Page 419 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

416 ART AND CRAFTS

village landscape is somewhat transformed into
abstraction. He has kept expanses of open space
on the pictorial surface of these paintings –
which is a quality of the paintings. The artist’s
first and second solo exhibitions (1977) were
held with these paintings created over the course
of three decades.
Then a long trip to Europe and America (1977)
enriched his store of experience, enhanced his
confidence and made his love for his own
tradition and country more intense. Thence he
produced the series of paintings titled My
Village and Village Underwater. From the
beginning of the 1990s, the prominence of
figures in his paintings is notable (fig. 9.46).
Therefore, in his third solo exhibition (1999),
the suggestion of figures was present in the
setting rural life, and colors were given
prominence over lines. This exhibition is
especially unique by the use of vibrant and
primary colors. These features are unchanged in
fig. 9.46 Nature, his fourth and last solo exhibition (2004). In the painting titled Abohoman of this
watercolor, 2003 exhibition, the diversity of life in the eternal image of Bengal is portrayed alongside
the ugliness of contemporary life. However, the artist desires to take his works beyond
the contemporary to a state of timeless appeal. This passion turns him into a devotee.
He immerses himself in the ocean of forms in search of formless treasure.

Translated by Asifur Rahman, Senior Project Analyst
Local Enterprise Investment Center, IDLC Finance Limited, Dhaka