ISLAMABAD: The Embassy of the Argentine Republic inaugurated the works of Maria Martha Pichel, a world renowned Argentinean artist who has had three previous exhibitions in Pakistan.

Rodolfo J. Martin-Saravia, who hosted the exhibitions in 2007, 2009, 2010 and this year, said that they had been resounding successes.

The guests at the Embassy included members from the diplomatic corps, businessmen, journalists and owners of various art galleries around the city.

Pichel, it is clear from the 40-some works on display is predominantly a figurative artist depicting the movement and music of Argentina.

Her paintings of people engrossed in the Argentine tango, are at once both sensual and surreal.

As Nilofer Qazi observed, `There are clearly three distinct periods of her work exhibited here.

Pichel has had solo exhibitions in Germany, France, Italy, Argentina, Brazil and the United States and she is clearly a sought after painter. The red dots at this exhibition bore testament to her collector appeal.

Salim Khan said: `As a layperson I can say her paintings are very pleasing. Her use of colour in particular is dramatic and attractive.

Beyond the colour which was striking in two styles of the three Nilofer identified, her paintings have a distinctly dreamlike quality. They could as easily be motifs on the covers of fantasy novels with their expressionist features.

Asma Khan, Director of Satrang Art Gallery, said: `One can perceive the sense of movement in her paintings and there is a nebulous sense of space between which the dance continues in those paintings which feature the tango.

Of course the other genre depicting lone ships set against a barren distant horizon are equally evocative but of desolation and direction.

Truly if each period of Pichel`s work depicts a state of being then she has admirably captured the essences of despair, sensuality and dreams.

Her lines are simple and each painting is clear from an unusual perspective abilities that are reflected in her movement from the emphasis on the human body to the desolate collection of ships.

Pichel`s debut exhibition was in 1982 at the Soudan Gallery after which she started working with the Favaloro Foundation illustrating books on anatomy and cardiovascular surgery work that gave her a solid core of anatomical dili-gence to draw on.

She then went on to study with master artists including Hermenegildo Sabat, Eduardo Stupia, Carlos Herzberg and Raul Mazzoni, finishing her training in Paris in the studios of Francois Bouillon.

Much of the inspiration for her work comes from South America and is apparent in the larger than life scenes and her unconventional choice of palette with the sulphur yellow, cold green and matte reds.

Wisely enough, the Ambassador chose to exhibit the works indoors with each genre in a separate alcove while the guests were served refreshments outdoors.

As Ashraf Qazi appropriately compared the display to one exhibiting multiple periods of Picasso, similar to the master the larger than life canvases precluded relaxation as one was surrounded by them.