Painting is not dead - it's alive and kicking….

Text: Salwat Ali.

Photography: Courtesy various galleries/artists

 Peppered with spurts of creative zest and technical flair, Visual Arts 2012 remained buoyant in a social and political environment that continued to plunge ever deeper into turmoil.  Particularly noticeable were refreshing perspectives in the works of young painters on topics questioning the space between art and life in the often violent and chaotic reality they are faced with every day. Growing in the age of Breaking News, power outages and shutter down calls the current generation of artists critique disorder not with alarm and despair but with a cool rationale often tweaked with biting humor. Hardy and resilient they have the aplomb and ingenuity to explore new directions to address their concerns.

In an art climate increasingly dominated by mixed and multimedia young artists as committed practitioners of representational painting are few and far between. The Canvas show, (shown in last week of Dec2011, but reviewed in Jan2012) Condolence Theatre, by Muhammed Ali and Altars, by Komail Aijazuddin centering on the painterly exercise was a pleasant reminder of the grandeur and instant impact that can be achieved through this traditional genre.  Religo - cultural storytelling is a relatively unexplored field here and in this regard the two artist’s deliberate engagement with their chosen subjects was the other striking feature of the show.