Four days, 3,000 artworks and artists from all over the world. Dubai is gearing up for one of its largest art fairs — World Art Dubai 2016 — and there is a Hyderabad connect to it — Artist Afza Tamkanat.
Afza Tamkanat’s coffee-based art
Armed with 10 works from her new series of water colours, coffee and paper, Afza will be showcasing her first solo show in the art fair. And she’s clearly excited.
“I was part of the fair last year too, but I was part of a group show, so this time, things are a lot different,” she says. Afza, who is part of a curatorial, had to send in her works for the selection process. “The entries are scrutinised by many famous art critics and I was chosen from the hundreds of entries from over 60 countries,” explains Afza.
“I was approached six months ago and I sent in my work. In the meantime, I decided to finish the series so that if I did get selected for the fair, I would be ready with my works,” she adds.
Afza has been painting with acrylic for long now and it was only three to four years back that she went back to the basics.
“When I started painting in school, we used watercolours and then I didn’t touch them for over five to six years,” she says, adding that the challenge with water colours is huge.
“Water colours are not easy to work with because if you make a small mistake you can’t correct it and so you’ll have to put away that work and start afresh. So that was quite challenging.”
For her works, Afza starts off by using coffee. “I stain the paper with coffee and then draw over that and then paint with water colours and this is what makes each work unique. Apart from that I also use coffee along with paints. Since each coffee stain is unique, no two artworks are the same,” she explains.
In her current series, Afza created works that depict life around her.
“I believe that I create a pictorial diary. I’m influenced by what happens around me and I paint that. For instance, my neighbour got a rooster and I created a painting on that. It’s just day-to-day events I create,” she says.
Afza, who took three months to finish this series, surprises you when she tells you that her solo show has been in the making since the last six years.
“When I graduated, I created a series of works but I wasn’t too impressed with it, so I decided to create work after I finished my Masters. After my Masters, I created another series, but still, I wasn’t impressed. So I let it be and now this happened.”
So, how does it feel to follow the footsteps of her father Fawad Tamkanat, the famous artist?
“It has its pros and cons, but I’ve always made a conscious decision to stray away from his style of work,” says Afza, who leaves for the show in April.
