Still Life to Abstract Landscapes
Samira Sheth is happy to discover
Madiha Noaman’s delicately detailed prints and canvases
While print-making as an artistic idiom has been in practice around the world for decades, it hasn’t had much exposure in the UAE. We have seen exhibitions of photography, paintings and even the odd one of sculpture, yet not many of us have seen print displays in this part of the world. So, it is wonderfully refreshing to meet young Pakistani artist, Madiha Noaman and her equally wonderful detailed and delicate prints.
Madiha graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts from the prestigious Karachi School of Art, an elite college founded in Pakistan in 1964. She recounts an early interest in art and the processes of art-making, “As a child I was always drawing and painting. My aunt was an artist and I always wanted to touch her paints and brushes. I would go over her books on oil painting again and again and the smell of oil paint in her house always fascinated me.” Madiha did her Major in print-making and a Minor in oil painting as she slowly began to be drawn towards the process of print-making.
Madiha moved to the UAE almost 2 years ago with her husband, Noaman Masood who some of us know from the Siji. Noaman is Senior Sales and Marketing Manager at the Al Diar Siji hotel in Fujairah and in his own words, his artist-wife’s ‘first critic’. The move to Fujairah came at a time when Madiha was just beginning to establish her artistic career in Pakistan. While she was still studying in Pakistan, she sold quite a few works at leading galleries in Karachi. “Even in Karachi, there are few print-makers and my work was often requested by buyers and collectors,” she says, admitting that she misses the artist milieu back home. “There is a different ambience back home, with lots of interaction between artists and also with collectors and gallery owners and so on. There are regular workshops and so much is going on, it was fun. Since coming here, we like to visit galleries in Dubai and see what’s on. My husband has been my greatest support and together we have approached a few galleries in Dubai. There has been some interest so maybe I will have an exhibition there at some point,” hopes Madiha.
Among the works she has brought with her to Fujairah are some interesting oils as well as a few linocuts, watercolour monoprints, etchings and aquatints .Her subjects range from still life to abstract landscapes. There is a beautiful work titled ‘Chaos’ which seeks to depict the major earthquake that occurred in Pakistan a few years ago. “I love realistic work and I love to capture every detail, “says Madiha. “I have been influenced a lot by Rembrandt and his play of chiaroscuro. His prints, woodcuts and etchings are remarkable. I fell in love with his work – it really touched me.” Madiha speaks of her work with such passion that one really hopes she finds avenues to channel her creativity in Fujairah. She was in the process of completing a stunning large canvas of a streetside landscape when we met and says she is open to taking commissions for work. As print-making is an elaborate process and requires extensive equipment and space, Madiha says she is concentrating on oils and hand prints for now. With an interesting sense of colour, light and space, Madiha’s artistic repertoire definitely shows promise.
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