Page 259 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

256 ART AND CRAFTS

international exhibitions, Bangladeshi
artists started going abroad more
frequently. Advent of information
technology, public media and
international trade also contributed to
clearer appreciation of the new trends
of world art by the artists of the
country. Consequently, changes could
be noticed in the works of the young
and even senior artists.
The visual influence of this new
Conceptual trend was first noticed in
the works of the sculptors.
Hamiduzzaman Khan and Alak Roy
fig. 6.3 Alak Roy, used unconventional elements and multiple media in the structure and presentation of
Prakritir Sathey their sculptures (figs. 6.2, 6.3). This particular quality can also be noted in the works
Basabas (living with of Kalidas Karmakar. Relatively young artists attempted to follow the alternative and
nature), mixed media, Conceptual trends from within the existing traditional structure. Signs of
2001 thoughtfulness were noticed among the organized young artists of the 70s. The
creations of the Dhaka Painters are examples of the use of objective-oriented pre-
thinking in experimental visual composition. In the 1980s, the Shomoy group
expressed social awareness and denial of the market through their works. Their works
attempted to create alternatives to the western formalistic trends. Japanese installation
and performance arts particularly influenced the practice of Conceptual new trends in
the country. However, Bangladesh being a post-colonial country, features of post-
colonialism are present in its contemporary visual arts, as in all its other areas. The
main structure of the mainstream contemporary arts of Bangladesh, also termed as
modern art, was in fact created in the British era. For this reason, despite an effort to
construct parallel local characteristics, the influence of the west on the modern arts of
the country is undeniable. It is important to throw light on its western background in
order to identify the origin and ancestry of Conceptual Art and new trends in the visual
arts of Bangladesh.
Conceptual Art and its Western Background
In the 1970s, a tendency towards creating art in quantities that was comparatively
different in dimension and characteristics could be distinctly noticed in the mainstream
visual arts of the West - essentially in Europe and North America. Versatile presentation
and the use of unconventional elements made it different from traditional art. Breaking
the structure of traditional constructional elements of painting and sculpting, such as
the use of the painted canvas and pedestal-based sculpture - many different alternative
presentational trends established their position in the world of the visual arts. These
alternative presentations include, on their own or in combination with the traditional
modes of painting and sculpting, elements such as groups of words, photographs,