The maestro, the legend, the magical fingers: the name synonymous with Pakistani
art. Imagine if you can, a single handed revolutionary, armed with but a brush, waging a long abandoned, ridiculed struggle. Now imagine the same lone
man perched on the pedestal of glory, issuing forth magic, divinity from his fingers. That is the story of Gulgee, today a household name. Gulgee was not a man, no. He was a phenomenon, a renaissance, an evolution, an innovation… of sense and sensibilities. Ismail Gulgee was art. Extremely accomplished yet entirely self taught, his every stroke pulsated with turbulent creativity yet retained the power of lulling the observer into a heavenly bliss. Harmonious chaos. Renowned for the portraits into which he injected
life with his tubes and tools, his skill was called upon numerous
times by people as eminent as Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Prince Karim Agha Khan, former prime minister of Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and former president of Pakistan, Ayub Khan. Yet, his art was far from elitist. Infact he was that wind of change which brought the whiff and perfume of Pakistani art into the heart of a street vendor. He can justifiably be credited with developing the aesthetics of a nation.
He can not be labeled as limited in any sense of the word. Transcending simple canvas and paint formulae, Gulgee was known for using mixed materials in his art and breathed life into sculpture in Pakistan with his exceptional skill.
However, today as I
write of it he no longer breathes. Tragedy has befallen us. The brutal murder of the virtuoso was no less than a bomb shell. This write up not only celebrates his life but also reaffirms that he lives on, that his idea is not
dead, can never be dead. He hasn’t just etched his mark upon our souls but by the force of creation he will continue showing humanity its own raw face for times to come. I am sure that in times to come, we all will indulge ourselves in everything that he ever divulged and turn a great man into a sage.
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