KARACHI: There was a time when raising existentialist questions, such as `what am I doing in this world`, was in vogue? Then things changed, as they always do, and the 21st century arrived with its own wonders and challenges, largely to do with technology and a number of stifling socioeconomic issues. While the latter is still here, the former ismaking, in a manner of speaking, a comeback at least in the world of art.

Abdul Jabbar Gull is a renowned artist who has been showcasing his talent for many years, and most recently as a sculptor.

An exhibition of his paintings and drawings titled Corporeal to Ethereal, which concluded over the weekend, at the Koel Art Gallery is a kind of a reflection of his artistic journey spanning four decades.

If one the one hand they depict a very personal side to his creative self, on the other hand it puts on display the conditions that he has been raised in and affectedby as a human being.

Gull seems to have poured his heart out in this show, and the evidence is in the introduction that he`s given to it. He begins by talking about the time when he started off as a young artist, painting cinema posters. His entry into the academic world of art as a student brought about some fundamental changes along with the company that he kept where he heard questions that made him mull over existence.

All of this led Gull to doubt whether artists are born with the ability to create. Consequently, he looked himself in the mirror to question his placement and jobdescription in this world which gives prominence to his inner and externalsides.

This sounds interesting. What`s even more intriguing is the artworks that Gull has produced all this while.

They reverberate with energy and a thought process that`s distinct in its creative practice. In them, such as the series `Ordinary Souls`, the viewer sees slices of society trying to come to terms with its age-old issues and glimpses of the artist himself in some untitled pieces who, even when he doesn`t get all the answers, remains immersed in making images that underline the corporeal and the ethereal strands in his art.