The invitation card gave a taste of the upbeat and also 'profane' humour that was part of the creativity on display. Mehreen Murtaza's approach may have raised a few eyebrows, but nonetheless succeeded in presenting a body of work that was out-of-the-box and representative of new and youthful sensibilities that were playful, and yet did have a cutting edge character to them.

In today's world, when financial constraints are affecting day-to-day life, the art mart is also suffering in terms of sales. The exhibition addressed this issue in an upfront way.

Every art work on display was affordable and this was made possible by keeping more than one 'edition' of each work. The participants were mostly young BNU graduates, all of whom had worked in different medium and style. The maximum price was Rs 8,500 and the minimum Rs1,000. So, indeed one could have exclaimed, “O my God, I can buy art!”.

The exhibition started off with Hassan Mujtaba's set of eleven small pencil portraits of young school boys that shows the awesome drawing skills of this young artist. These sensitively made works had been printed on such good quality paper that they appeared as 'original' rather than as prints, and the edition of ten seemed to have sold like hot cakes. Next to these were Asif Khan's enchanting set of 'Night lights', that had made innovative use of photography and electronics to create a new version of an ordinary item. Then, there was Unum Baber's 'Chamchey', which, at first glance seemed to be simply a set of smart kitchen items, but on closer inspection revealed the cutting and carving of text into the steel creations. Maimoona had grappled with another common entity—the mosquito! These carefully crafted large wire sculptures had an elegance and beauty one could never associate with the selected subject.

Vidhya Saumya's 'Explosives' was a more complex body of work which was in the form of a book, each page filled with the pen and ink drawings of the artist. The content was upbeat and rather explicit and represented the hedonistic, pleasure-seeking activities of individuals in a manner that demonstrated both skill and humour. Another work that combined humour and 'profanity' was David Alesworth and Adnan Madni's 'Peoples art historical garden centre'. Here, pages from the highbrow publication, Image and identity by art historian and critic Akbar Naqvi had been used. It consisted of twelve framed pieces, each one containing a page from the book that had been used to create a paper bag into which was placed a smaller bag meant for seeds from a well-known Lahore shop made an oblique comment on the credibility and intent of the aforementioned art critic.

Mehreen Murtaza herself was represented through a small but weighty sculpture; an attractive and intriguing chrome-plated metal creation in the shape of a human heart placed in a velvet lined box and minutely inscribed with a verse in Urdu that commented on the venomous and lethal acts of human beings against each other.

Another small sculpture piece that made a pithy but sad comment on our society was the 'Fasting Jinnah' by Imran Channa. Made in the style of old Gandhara artefacts and placed in a glass case similar to those found in museums, this sculpture made a deep and disturbing impact on the viewer and prompted some painful soul searching.

Other works by Amean J., Shalalae Jamil, and Mariam Ibraaz used photography to show both skill and sensitivity, while the set of images by Mahwish Shaukat used digital manipulation of images of famous art works to make a witty comment on art.

All these 'affordable' art works and the raison d' etre of the curator is likely to ignite a new trend in the way we perceive and value art. The youthful and playful mood of the exhibition nonetheless also sparked a thought process that addresses more serious issues concerning our society and the way it functions.