Rijah Chhapra, Hamza Iftikar, and Asad Kamran
Outsider Art
Faraar Gallery
May 10 - May 24, 2017
Opening reception: Wed, May 10 6 - 8 pm
Faraar Gallery is pleased to present Outsider Art, an exhibition of new works by Rijah Chhapra, Hamza Iftikar, and Asad Kamran. The show brings together three emerging artists’ diverse interests, influences and art practices.
The works in this show are varied in their expression. From Asad’s intuitive, gestural, and whimsical handling of paint on canvas; to Rijah’s intricate worlds within human organs; to Hamza’s inward reflection through self-portraiture, these three artists share an urgency to create something. They draw upon abstraction, illustration, fantasy, representation, design, and other visual forms to make sense of the world around them. In order to counteract the business of their daily, perhaps more “practical”, career pursuits, they turn to art as a constant source of strength and grounding. Their creative practices provide solace from hectic life commitments, and room for play in the face of rigidly prescribed work structures. Each of them feels compelled to create art as a means to explore themselves and their lives on a deeper level.
Rijah Chhapra is currently enrolled at the Aga Khan University.While she is immersed in puzzling pathology and fazed by the human body, art enables her to escape andinvent her own surreal reality. In the worlds she creates, laws of science do not have to apply. She is free to put pen to paper and imagine her own intricate systems. She warps and transforms anatomical forms to her will, merging fantasy with reality.
Hamza Iftikar is currently enrolled at the Aga Khan University. Hamza is a visual artist and spoken word poet, and juggles art and science on a daily basis.He draws from the frustration and magic of letting his different interests and pursuits collide. He believes that a daily creative practice helps to express suppressed feelings and beliefs, which are useful in the attempt to navigate the adult world. Ideas of self-representation, gender and sexuality emerge through his work. This is Hamza’s second show at Faraar Gallery. His recent shows include Rang Saazi, the visualart installation at LMM 2017, and Alter Ego at Faraar Gallery in November 2016. Two of his pieces ‘Gnarl’ and ‘Getting Closer’ are part of Forever South’s ‘The HotCues Series’.
Asad Kamran is currently enrolled at the University of Edinburgh, where he studies Architecture. Art making for him is a cathartic experience to deal with the challenges and changes of life. He has tried, a few times, to determine the fate of his canvases before he puts paint on them. But this has hardly ever worked out. Instead, he now allows the paintings to develop organically. His process is whimsical and intuitive, allowing him to express himself without constraints.The resulting paintings area collective expression of all that he feels in the moment when he is faced with the canvas. When architecture feels too structured and practical, painting allows him to stumble and slip.He drips and leaks color onto canvas in order to shake up the logicalrigiditywhich academia and life sometimes envelop him in.
