Fragments of dreams and floating fears
"I began building up my own drawing language, studying different masters like De la Croix, Caraviggio, Egonshiele, Goya, Rembrandt and Picasso. Spiritually, I connected with William Blake and Khalil Gibran. I took philosophy and psychology classes at Los Angeles to help me create my own language in lines," Javed recounts. He tries to capture some of his intense thought processes and creates forms to show them in the visual media. In using the forms of women and animals, he creates elements in a composition to express the emotions in his mind. Thus his feelings are transformed into characters. He then creates images related to the forms that we see. He has used black lines working on his subconscious mind, bringing in realistic forms. Using Chinese brush and ink, he draws on canvas. He has kept the graphic effect as on paper so the effect is detailed. He has used symbols as in the case of his women subjects, with one line flowing into another, creating images which he himself has not seen in reality. "The images are like psychic reflections," explains Javed.
Talking about the 14 canvases and paintings on paper, included in his week-long solo exhibition, which begins on February 4 at Shilpangan, Javed says that while doing the paintings he felt certain intense emotions. The stories are related to an inner world and there is a strong sense of romance, turmoil and selfishness in them. At that time he was reading Dante's Inferno and this too cast its spell on his work. He was preoccupied with angels, saints and demons and delved deeply into the concept of salvation from sins.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The largest painting, in the display had a woman flying in the sky. To depict the concept of love and motherhood, there are two goat-like creatures clinging to her. There are also two birds in the sky. A hand reaches out from below to throw a flower at the woman. The idea behind the painting is the concept of salvation in Mother Nature. Behind is a man trying to reach out and hold her. The man hopes to keep the woman in a world where there is no pain, suffering or conflict.
Innocence raped by anxiety is another painting with washes of vibrant colours and the interlacing ink forming figures within the shades of colours. A helpless girl with large eyes stands there, sucking her thumb in confusion. At the top is a monstrous eagle trying to grasp the girl in its fierce claws. The theme is child abuse. A phoenix at the back tries to bring in serenity. This also reflects a struggle between the supernatural and natural.
The rest of Javed's works are equally based on fragments of reality, dreams and floating fears.
Apart from freelance painting Javed teaches painting at a school.