Print

    Group Exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery

    Group Exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery

    Written by: Maryam Muhammad
    Posted on: July 03, 2015 |

    Nomad Gallery is currently holding a group exhibition featuring 4 celebrated Pakistani artists including Mashkoor Raza, Samina Ali, Ubaid Syed and Tayyaba Aziz. The exhibition is a prospective delight for art lovers in Islamabad, offering a diverse range of paintings with varying mediums, techniques and subject matter.

    Group Exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery

    The exhibition includes 6 paintings by Ubaid Syed, all of which have been inspired by nature. These acrylic based paintings are unique in their own way. It is difficult to discern where the abstract features of the paintings end and where the landscape features begin. The palette is vibrant and appears to have been borrowed mainly from the colors of dusk.With their bold strokes and appealing ambiguity, the paintings are a must-have for anyone who is particularly fond of abstract, nature- inspired art.

    Tayyaba Aziz’s paintings are composed of oil on canvas.They engage with the female form and various symbols and motifs. The most obvious among these is the clock motif. The subjects appear to be in the presence of clocks in almost all the paintings, which may be an allusion to the lack of self-determination in most women’s lives. Another recurring feature is the vacant expression in the eyes of the female subjects, almost making it seem like they are longing for something. The colors used are a little melancholic in comparison with the other paintings featured in the exhibition. However, Aziz’s mastery over the use of these colors makes up for the lack of vibrancy; she succeeds in giving a three dimensional quality to the subjects of her paintings.

    Group Exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery

    Mashkoor Raza, a veteran of Pakistan’s art industry, is the highlight of this group exhibition. The bold choice of colors and accompanying palette knife technique is something only an experienced painter like Raza can pull off. The artist has chosen his favorite subjects for this particular exhibition as well: horses and women.The equestrian form may be interpreted as Raza’s allusion to the freedom. His painting featuring 7 horses with the sunset in the background stands out in the entire exhibition. Thinned oil paint in various shades of beige and brown has been cleverly used to produce the illusion of a forest.

    The last artist, whose paintings form the bulk of the exhibition, is Samina Ali. Her paintings stand out in the entire exhibition, owing to the artist’s choice of mixed media. Ali has used newspapers, threads, water and acrylic colors, miniature paintings taken from a textbook with a layering technique to create her masterpieces. Memory, loss and a longing for the past are all dominant themes in Samina’s paintings. The zenith of Samina’s works for this exhibition is ‘Without you’, a beautiful painting that combines postage stamps, textbook cuttings of a miniature painting and newspaper fragments, layered with acrylic paint and textured paper. The couplet written in Urdu at the bottom of the painting succeeds in transforming the piece from art to poetry.

    Group Exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery

    The exhibition will continue at Nomad Gallery until 10th July 2015.


    As the new year begins, let us also start anew. I’m delighted to extend, on behalf of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and in my own name, new year’s greeting and sincere wishes to YOULIN magazine’s staff and readers.

    Only in hard times can courage and perseverance be manifested. Only with courage can we live to the fullest. 2020 was an extraordinary year. Confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Pakistan supported each other and took on the challenge in solidarity. The ironclad China-Pakistan friendship grew stronger as time went by. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects advanced steadily in difficult times, become a standard-bearer project of the Belt and Road Initiative in balancing pandemic prevention and project achievement. The handling capacity of the Gwadar Port has continued to rise and Afghanistan transit trade through the port has officially been launched. The Karakoram Highway Phase II upgrade project is fully open to traffic. The Lahore Orange Line project has been put into operation. The construction of Matiari-Lahore HVDC project was fully completed. A batch of green and clean energy projects, such as the Kohala and Azad Pattan hydropower plants have been substantially promoted. Development agreement for the Rashakai SEZ has been signed. The China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future has become closer and closer.

    Reviewing the past and looking to the future, we are confident to write a brilliant new chapter. The year 2021 is the 100th birthday of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. The 100-year journey of CPC surges forward with great momentum and China-Pakistan relationship has flourished in the past 70 years. Standing at a new historic point, China is willing to work together with Pakistan to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, connect the CPEC cooperation with the vision of the “Naya Pakistan”, promote the long-term development of the China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership with love, dedication and commitment. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan said, “We are going through fire. The sunshine has yet to come.” Yes, Pakistan’s best days are ahead, China will stand with Pakistan firmly all the way.

    YOULIN magazine is dedicated to promoting cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan and is a window for Pakistani friends to learn about China, especially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is hoped that with the joint efforts of China and Pakistan, YOULIN can listen more to the voices of readers in China and Pakistan, better play its role as a bridge to promote more effectively people-to-people bond.

    Last but not least, I would like to wish all the staff and readers of YOULIN a warm and prosper year in 2021.

    Nong Rong Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
    The People’s Republic of China to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
    January 2021