Documenting society’s social, political and economic anxieties

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“People try to maintain a distance from full engagement with difficult facts in the fear that this carries with it the possibility of great pain and moral unease,” reads the artist statement of Akram Dost Baloch.The Canvas Gallery is hosting Baloch’s solo art exhibition until July 11. “Like most, I am prone to pain and unease myself, but I believe that out of the hesitation to confront arises the incapacity to feel or understand; a certain kind of emotional dyslexia.“In my paintings I have wished to highlight certain unwelcome facts and create a dialogue through my art, which I hope is an invitation to remedy apathy in the face of serious moral and social demands.“I try to remind myself that the neglect can only be remedied if one penetrates the dubious world with honest interrogation and inner dialogue, and the entirety of my career as an artist has always been concerned with this very inner dialogue.“In my more recent work I have tried to document and express social, political and economic anxieties prevalent in my society. Of course, given the harsh realities of my surroundings, a somewhat wistful undertone becomes my most insistent narrative.“One feels what one thinks and part of what one thinks is what one hears, sees and reads. What I receive are sorrowful facts, tales of injustice, fear, dispossession and hatred. However, the grimness is not an exercise in wallowing and self-indulgence but an attempt to create and accommodate seriousness proper to weighty considerations.“A dark lament, a sullen glare that glows with disappointment and a sorrowful cry have the capacity to move us. The challenges of trying to express these in their required starkness and simplicity motivate me to experiment and search.”Baloch completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Lahore’s National College of Arts (NCA) in 1983, and his Doctor of Philosophy in Visual Arts from Quetta’s University of Balochistan (UOB) in 2015.He is currently dean of student affairs and associate professor in the Fine Arts Department at the UOB. He is member of the Board of Governors as well as of Faculty Selection Board at the NCA. He is also part of the Board of Trustees at Karachi’s Mohatta Palace Museum.He received the Bolan Gold Medal Award in 1983, the National Award by the Pakistan National Council of Arts in 1992, the Red Crescent Award in 2000, the President’s Pride of Performance Award in 2004 and the Award of Excellence Balochistan in 2016.His works have been exhibited at art galleries in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta and Paris. He has also participated in seven national and international residency workshops.

from The News International - Karachi https://ift.tt/2Jthe5x
The News International - Karachi