KARACHI: It is always a delight to see an artist making use of geometric shapes and turning them into identifiable `fields and spaces` Why? Because in the hustle and bustle of daily life we seldom notice that shapes play a visually meaningful role in our lives.

One tends to realise this while viewing Nadia Khawaja`s art, an exhibition of whose acrylic-oncanvas paintings titled Play Along opened at the Canvasart gallery on Tuesday.

But hold on. There`s more to Nadia`s art than fields and spaces. There`s movement, a certain kind of kinetic energy that living beings have. It is quite an extraordinary sight to see shapes triangles, circles, squares etc moving as if they`re in a hurry, as if they need to be somewhere on time. This urgency lends a distinct feel to Nadia`s work.

The 10 artworks on display are untitled. And this is where the viewers can involve themselves in the exhibition. Each artworkhas an individual presence without any notions of abstraction; if there is abstraction, it`s not in-yourface. This also goes to show, in a way, the clarity that the artist associates with geometric shapes. To her their meanings and motives are crystal clear.

What role do colours play in this scheme of things? Well, the answer is significant, especially the colour black which augments (or halts) the progress of the images in the foreground.

Also, in one very interesting piece, the upper half ofthe frame looks livelier because the bottom half is covered only by black space. Hence, the feeling ofsemi-inertia.

In piece number 7, there is a sense of merriment, largely because of neatshapes and soft colours.

This is where Nadia`s versatility as an artist comes to the fore. She knows how tomake geometry speak in differentlanguages.

The exhibition will conclude on Oct 12.