"A PEEP OUT OF PAST " A PAINTED RELIEF BY MASOOD HUSSAIN.

This  Painted Relief forms the cover of Agha shahid Ali's Book THE COUNTRY WITHOUT A POST OFFICE .

I shall help you to enter another world of Masood Hussain's art. Not the Beautiful water colours and views. But Pain and suffering . Broken and locked windows .Strife and conflict.Crowds trapped . Bullets and Blood . Pictures where Rosaries and Dejhurrs appear to be flying away from the picture surface. Men, women , children peeping from windows. Innocent faces reflecting hopelessness ,fear resignation and longing . A city destroyed . A culture ripped apart. Hush Hush silence . Helmets .Fear hanging from doors and windows. .

He conveys pain that has no religion , caste , creed or colour. Even under these grave negative vibrations all around , the artist lives and rises above to convey hope and arrival of a new dawn .He lives in it but rises much above it . There the artist in him meets demands without shirking and demonstrates courage of intellectual conviction .

The present relief depicts a child peeping from the window to see the outer world for he lies trapped in the emptiness and gloom of the world of his room.The child 's face is mystical .Broken pieces of wood joined together for existence and window dressing .Metaphysical in contours and presentation..These lines of poet Faiz ahmed faiz  for Masood Hussain:-

Dast e sayaad bhi Aajiz hai Kaff e Gulcheen bhi
Buu e gul Thehri naa bubul ki zubaan thehri hai
Aatey aatey Yuun Hi dhum bhar ko ruukee hogee bahaar
Jaatey Jaatey Yuunm hi pal Bhar Ko Khizaan thehri hai
Hum ne Jo tarze fugaan ki hai Kafas mein ijaad
Faiz gulshan Mein wohee tarz e bayaan thehri hai.
( Faiz Ahmed Faiz )




Helpless is the bird killer’s hand ,
So also the flower gatherer’s .
Nothing has stayed on –
Not the scent of a rose ,Nor the nightingale’s song .
In its smooth coming , The spring must have paused for a moment ,
And in its going , stalled autumn momentarily.
The style of lament I innovated in captivity ,
That mode , O faiz ,
Has caught on everywhere in the garden.

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