The Truck art of Pakistan is unique in world with a distinct style all of it’s own. A Typical truck on the road in Pakistan, either taking passengers from one place to another or transporting goods, have been decorated by their owners, putting in a lot of effort with an amazing level of detail. It was not long before truck owners followed suite with their own designs. Through the years the materials used have developed from wood and paint [...]
This soil has produced art since people started living here. With the advent of transportation as a business the people of this region used their art to make their vehicles more attractive. Even in 1920′s, competing transportation companies used to hire craftsmen to embellish and decorate their buses to draw travelers. A plan was a winner and the passengers just could not help but stare at the skillfully decorated trucks while purchasing the tickets. The more attractive a painting, the [...]
At least one website gives following history of bus/truck painting in Pakistan and quotes it to one Peter Grant. The extraordinary tradition of decorating trucks has its roots in the days of the raj when craftsmen made glorious horse drawn carriages for the gentry. In the 1920s the Kohistan Bus Company asked the master craftsman Ustad Elahi Bakhsh to decorate their buses to attract passengers. Bukhsh employed a company of artists from the Punjab town of Chiniot, who’s ancestors had [...]
The truck owners and truck artists of Pakistan also pay homage to their heroes and heroines in their own innocent ways. These painting do not strictly follow the aspect ratio of real life figures. That is why Bollywood actress Rani Mukherjee is painted on a Pakistani truck with some extra weight. I don’t know who is the male figure on the other truck. My guess is Mustafa Qureshi (my first guess was Javed Shaikh) but I’ll take your guesses too [...]
Pakistani trucks are also used as means of displaying the owner or the Painter’s Poetic taste. It also serves as a calligraphic board as well as a notice board for public messages. Note the two photos below. In the photo to the left the truck owner is declaring himself as hopelessly romantic (ye dil hai aashiqaana) and in the photo to the right he is requesting his beloved to accompany him to his hometown, which is by the way, Khuzdar [...]
