Reviews

Saqib’s paintings demonstrate the contrast of tarnished walls and closed doors with bright colors and butterfly wings. They represent the reluctance and oppression of a person and their potential to unlock change and progress by use of these wings. They speak of suppressed aspirations, while tactfully awakening nostalgic sentiments and wistful desires. His artwork analogous the cultural canvas of his Oriental and Pakistani land with influential strokes of modernism. Contrasting shades of spring and winter illustrate the universal human tendency to limit oneself; simultaneously melding the experiences of each individual. Each rustic, antiquated wooden door gives way to the opportunities ...

Arich tapestry of textural paint applications and specific symbolist vocabulary emerged as the defining features of Saqib Mughul’s exhibition, ‘Darvazey’, shown at Koel Gallery, Karachi, recently. Essentially mix media exercises, the canvas surfaces, literally constructed/painted with pigment treatments, carried small templates/stencils of antiquated doors as heritage markers. By bringing an archaic eastern object in conversation with a western painterly sensibility the artist opted for a contemporary dialogue on issues related to tradition and modernity. After graduating from the Karachi School of Art in 1997, Mughal established himself as an artist in Karachi. In 1999 he moved to ...

Saqib  paintings  are thinking  pieces   and  Saqib  remains  more  a  cerebral  painter  than  merely  an  artist  of  skill  and  craft. His  metaphysical  aura  indicates  his  search  for  the  unanswered  questions  and  their  inadequate   answers.  His brush is dipped  deep  into  the  complexities   of  philosophy.  His  struggle  as  a  young   man,  is  to  search  for  the  meaning  behind  meaning.  For  him  the  visual  inner  context  is  more  important  then  it’s  visual  reference. He   has  already  mastered  his  craft  but  he  is  not  been able   to  find  the  meaning  of  his  ...

Saqib Mughal’s paintings are full of duality – beginnings and endings; prospects and diminished hopes; power and pain. His paintings are doors and windows onto the world, doors that hold life behind them and doors that close life off. These doors, like Saqib’s butterflies, fish, birds, and other mythical creatures, are both physically and figuratively present in his work, giving way to a rich line of interpretation. In Saqib’s work, earth tones give way to blazing reds, in the same way that blank walls will brush into a door, jutting out in low relief – small doors that Saqib has pasted onto his canvases. Take Curiosity, one of Saqib’s paintings. At the same time, ho ...