His artworks were intricately composed like a hand woven craft and his images gave an illusion of movement. Ghulam Hussain graduated in 2009 in miniature painting from National College of Arts Lahore. His work was the combination of local crafts - ralli, chatai, charpai and modern craft - Op Art. Op art or optical art is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op art works are abstract, with many better known pieces created in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images, flashing and vibrating patterns, or of swelling or warping.
He was much interested by the nature of perception and by optical effects and illusions which are associated with Op Art. . He thinks of Op Art as the modern form of ralli craft. Thus his current body of work has evolved from his personal interaction and inspiration with the Op Art and local craft.
While visiting the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 2013 Ghulam came across the paintings of Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and instantly got inspired by his works. It was because he was already inspired with the local craft and had a born connection to the ancient civilization Piet Mondrian's paintings were awe inspiring for him. This personal interaction with the works of Dutch painter influenced his body of work that can easily be seen in his current paintings.
In the past also this strong inspiration was behind a series of works and an exhibition titled 'Woven Narratives, A dialogue with Piet Mondrian' by Ghulam Hussain.
Various geometrical patterns - squares, triangles, and rectangular shapes in his paintings gave the impression of rallis, charpais and chatais. Although these crafts are weaved but the compositions and structures of his artworks were reflections of these local crafts.
The absence of colour is dominant in his work. All black and white paintings in graphite on canvas engage viewers in a mind blowing way and truly reflected the title of the exhibition 'Mind=Blown'. Hence the art pieces were created in black and white, giving the viewer the impression of movement and vibrating patterns thus depicting the illusion effects of Op Art.
His works have deceptive power appearances and hence he created movement in his paintings. He skilfully used the ability of appearances to deceive the mind and senses or the capacity of the mind and senses to be deceived by appearances.
The graphite on weaved canvas was compelling and sophisticated enough to take the viewer into a mode of illusion. They began seeing images that were not present in reality but were created by their own minds. Thus a misinterpretation of an experience of sensory perception, here a visual one, where the stimuli are objectively present and the mistaken perception is due to physical rather than psychological causes. [email protected]
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017