Art
Simplicity Plus
Nature with woman, etching, 1979.
Biren Shome, who has been winning art-lover's hearts since the early 70s, has now come up with a breathless collection at Dhaka Art Centre till July 24.
As a graduate of the Department of Fine Arts, DU, he studied under the eagle eye of Rafiqun Nabi and Mahmudul Haque. During the Language Movement of 1952, the artist, then a teenager was in Jamalpur. Like many of his contemporaries, he too was affected by the political rumblings around him. He was weary of misrule and dictatorship. Touching the 'Six Point Demand' he made sketches, cartoons –in righteous indignation. During the Liberation War, the Pakistan Army marched on, he and his colleagues, like Utpal Kanti Dhar and Masum Ansari, crossed the Bhramaputra, to escape the deadly bush-firing from planes overhead.
Lalon, etching, 1979.
Like most Dhaka artists, he is a great pleasure to be with—soft-spoken and full of humour. As he works at the National Herbarium during the day, his work has been done mostly at night and on holidays. He has used oil, water-colour and pen and ink. He has enlarged the detail of flowers, which he studied as an illustrator. Thus his creative work has depth of vision. His 'Bhasha Andalen Thikey Mukti Jodha' at Shilpangan has soldiers brandishing their rifles, and portrays women protesting injustice and oppression.
Biren's solo exhibition of 2013, contains mostly prints, some of which are coloured. His 'Woman with their flower', an etching done in 1979, has bars of vermilion and pink flower wreathes at her two sides. Her aquiline nose and curled lips along with her sloe eyes remind one of the paintings by the Moghuls and the caves of Elora and Ajanta. There is the disk of the full moon in the dark indigo sky.
“Three Faces” of 1979 has the faces of a man and two women. They are done in cubes in earthy colours—burnt sienna and beige. Above is the red and green flag of Bangladesh—only it is ovular, with many scratch marks.
“Peace”(1979), another etching contains a female's face and a resting bird --with circles of vibrant vermilion around her plus an arc or golden yellow. These images are contained in a circle and placed on a yellow and gray backdrop.
'Lalon' –Biren's etching done the same year, contains a portrait of of the legendary mystic with an abundant beard, an image of a standing man from the back, the open palm of a hand with the full moon at the back. There is a rectangular space with a female face and what looks like a human fetus at the bottom. This is entirely in shades of gray and black and white.
Horse, relief print, 2013. Tribute to Tagore, collagraph, 2011 (r).
“Image” Etching , 1989, features a delicately done hand of a woman with long, shapely fingers ---with a mass of morning glories and heart-shaped leaves around her. This too has a pale jade backdrop to off the black and gray work.
One of his most recent works is a woman astride a galloping steed. Sprays of thorny branches of leaves cover the rest of the detail. Black lines set off the woman and the steed.
'Woman with flower' is also done in stylised geometrical lines and exudes the same aura of a dreamy, fairytale world.
Peace, etching, 1979.
The remarkable water colour of the Baul with his ektara wearing a brilliant red chadar and orange lungi. The singer sports long flowing hair. The backdrop is brought in in grays, dark and light orange and light pink.
'Tribute to Tagore' is a callograph done in 2011 and has the portrait of the bard in his middle years. The face is encased in a wall, which contains bricks and sculpture—presented in gray and beige scratches. The golden disc of the moon or sun is above the poet's head.
'Native Land' is also a collagraph of 201. It is an abstract with a yellow circle and a bar below it.
Biren, who was born in Jamalpur, is an artist and designer and has numerous awards to his credit. This includes the Nawab Faizunnesa Gold Medal (2007) and Atish Dipankar Gold Medal (2004). He has participated in both solo and group exhibitions.
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