Paint Me
2018
Canvas Gallery – Karachi

For Mix Tape [1], an exhibition of group performance curated by Sara Pagganwala at Canvas Gallery, Amin lay upon an orange mattress in a pair of white shorts before an instruction stenciled upon the wall: Paint me. A small abstract canvas in an ocean of color painted by his father hung high above his reclining form. On a tall table at his feet were acrylics in black and white as well as a palette knife. Early on in the show, someone hesitantly painted a stick figure upon his bare chest. Taking this as a clue as to how to proceed, others followed suit, some using the knife, others their fingers. By the end of the three-hour show, Amin was covered in paint. This instructional, interactive work was rooted in childhood memory. When Amin was little, his father would invite him into his studio, set up an easel next to his and permit him to use any of his oils. They would then show one another their finished canvases. Although his father never actively encouraged Amin to be an artist, this was their way of bonding. Through Play Me, Amin’s private and public worlds intersected. Lying prone and vulnerable, Amin, his eyes masked by purple-lensed aviator glasses and his head propped upon a violet pillow, quietly revisited his own tender moments of childhood as the public marked him in any way they chose.