The News on Sunday (TNS): The exhibition 'Life of Art' brings together works from different periods of your creative life. How do you view the relationship between your paintings from the 1970s with political content and the recent works which depicts nature?

Mian Ijaz Ul Hassan (MIH): A common man can easily tell that all the paintings in the show have been done by the same hand. Reason: the use of flat colours. This is apparent both in my earlier as well as later works. Now when I look back I realise that the preference for flat colour was a result of my interest in political posters printed in flat colours.

All my paintings have common connections simply because I do not paint landscapes. I focus on elements of nature that are of human concern. I made a lot of paintings based on keekar tree. For me, the agonised form of the plant became a symbol of our people -- as it keeps growing even if it is cut -- and a metaphor of resurgence. It signifies love and is a symbol of Pakistan and its people. Similarly, laburnum tree is also symbolic as it blooms in hot weather -- a sign of growth in worst conditions. I never cease to be amused with nature, hence draw metaphors.

TNS: Tell us about the political nature of your work from the 1960s and 70s?

MIH: In the 60s, I was probably the only politically-charged painter in Pakistan. I was involved in student and trade unions. I felt that a painter not only reflects 'self' but interacts with people, society and the times he lives in. Instead of merely painting, which is rehashing of modernistic forms, an artist should express relevant social ethos. Art is a means to enrich ideas.

My political activities then often resulted in arrests and police investigations. (A drawing made in the prison is displayed in the current exhibition.) I was aware of people struggling against exploitations not only in Pakistan but in other parts of the world like Africa, Asia and South America. I wanted to be their spokesman. So, I evolved a direct and simple vocabulary for these people who were neither trained in art nor were familiar with modernism. I used familiar imagery -- posters, media prints, films, hoardings. Though my aim was to achieve simplicity in the work, I did not sacrifice the complexity of its meaning and multi-dimensionality of its cerebral content and aesthetics.

TNS: How do you place your work in this age of post-modernism?

MIH: What I am doing now is not in conflict with modernism or post-modernism; both are products of political conditions of the West -- like Existentialism in Europe and Marxism in poor countries. Likewise, collage was popular in Europe where walls were covered with posters. The visual environment of the West is very different from our semi-rural surroundings.

Similarly, realism as understood here is very different from Europe. Today realism does not mean that you reduce everything to the eye or to copy nature, but it is to include social, political and economic reality in your work. A realist should be aware of whatever is happening in the realm of politics, literature and art.

TNS: Do you think that today's artists are unaware of socio-political concerns? Are they driven by commercialism?

MIH: Nothing heroic has moved a painter in the last decade or so which is why most of the art we see in galleries can be termed as commercial. That's fine. It is his work -- he is not swindling funds or involved in fraudulent deals. He is simply earning a livelIhood.

The truth is that artists respond to the demands of society. The Renaissance society demanded Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel, he could not have done it in a vacuum.

TNS: How do you approach your work as an individual?

MIH: To paint is my second nature. If I don't paint I become unhappy. But interaction with people gives me ideas.

TNS: How do you start work on a canvas?

MIH: When I notice an unusual thing around me, I transpose it on the canvas. I start on the spot but to bring it closer to my own vision I complete it in the studio. In my work, reality is not frozen, it is in a state of repose -- like the Greek sculpture in which action is not captured but it is represented in a state of equilibrium. I omit unnecessary details and each element acquires a distinct significance. For example, every tree is an individual and not sites. They represent ordinary men or viewers because these are common trees that grow here and there.

I have also painted a lot of female figures. But my women have a strong character, whether she is an actress in (Punjabi film) 'Thha' or 'Mai li' from the Vietnam War.

TNS: How do you view the role of tradition in the present art?

MIH: An artist should use his heritage and not worship it. I believe that people who live in the past are devoured by it. However, the present art is not just about the revitalisation of historic forms. There is diversity and richness found in at least the art of Pakistan -- which in a way is quite distinct from art produced in India.

TNS: Your work 'Rifle Butt', part of the recently-held exhibition in Mumbai, 'Beyond Borders', was appreciated by Indian audience. What are the traits of a good art work?

MIH: Good art is like good poetry. Audience, after hearing great pieces of poetry, feel that they could have said these words. Good art generates the same feeling. Viewers can immediately associate with it. On the other hand, a complex work of art will confuse the viewer and the painter alike.

'Life of Art', exhibition of works by Ijaz Ul Hassan, opened on March 15 will remain on until March 1, 2005 at the Canvas Gallery in Karachi.