Mughal horse riders, bare dry trees and thorns, a bull's skull, battling elephants and some green bushes are arranged in a peculiar manner between squares, triangles and circles uncovers various social issues scatter around us from lawlessness and unrest to the survival and not just the survival - the survival of the fittest. Naveed Sadiq paints a future that looks bleak, unpleasantly cold and dull.
Thus the prevailing environment made him translate his thoughts and experiences in paintings through a process of image making.
His recent paintings at the Koel Art Gallery, Karachi portray hidden struggles and tragic moments which he has gone through during two decades. The depths of misery, disappointment and sadness serve as the stimulating factor for his paintings. His ideas take shape of images and various surfaces and materials help him explore the path of finding deeper meaning and expression.
Naveed sees this process of exploration as an act of meditation through which he understands worldly truths. "Through this meditation comes an understanding to resolve ideas, beliefs, origin, creed, haunting childhood, the loss of things dear, the new beginnings, the beauty of sharing and ugliness of disassociation ... the being of me", Naveed said.
Naveed's paintings solo exhibition, titled "Umeed-e-Bahaar Rakh" based on a theme on Allama Iqbal's poetic verse 'Paiwasta reh shajr se, umeed-e-bahaar rakh' includes thirteen paintings on imperial-sized wasli boards in gouache, tea stain, embossing with silver and gold leaf.
As the title reveals he also seeks solace, relief from emotional distress, a source of comfort which lays in "Umeed" (hope). Hope made people live their lives till death that might be difficult or even impossible for some if there was not hope. This single ray of hope motivates people to live on a life they don't want to live otherwise. His expressive paintings depict sensitive, clear and perspicuous perspective of life. Comprising some hidden and revealed issues of everyday life he seems as well as optimistic.
Naveed said that he is neither a speaker nor a writer; he is simply an image maker, he has achieved his goal of transforming his concepts and views to other people through his paintings, paintings that are silent as they are conceived by Naveed as he thinks that screaming takes the pleasure away.
He uses signs that exist all around us in everything. There is a need to observe and express those signs in a symbolic way, thus speaking via images connecting to people by means of paintings. He incorporates his own impressions in his work. His personal thoughts moulds into messages that may relate to many other people.
The stylistic and peculiar look of his paintings is the result of his selection of multi-layered grounds, using embossing along with gouache on wasli and to enhance the expression uses gold and silver leaves while he also attain rare tints and hues by using tea-wash technique. [email protected]
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