If there is anything that's most striking about Syed Rayees Ahmed's paintings, it's the crisp, strong geometric lines. His latest solo painting exhibition titled, ‘Basically Hyderabadi' is a bright and colourful ode to the quaint life of the ‘old city'. The paintings provide deep glimpses into the everyday life in Hyderabad — the scenes and profiles evoke a plethora of emotions.
Inspired from Picasso's Cubist art form — where the subject is broken up, analysed and then pieced together in an abstract fashion, Syed's paintings encapsulate a bigger idea. Because there is a multitude of viewpoints to the paintings, they can be interpreted in more than a few ways. It's rather interesting to note that the subjects in Syed's paintings bear a sombre expression — inconspicuous and rather mundane. “I have deliberately tried to make the expressions that way, it is inspired from Laxma Goud's style of work— to contrast colour with pokerfaced expressions,” says Syed.
In tandem with the cubist style of work, the artist chooses to reflect upon the duality of human nature. Through geometrical lines and strokes, the works illustrate inner qualities in the portraits. Various, well-defined facets come across as introspective. “A person is never what he seems to be, there are many underlying layers to the human psyche and thought process, I have tried to portray that in the paintings,” adds Syed.
His work ranges from oil on canvas to acrylic on canvas. Syed has also experimented with small sized water-colour works that stand out in the collection purely because of the bright colours. The works bring out the essence of Hyderabad — the people.
The exhibition is on at Art's Heaven Art Gallery at Lakdi-ka-pul till March 5. The works are also available for online viewing at www.rayees.weebly.com
