“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul”

— Wassily Kandinsky

Maliha Azami’s painting exhibition, titled High Voltage, is a beautiful amalgamation of colours and fine lines. Like a striking melody and poignant words, she draws her “charged” emotions with daring, sensual and arresting bold daubs.

One cannot deny that she renders her paintings in colours which speak the language of her dreams. The open landscapes, vast skies and Nature’s greenery allow the viewer to experience the spirited dialogue, and to travel through the canvas. Cloud Candy, executed in acrylic on canvas, beckons viewers to explore the world of her imagination where the vibrant, bold colours speak the language of her fantasy. Through the use of fuchsia-coloured clouds, she eloquently captures natural scenic elements in a romantic style. On a close study one finds them assuming fanciful shapes and pouring down rain softly somewhere in the horizons. Her ever-shifting settings of skies probably reflect her own ups and downs.

In Rebellion, rose-tinged clouds cover three quarters of the blue sky. The fading sun at far end of the canvas creates a soft, glowing, peach-orange haze. Quite naturally, the vast bed of flower fields takes colour from the clouds, adding a touch of serenity to the whole canvas. The artist’s use of perspective is epic and impressive, and in this sense brings to mind the canvases of Romantics.

In Garden Party, Vista and The Copse, there is a touch of pointillism in handling of depictions of vibrant red, blue, orange and yellow flowers – pleasing the eye in their subtle variations of colors. In these canvases, she creates the painting populated with vast fields of beautiful flowers, truly celebrating the beauty of nature in its own right. There is also a mood of fantasy and melodrama, emphasising the heroic power of Nature over humanity. Her compositions are infused with passion and a dream-like drama.

There has been a marked shift in Azami’s selection of subject matter if one recalls her artistic journey as a painter. Although she continues to paint evocative landscapes, realistic portraits rendered with sensitive details (of real and imaginative people), the current show also reveals some distinct images like barren trees drawn in pen and pencil in monochromatic scheme, offering a glimpse into her consciousness. It is a clear documentary of some painful experiences she might have had, a strange alchemy of imagination and dreams. Drawn with pen on paper, Boxed In reveals a web of bare branches emphasising the pervasive stillness, desolation and the urgency she feels to express indelible moments charged with utter pain, loss and longing. Spooky, bare branches drawn in monochromatic scheme express a vulnerable melancholic mood. The roots drawn with a tinge of brown color perhaps symbolise that she has sustained her existence and is ready to go on with renewed hope and motivation.

Maliha Azami uses the imaginative tone of symbolism to depict loss and inability to capture fleeting moments of time in the canvas titled The Survivor and also in Dying to Live. In the canvas Faryad, drawn with pen on paper rendered in black and white, she uses a dramatic and emotion–laden theme. The feeling of stillness of time when in despair is beautifully captured. Amidst the darkness brooding over her painting, she adds an interesting rectangular portion in bright white to imply that it is almost as if her constant, anxious pleas have been answered giving a feel of life to the barren stems.

Poles Apart captures the mysterious and somewhat eerie late-night atmosphere where a barren tree is standing amidst complete darkness. Charged - daring daubs of vibrant reds and yellow used by artist on the sky and on the roots illuminates the whole scene. They symbolise that she has come to life with renewed hope and determination while exploring the paradox of complete darkness and light, despair and hope. Her frustration, anxiety, disgust, discontent, and generally, one could say, a sort of frantic intensity of feeling in response to the unprecedented experience of life are evident in these canvases.

The show was on display at Ejaz Art Gallery, Lahore from March 8 till March 18.

The writer is an art critic, artist and educationist based in Lahore. She can be reached at: https://www.facebook.com/Expressions-by-AyeshaMajeed-102687655399037