Understanding the soul in an artist...
Hasnat Abdul Hye looks at a biographical work with a critical eye
In Recent times, a few books have been published on the leading artists of Bangladesh, an initiative which now appears to be a full-pledged trend, deserving appreciation and praise. Artists need to be introduced to the art world both through their works and informed discourse about their creative process. Comprehensive books on the works of artists thus become their biographies tracing the evolution of their works and the internal and extraneous forces that were brought to bear on them. Both the text, the art works, and the contexts, the traditional and contemporary practices within which the artists work, become important. The object, the art works, attains its full meaning through circumstantial explication, the contextual analysis. Javed Jalil, the writer of the book on Mohammed Kibria, is aware about the need to look at the historical perspective as well as the creative process that took shape in the artist's mind for adequate appreciation of his works. He has discussed the inter-action between the creative process and the external forces represented by tradition and contemporary trends in the domain of art. The introduction to the book describes the 'process' and the 'context' and their inter-action at some length. This is most valuable to understand the making of the artist that Kibria is today. However, statements like 'To Kibria, a work of art is like the process of life. It is conceivable deep within the artist which grows and moves towards its destined course', is not unique to Kibria and, therefore, is not helpful in understanding his works. But when it is revealed, 'Feelings of melancholy come very naturally to Kibria. They are the driving forces behind his creations,' it immediately becomes a signpost to the innermost recesses in the artist's creative mind. Equally revealing to outsiders is the information that by temperament he is an 'emotionally isolated recluse who finds relief in the silent doodling of lines and colour.' Also, in the same vein, 'Feeling of depression and despair eventually yielded to his trapped creativity so that he could convey empathy for life's insecurities' gives insight into the psychological aspects of Kibria's works. The book being an authorised album with commentary, these observations can be treated like autobiographical notes of the artist. As regards the context, the introduction mentions the movement against Western art among the artists in Bengal and the new movement inspired by nationalism and patriotic sentiment, giving rise to the emergence of the New Bengal School. The readers learn that although Kibria was exposed to the works of the New Bengal School, 'he sought his own path.' His preference was for individual expression rather than following an ideology. But it does not follow from this that by expressing his innermost thoughts in works with universal themes he sub-consciously revealed his patriotism; it is contradictory to equate universalism with nationalism, not to mention individualism. The readers come to know of Kibria's interest in Western art as a student, developed through art magazines, that made him familiar with works of Matisse and Picasso. Though the Calcutta School of Art, Kibria's alma mater, was very much influenced by British academic tradition, Kibria came under the influence of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists. They helped him to understand the use of colour to depict inner moods. Though Western art continued to inspire Kibria after he graduated from Calcutta Art School, it has not been mentioned which of the movement have predominantly influenced his works that are compiled in the album. The collection in the album does not show any work in the tradition of Impressionism, Post-Impressionism or Expressionism. The movement that has perhaps influenced Kibria's works most profoundly, Abstract Expressionism, has not been mentioned at all. On the other hand, much has been made of the influence of Japanese artists on his works which may be true in woodcuts and in the serenity of colour composition in his abstract paintings. It is also mentioned in the introduction that Paul Klee's compositional elements (geometric lines) and Giacometti's elongated human forms inspired him but the works in the album do not bear this out. It is also far-fetched to say that Goya's paintings from his 'black period' had their effect on Kibria because no such work has been included in the album nor has seen in any of his exhibitions held so far. The Zen-like serenity seen in the 'space and structures of his works' most probably owes to the Japanese aesthetics and the writer has rightly pointed this out. The public are as ignorant about prints of Kibria as they are about his drawings because these have not been shown in exhibitions in recent times. In graphics, Kibria has used mostly etching followed by acquatint, dry point, wood-cut and lithograph. The writer has described some of the prints highlighting their minimalism and nuances; this could be done in a more satisfactory way if the different mediums used by Kibria in the category of prints were grouped to-gether (e.g. etching, woodcut, etc.) and discussed separately rather than referring to prints at random. The last chapter in the album covers works of Kibria in mixed media. The writer observes that 'Kibria looks at mixed media as a journey of interplay and coherence. The blending of media elements fosters plurality of thought.' Everyone would agree with the view as this captures the essence of mixed media. But it is not correct to say that 'harmonized image through mixed media results from use of materials in their independent dimensions to express their unique characteristics.' A torn piece of cloth used in a mixed media does not retain its original characteristics and has a new role. In a mixed media the emphasis is on collective association and meaning and no element can or should 'establish itself as the focus of the composition.' The writer acknowledges this at the end when he concludes: 'Kibria's expression in mixed media finds dimension through the correlation of various media.' This is given added emphasis when it is observed, 'The relationship of media unifies the artist's thought to bring out a more dynamic image.' There is no question that by blending the different media to-gether, Kibria has displayed a strong sense of movement and diffusion in his mixed-media works. His works in this category are texturally rich, perhaps more than in his abstract paintings, which make some of them outstanding. 25 reproductions have been included in the album of the book. Javed Jalil is right in observing that Kibria looks at mixed media as a journey of interplay and coherence. But as already pointed out it would not be correct to say that the artist uses materials in their independent dimensions to express their unique characteristics. The concept and practice of mixed media does not allow uniqueness of individual materials to overwhelm the coherent whole.
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