Man turns home into personal art gallery

Hyderabad: The contemporary Islamic artist who successfully exhibited his paintings in Aligarh Muslim University and Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata, following his return from long stint in Saudi Arabia now transformed his house into an art gallery of his works.

The passion of Younus Mohamed Hafiz, the artist whose painting works have given him a new edge has no bounds. After enticing art lovers in north India with his creative works – mixing calligraphy, depicting subject with a message, the artist is gearing up to showcase his works to art lovers in Hyderabad. This in-house art gallery at Vijaynagar colony was inaugurated by Dr Mumtaz Ali from International Islamic University of Malaysia on Saturday. 

“The significance of my art is something that is felt, not just seen. It is the harmony of thoughts with muscles and emotions. The culmination of my exploration is to instill Deen and Imaan in the audience to find some, sort of enlightenment or visual awakening through my paintings and installations works,” he says.  Elated over the successful solo exhibition of his paintings ‘Visual Dhikr’, the thematic contemporary art (from March 27 to April 4) at Moinuddin Ahmad Art gallery in Aligarh Muslim University campus and later in Academy of Fine Arts West Gallery (from April 10 - 16) in Kolkata, the artist now wishes to spread his message through his artworks in Canada and Malaysia.

Describing the experience in both the historic centers in Northern India, known for their intellectual standards, as astounding, the artist felt that the people from different walks of life enjoyed his artwork during his brief spell. In Kolkata, his arts exhibition was inaugurated by Debabrata Chakravarti, writer and senior art critic, while eminent artist, Wasim R Kapoor was the guest of honour.    

Younus, who had the opportunity to learn for a short period under legendary artist M F Husain, was a student of arts (1971-76) from JNTU. He also held his first solo exhibition of paintings at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata in March 1977. However, in 1978 he ventured into the world of commercial art by joining his family business and showcased his talent and interests in the advertising business and later migrated to Saudi Arabia in 1991. 

He attended lectures by religious scholars in Saudi Arabia which inspired him to show the message of Islam through his ‘Visual Dhikr’ Paintings. “I was able to reposition myself in the world of art because of obsession of transforming my ideas into works of art which could be easily interpreted by even a novice,” he adds. 

BY Md Nizamuddin