Anniversary
Kaya's Anniversary Extravaganza
Artwork by Qayyum Choudhury.
For the anniversary exhibit Gallery Kaya had chosen the cream of painters of the country. Hamiduzzaman Khan's “Jhum-chash', shows a mother carrying the baby tied at the back with a cloth. Powerful splashes of jade, cobalt, pearly gray and jet black for the background. Below the woman are sketches of black, vermilion, orange and white. Hamiduzzaman gives a glimpse of the wonderful consequences of a sculptor putting his hands to painting.
Hamiduzzaman has been sculpting for at least four decades. He studied under Zainul Abedin and Mustafa Manwar. He made sculpting his profession as he moved from Dhaka to England. His sculptural pieces include the ones in front of Jahangirnagar University, Shashoptak in Mirpur and Freedom Fighter at the Jalalabad Cantonment. One cannot but help admire his book on the Rose Garden which consisted of fascinating sketches. His paintings on the Sunderbans also won the hearts of the viewers.
Hashem Khan's birds, for which he is so famous, soar in the air with their wings, open beaks and tails. At that time, his brittle lines, shaky with rage confidently replaced the purism of geometrical lines. The birds are white or pale orange, the background flamingo pink, vermilion, and ruby red. Two faces of women—with their eyes and nose, clearly delineated, form a part of the ruby red squiggles in the foreground.
Kazi Rakib’s piece.
Samarjit Rai Chowdhury has orange and green magnificence along with bright red. The brilliant scene contains triangles in red and green, with stripes in many colours. It is wonderful how the artist combines vermilion, leaf green and pale yellow to depict the villages of his youth and childhood days. The buntings and ferries- wheels are not left out. The joie de vivre of childhood appears fresh and inviting.
Murtaja Baseer's lady in a coat and a flow of western clothes, has a profile of a not – so – young beauty and yet is appealing in its simplicity of colours and tones. The figure is against black, orange and red. It has the masterful strokes of a maestro.It certainly captures the imagination.
Baseer’s creative genius has not been limited to visual arts alone: he has left his mark also in film an literature. His art education in Italy during 1956-58 had far-reaching consequences. Although his drawings may bring to mind Picasso, it was Etruscan fourteenth –century painting and drawing that has inspired him. His works are remarkable for their vigour and energy.
Rafiqun Nabi, Monirul Islam and Anisul Haque at the anniversary function.
His Wall” symbolises the painful limits of a handicapped man, his torment and indignation has burst out on the canvas during 1960-6. At that time his lines, shaky with rage, symbolises the lonely boy and the caged bird. Later he did his Epitaph with a change of colours .A few of his paintings treat Islamic calligraphy. Baseer has also done a good number of murals.
Next we see bars of brilliant red with squares, rectangles of powder blue and duck yellow as well as jet black squares. There are rectangle shapes which represent three boomerangs in gold, red and black.
Qayyum Chowdhury has a vast expanse of clear powder blue for the background. Against this we see two rows of blue waves with two fish. There is a boat with a sail. Leaves, bird -with red beaks and gold bodies are there against a white and black extravaganza, which have developed from squiggles of the same colour. Along the pretty orange flowers are a riot of orange leaves with dots to make them more ornate.
Qayyum Chowdury's world is full of symbols , colours, lines, and metaphors—apart from passion and emotion. Qayyum searched for significant forms in our years of folk art. The motifs which he took from folk art, he stylised and formed them in a rhythmic manner. His choice of colours was always very modern, He has searched in folk art for eternal theme—guided by Zainul Abedin. His designs have been taken from nature. Qayyum's paintings pulsate with energy and emotions. His simple approach to life is the basis of his beautiful paintings. Ranjit Das, who is said to have one of the biggest sales of paintings in the city, along with Kanak Champa Chakma, also drew a sea of admirers with his work. It has not been easy for Ranjit to have pirouetted to the top. Talented and craven, he has put his imagination, memory and education to “load and bless” his canvases and drawing paper. He remains soft-spoken and self-effusive. There is no bombast or ambitious declaration in this man with glasses and fading crop of hair. He says: "One has to give a lot to one's work. One has to combine thought with understanding. He has studied masters like Matisse, Picasso, Zainul Abedin, KG Subramanyam and MF Hussain. He did his Masters from India. Having done his bachelors from Art College, Dhaka, the teachers whom he admired were Safiuddin Ahmed, Mohammed Kibria, Aminul Islam and Murtaja Baseer. With them he discussed ideas and techniques outside the set academic hours.
Works by Hashem Khan and Murtaja Baseer.
The presence of Monirul Islam from Spain at the celebration added to the glamour. He has often been here teaching mid-year artists how to used elements from nature like red brick and burnt rice. What he brought back from Spain, in the form of print, remains idyllic and nonpareil. His paintings of forests and space with compasses , geometrical figures and empty space that make the work ethereal. Like Kalidas Karmakar, he lives abroad, but comes back to his family in Comilla, ever so often. When in Dhaka he enjoys exchanging ideas with other fellow artists, like Rafiqun Nabi and Qayyum Chowdhury. He is always seen sketching – in press conferences and lectures.
(left)Qayyum Chowdhury. (right) Shamarjit Roy Choudhury’s painting.
There are also prints by Anisuzzaman, freshly returned from his Far East PhD, and Nagarbashi Barman. These are brown and beige in tone. Sharp lines delineate the sinking, broken boats and dark block of cement or wood.
The choice of the art works are indeed refreshing and worth putting in an anniversary show, which will go on drawing crowds till the end of July.
A 2012 painting by Hamiduzzaman Khan.
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