LARKANA: Known and renowned artist Rizwan Umrani has shockingly closed his 18-year old “Mother Gallery” and has shifted to Karachi for better living when latest techniques are revitalizing fields of art and music as portraits were not doing enough business for his survival.
The founder told the media that he had launched the gallery in the memory of his beloved mother from his pension amount and named it Mother Gallery adding that he tried his best to keep it operational for seventeen years; but people did not respond to him. Finally his family and he have decided to settle in Karachi so as to earn a comfortable living.
He said that he could sell only two portraits even then he did not have any grudge against people for their low level education and impact of materialism on them.
Rizwan allegedly converted his personal home into an art gallery in 1999 near Jinnah Bagh roundabout after retirement from government service where he served for 35 years as a teacher. He displayed different paintings in a professional manner and appealed to many educated people at the very outset; but they did not buy it.
The founder of the gallery recalled his previous art days saying he had seen Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto more than eight times. He said that he had participated in an exhibition held in Islamabad during the premiership of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto; but Larkana Arts Council did not like to invite him.
The building of the gallery where artists would sit and exchange their ideas about art has not been given on rent; therefore artists have demanded that the Sindh Culture Department should announce financial support for the old artist. The artist told journalists that his exhibitions were inaugurated by Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and wife of distinguished and renowned revolutionary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz in Islamabad and Lahore.
