Pakistan Art

The term art refers to ‘any skill or mastery’. Art is a broad subdivision of culture, composed of many expressive disciplines. It is the conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium. Politically speaking, Pakistan emerged as a soverign state in 1947, but the roots of its performing arts and visual arts have a common background with what was known as the sub-continent of India. Arts in Pakistan can broadly be categorized in to three sections such as Visual Arts, Pop Art and Performing Art.

• Visual Arts: The visual arts are art forms that focus on the creation of works which are primarily visual in nature, such as painting, photography, printmaking, and filmmaking. Visual art is defined as the arrangement of colors, forms, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or plastic medium.

• Pop Art: is to the point and an extrovert form of art. It is a way to embark upon personal artistic expressions that owes little to prevailing modes. Pop artists draw on a wide range of subject matter from films and advertising to comic strips and household goods, and work in numerous media, especially painting, sculpture, collage and photography. In the following pages we will be reviewing two distinct forms of pop art practiced in Pakistan. This distinct, dazzlingly colorful, bizarre and unique genre of art is an intrinsic part of our culture that we ought to take pride in but is indeed one of the most neglected one and painted by the unsung artists.

• Performing Arts: It is a type of happening, in which the audience is invited to witness or participate in an artistic event. Performing arts considers human body to be its medium, and seeks to explore themes and emotions through live, unique performance. Performing arts may be divided in to further categories typically practiced in Pakistan. Such as Puppetery and Drama and Theater.

Being a hub of culture and heritage, it’s natural for the arts to have flourished within Pakistan. The art and architecture of Pakistan is a wonderful melange of old and new, traditional and modern – from the ancient Mughal styles and expressions to post modern lines and styles displayed across all sorts of artistic mediums including, painting, sculpture, textiles, jewelry, pottery and architectural designs.