Breath of violence

摘要

After well-received debuts in New York and Paris, Pakistani contemporary art is making a splash at home with an exhibition of works by 42 artists at an elegant museum, the Mohatta Palace, in Karachi. Big, brash Karachi vies with more staid Lahore as the heart of Pakistan's art scene. The show "The Rising Tide: New Directions in the Art from Pakistan 1990-2010", brings together the two urban schools of art to reveal the virtuosity and variety of painters, sculptors, video-makers and photographers, many of them under 40. Until now Pakistan's art scene has been largely private, hidden away in small galleries or elite living rooms. The curator of the current exhibition, Naiza Khan, who is herself a prominent artist, was determined to open contemporary art to a wider Pakistani public.