EXHIBITION THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER.

At home with the title 'Non-Object', Affan Bhagpati is a sculptor, coppersmith and silversmith, jewellery maker and a cultural cartographer. His aesthetic sense is informed by the age-old intricate patterns of the surmadani [eye-liner container] and he is equally at ease with discarded items in the second-hand markets of Karachi and other cities in Pakistan. One could say that he is a wanderer who seeks beauty in the strangest or most bizarre places.

A Barbie/Ken doll is ripped off its original 'glory' (pun intended); it dons a beard and hangs from the head of a plastic-like miniature crocodile. Humour and critique run parallel to one another in a very subtle but telling manner. Bhagpati's source is the here and now and, whatever form he finds the object in, he has fun with it.

Layers to his narrative begin to emerge gradually and quietly. In the whimsical work titled Bakri Wala, for example, he puts together a doll's head, a miniature bakri [goat] and parts of metal and stones to create an unexpected and unique form. The fine detailing reveals Bhagpati's passion for craftsmanship.

He adds to what has already existed as a toy or as part of a utilitarian object, extracting from it what he needs and builds something which never existed before. It is new and it is old, for he never lets go of its history, holding on to the object's identity, and conversing with it in this moment.

Affan Bhagpati's recent solo show raises questions about art, space and viewership

The viewer is drawn to the central room created as a tamaashgah, or performance arena, with theatrical lighting and dark walls. The moment the street performance enters the art gallery, or even the artist's studio, it starts a process of its transformation. This is what makes the work relevant and one could say that the questions that arise because of it are special and specific to Bhagpati's art.

In our walk through and subsequent conversation, he talks about wishing that there would be questions and even conflicts emerging in the discussions and writing about any art work. The questions that arise from a work are perhaps more telling of the work and, more importantly, of its interpretation.

The three characters in the performance or tamaasha, as he calls it, allude to references in Urdu such as aasteen ka saanp [enemy within the ranks], magarmach ke aansoo [crocodile tears] and bali ka bakra [someone who would rather suffer than allow others to]. In the tamasha, this alludes to a...

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