Promoting Art in Multan Arts Council

Promoting Art in Multan Arts Council

MULTAN: The Punjab Council of Arts recently organized a four day exhibition displaying paintings of famous Pakistani artists. The exhibit was staged with the sole purpose of encouraging students and admirers of artistic culture in Multan.
The exhibition was primarily planned by the  Multan Council of Arts  and used the Art Gallery Auditorium as the main venue to display more than 40 paintings. The artists used art to portray the culture and city life of the different areas in Pakistan. The exposition was basically a workshop for the students and the people interested in art and painting and aimed at providing them with a stoic link between literature, art and hisotry.
The exhibition has portrayed some very valued art pieces with paintings ranging to a price as high as Rs0.3 million. The paintings have been made by professors and instructors of different famous insitutions of art in Pakistan; while students and other artists were awarded the Pride of Performance Awards by the government of Pakistan.
The institutions included the Government College University of Lahore, Kinnaird College of Lahore, The Balochistan University and the National College of Arts in Lahore. Recipients of the award include Shahid Jalal, Rahat Naveed and Dr Muhammad Ali Bhatti from Sindh, Ghluam Mustafa from Punjab and Kaleem Khan from the province of Balochistan. The paintings also included calligraphy and introduced a modern and more contemporary take  on  the traditional arts.  The calligraphy pieces also included award winning artist Arif who  received immense reconition for his work recently.
The exhibition also  displays print making, landscapes, oil paintings, water color paintings, water color and oil paintings and pastel sketches. Students from the Multan College of Arts, Bahaaudin Zakriyah University, Beacon House School and many others were all invited to the exhibition to extend their support and appreciate the work of artists.
However, the exhibition has not only gained popularity in academic world but was also attended by members of the civil society.
All the members of the academic circle greatly appreciated the efforts of the Multan Council of Arts and felt that the endeavour will enhance the learning and professional skills of art students.  Naeem Ehsaan, the Deputy Director of Arts Council in Lahore Council said that they intend to continue the series of exhibitions all over Punjab to encourage students and will move to Faisalabad , Dera Ghazi Khan, Bahawalpur and many other cities to continue process.
The Principal of Fine Arts, Zafar Gillani appreciated the effort saying that these exhibitions are responsible for increasing the students in the fine arts departments in the institutions of southern Punjab,” said Gillani.
Published in The Express Tribune February 6^th, 2011.