An exhibition of 44 paintings of Asif Wajahat titled 'Glimpses of Me, My life in Islamabad' opened here at French Cultural Centre (Alliance Francaise) on Wednesday evening.
The opening ceremony was fairly with Director of the Centre Mathieu Declarq cutting the red tape and declare it open in the presence of local art buffs and a number of foreign guests who had come to view the work of an aspiring painter and also to give him an opening in the larger art world.
That precisely is the aim of Alliance Francais, remarked Declarq while talking to guests who had gathered on the trim lawn. Many of Wajahat's works are in abstract in which he shows a fondness for pale blue pigment, with wacky lines to project interesting aspect of woman's life.
However, Wajahat's portrayal of Islamabad is more beautiful, perhaps because the viewers could easily identify with some of the spots he had mirrored in his dozen large paintings. One is the study of shimmering light on the Daman-e-Koh undulating green.
Many others are views of yellow sandstone building (they are not really built in sandstone; only the color of their fronts gives the impression of being built out of them). The colors are brick in them. Mathieu spoke to Business Recorder appreciated the energy that came out of Wajahat's comparing it with the energy of a burgeoning capital city.
He said Wajahat had painted Islamabad in vertical lines, while Islamabad has horizontal qualities, because of its standing in a plateau. He also liked his brush-work, which was entirely different from other artists, and invites audiences to feel the experience of the capital in his landscapes.