9 47 Asian Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies, 5(9) September, 2017 A deadly silence behind the serenity of landscapes painted by Mughees Riaz Sadia Arshad Assistant Professor Fine Arts Department of Visual Arts Institute of Visual Arts and Design Lahore College for Women University Lahore, Pakistan Abstract: Art in Pakistan flourished in robust manners during last two decades but the documentation about the progress of evolution of art scene is still scanty. Artists from different domains of art are performing a high caliber of productivity in their respective field which needs to be acknowledged and appreciated. This article represents the art works of Mughees Riaz. He is one of the mature artists from the current generation of Pakistani artists. His paintings reflect a particular mood which is documented by some critics as „peace‟ or „serenity‟ with reference to artist‟s inspiration from nature. Whereas this article suggests that the mood in his paintings is in fact a kind of deadly silence which is actually the outcome of artist‟s experiences and survival in the current socio-political circumstances of the country. Moreover this article presents a detailed analysis of artists painting compositions and philosophical aspects. Keywor ds: Art In pakistan, contemporary art in south Asia Mughees Riaz is one of the mature artists from the current generation of Pakistani artists who started his career in the late 1990s after getting MFA degree from the University of The Punjab, Lahore Pakistan in 1997. He painted landscapes without human figures and also opted for figurative compositions. His inclinations appeared to be the representation of evening scenes, particularly in a soundless setting. Apart from this, he also created gorgeous sunset scenes around the River Ravi in Lahore. He has composed the river under the expanse of a wide sky with the presence of any of a series of objects; such as a buffalo standing alone in the center of the painting (Fig 1), boats with a few trees near the bank of the river; or only a flag entrenched on an unidentified grave. Figure 1. Golden Buffalo painted by Mughees Riaz, oil on canvas 91.5 x 91.5 cm He tried to give voice to his silent art by the addition of life in the form of birds or animals to his creative surplus. But the feel one gets in his landscapes and figurative compositions is one of immobility. An unknown stillness prevails throughout his work. His paintings evoke lonesomeness and emptiness. This theme seems a common factor among most of his contemporaries as well. The only difference is that Mughees‟s presentations are more personal and a product of the world of his own imagination. His paintings have a sense of calmness and are steeped in tranquility. They take us beyond our mundane world into the otherworld of the artist‟s own perceptions. As he has said it so well, “my work is a simple reflection of my inspiration. I always wanted to amalgamate nature with my inner feelings. Fascinated by nature, I have always derived immense satisfaction and pleasure while creating the wideness of a blue sky, or the soft tranquility of a river in motion. The repose of a field of fresh green grass with grazing buffalos and opportunistic crows scattered in it is a tonic for my imagination. A brown landscape, a pink sky especially a “kaleidoscopic sunset” always compels