Into master artist Saeed Akhtar’s ethereal world

As a senior artist Saeed Akhtar has developed his expertise in the field of art on the basis of sheer hard work, dedication and perseverance. Painting and drawing are two sources for his expression. His sensibilities of form, texture and colour including black and white are par excellence. His artistic endeavours in true spirit can be viewed through his sketches in black and white along with colourful portraits presented at a solo exhibition at Clifton Art Gallery, Karachi.

A fellow of the National College of Arts, Lahore and a recipient of Presidents’ Award for Pride of Performance and Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Saeed Akhtar is among our celebrated master artists.

His work reflects a creative genius inside him. His ethereal thoughts can be visualised through his artworks. The lively, expressive works reveal the inner feelings, influences, interests and his emotional state.

He is an aspiring artist of diversified skills. In my opinion the body language and facial expressions are the basic life of his works; he is a keen observer, who transforms the real images in his own way rendering them in a new manner in a specific style that is from real to surreal.

During a conversation, Saeed Akhtar said that he loves to exaggerate the contours of the body and facial expression of his subject and embellish them with more interesting details.

The specific elements of light, colours, and textures in a particular atmosphere create a vision which then takes a form of drawing or painting. His artworks offered three dimensional as well as two dimensional forms in a skillfully detailed manner.

In his paintings, Saeed has portrayed the feminine form as part of nature while pure colours of black, grey and white are used to glamourize the simplicity of human body structure. Simple forms stand amidst the colourless background derived from nature crafted in order to provide a glamorous setting.

Devoid of colours, he has reduced forms to their utmost simplicity and then embellished them with vibrant charcoal strokes and energizes them further with implied textures enjoying their subtle nuances.

The alluring and flowing recent artworks subjects are engaging.

The issues of self and society both have been raised in his works, sharing the beauty with the world in its pure natural way. The firmly embedded visions in his mind take shape on paper.

The energy with which his hand flows can be felt easily by viewing his artworks. The ordinary faces of men and women in his artworks are full of expressions. Smiling, alluring portraits of young women with high-bridged noses, big bright eyes and heavy ornaments reveal a new world of beauty but mostly in deep thought, making it a serious affair. Among the artworks one sees some turban wearing men with the stories of life on their faces.

The complex human emotions are communicated effectively through black and white drawings, devoid of colours yet very impressive and attractive. The simple grey, black colour of charcoal is enough for Saeed Akhtar to convey his message to the colourful world.

His artworks are often exploratory with considerable emphasis on observation and composition. His line of work show energy, enthusiasm, and a sense of emotional appeal. He produces extremely subtle value that increases dynamic of his artworks resulting in high quality creations.

Saeed has used a combination of dark and light shades of colours in each piece, which add texture and shapes and forms with shadows, and the shading bring depth in his work. His line work and shade help preserve the depth, texture and values that were seen in his drawings. The various shades used accurately depict the environment and more complex impressions. Other than colourful paintings the monochrome drawings have significant details that give extra dimensions to Saeed's work.