Text: Marjorie Husain
Photography: Courtesy Jamil Baloch

Showing his work at the Gandhara-Art gallery, Karachi, Jamil Baloch once again proves his merit as one of the most gifted, dynamic artists in the country. Versatile in the extreme, Baloch is a passionate artist who superbly manipulates diverse disciplines and media to articulate his views. In the current exhibition, he displays relief sculpture, ink works, video, painting and installation; collectively titled: Disorientation.

With a series of fibre glass relief works the artist portrays his agonized interpretation of the violence and cruelty of war – symbolized by razed and broken earth. On display are seven, 38 by 38 inch relief works in a series that began two years ago when he produced a 10 by 10 feet relief of stark simplicity – an image of broken soil with a half buried bomb in one corner – for display at the opening of the National Art Gallery, Islamabad.
In his current work, the ultimate triumph of nature, continuity and mankind’s ability to survive appears to be the message as sturdy blooms push their way through the monotone cast blocks; fragile yet defiant. In an incredible piece title Hope, fingers are seen emerging from beneath the clods, pushing away obstructions from beneath the soil. In this sequence a diptych that carries a cockerel spread across two framed pieces carried the title: The Leader.

In a sequence of vertical, ink on paper works titled: Zabaan, Baloch’s enjoyment of working on large scale is apparent as long, strong linear marks explode in space. These images initiate a feeling of vibrant energy that allows us to `enter’ the work and become engulfed in the shapes as they dance across the surface. One is tempted to explore the individual movements in Baloch’s ink on paper works, endeavoring to search-out the suggested shadows and shapes created; it is a mood enhancing visual adventure of space and form.