Page 377 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

374 ART AND CRAFTS

dexterity in geometric minimization; in this
manner red, blue, black, grey or brown colors
become self-born on the space of his canvases. In
the nineties Kibria arranges a watery calmness
on his canvases. We may imagine that the cloudy
sky of Bengal, brimming with water and the
urban landscape like the slimy old wall in the
rainy season inspire him- his incessantly hurt and
sad mind becomes calm and somber through the
care of time and nature. From the middle of this
decade white plays a major role in arranging the
space. From this time onwards a carefree style,
which is the product of vast experience, becomes
visible in his works. Kibria himself jokes about it
by saying, ‘Vaisnava thinking is perhaps the
ultimate goal!’ Two almost white paintings of
21
2000 speak about the mind of an artist who is
totally unconcerned about form, geometry or
structure. These paintings reach a sublime status
with the help of texture only (fig. 9.12). Are we
reminded of the free fields of white texture in the
works of Franz Klein? Alternatively, do we
remember the action painter Kibria of four decades back? Similarly, the collage made
of oil paint and paper titled Decay of 2001 reminds us of the lithographs of Kibria in
the sixties. All these contradictions or going back to the old in search of something
new may be thought of as the life cycle of creation. There was torn silk and blood
stained bandage in the collage
of Alberto Burri because Burri
had seen the war, he was doctor
in the Second World War. We
can see the signs of Burri in
Kibria’s works. But the
similarity vanishes at the
surface. Torn paper, burnt
clothes or rusty tin create a
distance of time and space with
the colored canvas. These
materials lose their physical
properties- if we are prepared to
fig. 9.12 Untitled, oil,
2000 expand our imagination we may
say that we have a still frame
fig. 9.13 Ensemble, oil from time travel frozen in our
and collage, 2004 mind (fig. 9.13).