out like a long breath at sunset. The glass acts like a thin wall, letting the self spill outside.
Magic Hour by Abdul Wahab
Desist adds a frozen feel: someone sits with feet hanging over a bright red rug, hands tight together in small protest. Paint drips a bit at the sides, showing feelings leaking out. Wahab uses real world colors like browns to hold the dreamy light, turning short scenes into signs of fitting in.
Hinder shades a person in a chair, with red hints clashing against dull backgrounds, like something holding them back. Solace eases into rest, arms and legs out in easy calm, the painting feels like a soft sigh. On paper, Glee uses watercolor and gouache for a quick joy: a person in a hat leans with green touches, the hat’s edge hiding deeper wants.
Glee by Abdul Wahab
Wahab looks closely at how we see things, making normal spots special. Windows watch us, floors listen, building stories from daily floats.
Churchill answers with a softer break apart. His oils and gouache pieces look at pulling away, using light in tricky ways. He notes how we evolved to see only what is needed to live, not to get it all. His shapes float in spots of quiet push back, bodies dealing with empty areas instead of owning them.
Against each other (quietly) has two people leaning close but tense in blue mist. Edges blur into a fight that is almost a hug, light bending over mixed skin and air. Thin paint spreads wide, then feathers out, the uneven setup pulling things that never meet, like stars stuck in place. This breaking down runs through his group.
Drifting (along) the surface floats a shape on blue gray ground, arms loose in a mirror like give up. Light just touches the top, wearing away sharp lines. Windows come back as walls you cannot cross, clear glass fogged with unseen breath, blocking views but trapping the self.
Drifting (along) the surface by Hassan Churchill
Beneath; what won’t settle sinks a body in blue unease, hands pushing against nothing, paint layers making a worn look of floating in mess. Shapes tilt, blur, face off in wordless signs, the unclear parts bringing a deep loneliness. His small paper pieces make the break feel closer.
Almost touch; though not stops fingers right before they meet, thick paint bumps showing skin’s wait. Unstable equilibrium (almost) holds a twisted bend on the edge, gray tones stressing the wobble. On paper, No elsewhere (to go) twists in rough black marks, soft dust like bits of inside hurt, the small size pulling your eyes to turned away looks. In the pause between shape shakes lines in wet paint against rough bits, stopping movement in empty spots. The residue of pull draws bends through what is not there, and Contours of Being circles shapes in weak holds that mix hug and dodge. Churchill uses paint like a wearing skin, matching how seeing things does not last, asking you to feel more than explain.
The residue of pull by Hassan Churchill
Wahab and Churchill meet in what is missing but speaks loudly: his cozy rooms pull you in, soothing alone time, while Churchill’s empties push back, cold of a split self. Warm evenings fade to dark hazes, bodies as weights and ghosts. Paint links them, Wahab’s lively tops keep touch memories, Churchill’s grounds slowly undo under close looks. This mix sees life as a side note: alone but together, close but far.
The setup boosts their talk, grouping pieces like home flow, a Wahab room next to Churchill’s door, starting back and forth looks. Khaas’s small spot makes looking feel like peeking, with artist notes as gentle guides: Wahab’s “soft touch and feel” matches Churchill’s “soft pull away.” As November’s light dims, these works fight being forgotten, daring us to stay in our own “somewhere” somehow, half known, all felt.
You may also like:
