Quddus Mirza’s latest exhibition, "New Works" at Canvas Gallery in Karachi, marks a significant stylistic shift as the veteran artist, critic, and educator embraces the concept of "unlearning." Drawing inspiration from the raw honesty of children's drawings, Mirza presents twelve striking paintings that shed academic discipline in favor of blunt expression and intuitive mark-making. The works frequently utilize a dominant red palette to signal urgency, revolution, and bloodshed, juxtaposing domestic imagery with symbols of global unrest.
This exhibition matters because it highlights a sophisticated tension between formal art education and the pursuit of creative purity. By referencing Picasso’s famous sentiment on the difficulty of painting like a child, Mirza challenges the rigidity of contemporary art techniques to address complex themes of identity and human suffering. His transition from critic to a practitioner of "unlearned" art provides a critical commentary on how adult awareness and social parameters can stifle the visceral, honest voice necessary to process modern chaos.