Gesture
Oil on canvas mounted on Perspex sheet
17.5×22.5 cm
2013
In collection of Amir Butt
I indulge into discourses, creating dialogues with people, objects of valued recognition, works of art, stereotypes and ever- renewing kitsch. I connect and investigate into the range of visual references and cues which these subjects generate or are being represented by. I see painting as the base of the materialization of my undertakings most of the times. It allows me to observe most personally and with mean scrutiny. I believe to be involved in a parallel study about the identity of the painting and its theoretical significance. Much recently, I am into structured, process-led works which requires me to investigate the uniform glow of LCD screens and passé monitors. Directly painting from the screen, I employ the aesthetics derived from this ‘equi-luminance’ phenomenon.
Gesture is part of a body of work inspired the film ‘Blood of Hussain’ which was released and banned in 1980. Paradoxically, the tyrannical subject of the film is still contemporary and applies to the current socio-political situation in the country. In order to be referenced for the paintings, video file was fractioned in still- shots and fewer were re-arranged to bring about a rather mute narrative in contrast to the one of the film.
Inaam Zafar is a fine art graduate from Beaconhouse National University in 2010. He has shown his work in two solo shows in Lahore and Karachi respectively. He is a visiting lecturer at BNU and also works with Autistics as an art- therapist and curated a show ‘Art of the Periphery’ with them.
Image Courtesy| Mohammad Atif