Moeen Faruqi is one of Pakistan's prominent artists and has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions all over the country and abroad. he has earned a strong reputation as a painter of alienation in the modern world. His work conveys the angst of existence in an urban setting. Reflecting a global culture, our cities have become increasingly similar and even interchangeable. This globalization and uniformity also leads to greater estrangement and a sense of not belonging to one place, which in turn gives rise to questions of identity, diversity and multiculturalism.
Primarily narrative in nature, his work speaks through characters that stare out at the viewer, as if pleading for relief from distorted relationships and artificial interactions. Men, women, and even animals, enact an absurdist theatre that attempts to engage and elicit a response – perhaps of self-recognition – from the viewer. His latest work is bright, vivid, forcefully colourful portraits that affirm the uniqueness of each individual, in an atmosphere where fashion produces an ironic and disturbing homogeneity.
For those who are familiar with Faruqi’s work, they find this work to be familiar in terms of style and technique, however, those who are experiencing his work for the first time will find much to explore and interpret. Faruqi seems to have taken inspiration from the cubist fragmentation of space and his art thrives mainly on basic and simple figurations and a bright and colourful palette.
The characters in his compositions are usually males and females. The figures are simply drawn and depict rigid body language and appear to be unapproachable, serious and unsmiling expressions which often make the figure look melancholy. Basic, bold colours such as red, yellow, blue have been used against lighter backgrounds which really bring out the characters.
His paintings try to capture the various levels of personal loneliness that an individual goes through and perhaps signify the failure of communication which leads to alienation and isolation, so evident in his work, which is perhaps a result of lifestyle choices one makes in an urban environment.
Faruqi has intentionally created larger than life human faces, resulting in distorted and disproportionate faces, however, at the same time certain features in those faces appear familiar. Moreover, the youthful appearance given to the figures in his paintings draws attention to the fact the plastic and artificial youthful appearances. An interesting painting titled ‘Karachi Kahani’ is composed of 9 small canvases and is a tribute to the city of Karachi and all its failures and success. It is a pleasant change to see that alongside the failures of our city, Faruqi has also highlighted the small successes and victories that we enjoy, even if it isn’t too often. In a day and age when all one mostly gets to hear and even see the city portrayed in a negative light, it is heartening to see that even today there are people like Faruqi who see the good in our city.
Faruqi has subtly incorporated ammunition in some of his work. Perhaps, reflecting and drawing our attention the increase usage and easy/cheap availability of ammunition in today’s society. Not just in Pakistan, but all over the world, several societies now have a very serious and ever growing problem of what is fast becoming the ‘gun culture’. It is the responsibility of the state as well as that of every individual in society to discourage the sale and easy availability of ammunition and Faruqi is perhaps trying to highlight our failure as a society of not being able to curtail the spread of the ‘gun culture’.
In addition, Moeen Faruqi deals with the many facets of human nature. His canvas attempts to capture the many personalities of man. The expressions that the figures are shown with vary from one painting to the next, each more powerful and intriguing than the next. The viewer is drawn to each figure and can’t help but speculate the reason and cause of his/her distress. The grim expression elicits concern from the viewer and wonder over the possible fate of the figure.
Some of Faruqi’s work is possibly suggestive of same gender preferences, perhaps reflecting the liberal, urban world that we live in today. His work thereby propagates freedom of choice and independence which includes an individual’s choice to decide their own sexuality.
The bright and bold colours which are purposefully garish leave an impact on the viewer who is drawn at first because of the vibrant colours. It is only later and upon closer inspection that one notices the seemingly regular figures. The expressions and what they convey is the real matter of Faruqi’s work. The expressions give rise to issues of alienation, loneliness and isolation. The grim expressions are enough to make the viewer feel uncomfortable and also reflect upon oneself and the life we live and choose for ourselves in context with today’s culture and society.
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