Gurd Baad

Abbas’s concern is the woman who is the manager of the family in the rural gypsy setup.

An exhibition of watercolour paintings titled “Gurd Baad” (Dusty Wind) by Ali Abbas opened at Clifton Art Gallery, Karachi on 10th March 2011 to last until further announcement.

Abbas’s thirty displays are a reflection of gypsies from rural Sindh. Abbas captures their two dimensional approach to life; one dimension is their past which encompasses the graves of their elders and memories of the time when it rained. The second dimension is their present- the day they live and nothing beyond. Abbas captures with vivacity and heart felt feelings their moment to moment existence. They live at the mercy of nature, which brings about drought, famine, and rain governing their way of living. They keep on moving under the direction of weather conditions, finding new shelters in search of food and water.

Abbas’s concern is the woman who is the manager of the family in the rural gypsy setup. She is responsible to look after the household chores, fetch water where ever it is found and rear children and take care of their domestic animals. In fact this is their total existence.  Through Dusty Wind, Abbas makes an effort to portray their living environment. His canvases are not simple statement; they also witness his excellent drawing skills, and painterly sensibility which he has gained through practice over the past two decades.

To celebrate his show at Clifton Art Gallery, Abbas invited his school days drawing teacher Mr. Basheer Ahmed. Basheer Ahmed polished his lines and sensing his ability as a painter took him to a drawing school for admission. Now old and frail Basheer Ahmed takes pride in his pupil who has grown into a full fledged watercolour painter.

Abbas was introduced to the Kaachi art scene by Alliance Francais de Karachi in 2002; it was a solo show titled Sindh Gypsies. His second solo show titled Gurd Baad was held at Chawkandi Art in 2005. Then again at Chawkandi he displayed his paintings titled The Roots. He was given space as a solo artist at Afrand Art Gallery, Tehran and Ejaz galleries Lahore in 2008. Chawkandi Art hosted him in 2009. He was invited to Pakistan Embassy, Abu Dhabi and Ejaz Galleries Lahore for solo exhibitions in 2010.

Ali Abbas made himself known as a watercolour painter at his early exhibitions at home and abroad. Abbas has been experimenting with the medium. After his solo show at Alliance Francaise de Karachi in 2002, he worked with mixed media for his second solo exhibition at Chawkandi Art. That also was a drama of life in a desert in mixed media on paper. 

Thar has been a favorite subject with artists of Pakistan. The most senior amongst them is the late Lal Mohammad Pathan, a son of the soil, who painted life in Thar in his cubistic style. Moazzam Ali paints Thar through female figures in watercolour. A clay pitcher on his canvases serves as a reference to Thar. The third prominent artist, Ahmed Zoy handles Thar in his individual style. Athar Jamal also paints the same subject with watercolour. The Lahore based artist, Ahmed Zoy colours his canvases lavishly in depth and appearance. His Thar women bear a resemblance to heavy bodied women of Punjab. Based in Lahore, a painter with gypsy spirit combines the two elements aesthetically on his canvas with bright colours. Ali Abbas, a comparatively young artist, has focused on Thar as a bare reality. His palette is close to reality concentrating on sandy atmosphere and situations arising out of sand storm. The bright coloured dresses and amulets of women folk also remain under the spell of sand. In this aura Ali Abbas creates situations focused on living of the people against an ocean of sand.
 
Ali Abbas gives future to an empty space with colours breathing with life. He employs gypsies of Thar to capture the vastness of desert. His early works centred on the expressions of the desert people. Then he moved on to the depiction of situations of everyday life in Thar. Now, combining the two, Abbas has added a third dimension to his canvases. It is the landscape of Thar. His works picture his roots as well as his artistic sensibilities. His early works included male figures in the garb of faqeers and jogis; but his current show at Clifton Art Gallery portrays women and children of Bheel, and Kohlee gypsies in colour and spirit. One can see the absence of the third dimension of life on the faces of the old and carefree attitude of the young and a sense of freedom among children. He has brought forth with full force the simplicity of life imaging assets, a gypsy family can have. Human beings can live to the full with only a charpoy, and a few earthen water pitchers under shelters made with reeds. His 30 paintings relate a story that he observed when he shuttled everyday between Latifabad and Jamshoro for his job.

With a Masters degree in Fine Arts from Jamshoro University, Sindh, Abbas became a teacher of Fine Arts in his Alma Mater in 1992 and remained there for ten years. He helped establish Department of Fine Arts at Iran Cultural Centre in Jamshoro, which is functioning till today. In between he came to Karachi and taught at the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts for one year. He has also worked in the Department of Architecture, Mehran University. Currently he is working as Assistant Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Centre of Excellence in Art and Design, Mehran University Jamshoro.

With a load of commissioned work and an inner compulsion to paint, Abbas decided to devote all his time and energies to painting and sculpture as well. His observations add to his narrative. It was his choice to adopt canvas and brush for his narratives. He wanted to give a future to the white of the paper by exploiting inner soul of colours on it. colour containers and canvas call him and at times challenge him. He responds to the calling with pride without prejudice. He calls his present displays characters of a story. He says, “The story has yet to come.”