LAHORE: A painting exhibition titled: ‘Variegated Reflection of Cities’ started at Ejaz Art Gallery on Friday. As many as 34 artworks of seven artists were hung on the wall for art lovers, artists, students and visitors from different walks of life, who thronged to the gallery. Visitors have highly admired the artworks of all artists who brought their work under the one roof for fans including K Mehmood, Khalid Khan, Ali Sajid, Sarfraz Mussawir, Zahid Saleem, Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi and Munawar Mohiuddin. Artists have used charcoal acrylic on canvas, oil on canvas and water color on paper as a medium to express their artistic approach and thinking behind of wonderful paintings. Zulifqar Ali Zulfi’s landscapes show a profound understanding of his subject matter, his comprehension of the nuances of colour in his paintings, his appreciation for capturing seasons and different times of the day are painted in the most sensitive and aesthetically soothing manner. Placing Zulfi’s work in context of the cultural conditions of his time, his work is met with philosophical liking and a pictorial representation of acceptable appreciation. According to Zulfi, his paintings are a reflection of who he is as a person, sensitive in nature and creative in spirit. Artist, K Mehmood in his statement said: “Lahore is my life and my work is its soul. Lahore’s crumbling facades is a reminiscence of its glorious past, its labyrinth full of daily life, is needed to be recorded and conserve before it completely disappear. My simplified expressional work is direct message to bring in the much ignored issue.” Artist Khalid Khan said: “My paintings are the result of an obsessive experimental and restless behaviour. Due to my restless nature, I work simultaneously in different styles and subject. I strongly feel that a painting should depict an artist not a style.” Ali Sajjad said: “I work hard to develop paintings that can speak both, to me and to others about the beauty that exist.” Artist Zahid Saleem said: “Lahore is a city where i have been living since my childhood. I have a spiritual affiliation with the old history of this great city. Lahore is my romance and I try to describe the story of this romance through spontaneous strokes of my brush. I enjoy to experiment with the use of different colour, modes and atmosphere in my painting.” “The beautiful ancient building of Lahore stands witness to prestigious grandeur and aestheticism. So i too up the streets and bazaar walled city of Lahore as my topics and I have painted it in my personal style,” Munawar Mohiuddin said. “Watercolour medium holds its unique place around the work and is currently the world’s most popular and famous medium. I am also a madman of this medium with my childhood. The beauty of watercolour medium is that it can do what is needed. Visitors can tell whether I am successful in the attempt or not. My theme comes from old buildings and old streets to portraits in Sufism,” said Sarfraz Mussawir. Published in Daily Times, February 17th 2018.