The four walls and many floors of the Tao Art Gallery in Worli are exclusively adorned by Owais Husain’s artwork, illustrations and poetry. On the morning of August 6, before the opening of his solo show 3 Worlds, Husain is busy checking if all paintings and illustrations have been put up, and whether they have been put up where they belong.
After giving a final nod to the carpenter, Husain descends to the level below. This floor is dimly lit, and Husain’s words stare at you from the walls. It is empty, except for a single bed at its centre. “This is my space; this is where my thoughts lie,” he says.
We are standing in the “the room of whispers”; here, Husain has thrown open his poetry to the public for the first time. His words are on the wall and the space in between is filled with strains from an Irish string instrument, playing in a loop, which has been composed by Husain himself. Both were created in a different time and space, but Husain knew that they would go perfectly together.
“The spoken word is what you communicate with. But, on another level, it is the same spoken word through which you give yourselves away. Our life is surrounded by messages, and at times these messages turn into whispers in our head,” he says.
Husain is a busy man. His life is always hectic but this particular exhibition “it’s worse”, he says, between calls. “I have never exhibited anything like this on such a grand scale.” Husain’s work is divided into three sub-shows differentiated by medium, each displayed at different levels of the gallery.
“I’ve been silent for a very long time. And all of a sudden, I had this urge to vent the thoughts building up inside my head. I needed them to be heard and expressed, especially what I was going through during my silent years. I just felt the need to bring it all out in the open, and what better way then this exhibition,” he says.
The series, 3 Worlds, has something to do with the heart, the mind and the spirit. “I believe there is always a battle between the heart and the mind. At times, the heart overpowers the mind and sometimes it’s the other way round,” says Husain, MF Husian’s youngest son. The main room of the gallery is surrounded by 15 paintings and 10 charcoal drawings on paper, describing relationships. ‘Distance Between’ is how Husain best describes the abstract works — a distance between lovers or
any two beings. “I always seek abstraction; I’m living to be an abstract artist,” says Husain.
The third series includes an installation of three life-sized Siberian tigers, made with limestone and rocks from the desert of Eastern Syria; wood beams and acrylic sheets complete the landscape. Hanging around them are 30 photographs, both in black-and-white and colour, of the animal. “I find the Siberian tigers very stunning. They are majestic, menacing, dangerous and fragile — a reflection of the human state,” he says.
Owais Husain’s solo show 3 Worlds is open to public till August 26 at the Tao Art Gallery, Worli. For information, contact: 2491 8585 / 2491 8686.
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