Page 66 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PAINTING 63

tempera, silk, dye, terracotta, glass, and various techniques of printmaking and even
embroidery. Apart from that he created a few installations. Rakib’s pictorial style
also wandered from realistic representation to semi-abstract, abstract, and various
trends and manners influenced by folk art (pl. 1.40). However, a correlation may be
noted within this– which is Kazi Rakib’s inquisitiveness and his tendency to
experiment. Another aspect which is noteworthy is his uniqueness and originality.
His glass paintings and installations of recent times done in various techniques also
reflect his uniqueness.
Jamal Ahmed began as a skilful artist in realistic painting and watercolor and
eventually became engaged in oil paintings in complete abstraction. The glow of
colors that fade into one another rather than the geometric is the main accomplishment
of his abstraction. Within this he has used small shapes, scratches, and textural
patterns. Recently he has engaged himself in an altogether new experimentation– he
has executed small sized miniature like paintings and large sized paintings at the same
time in watercolor, acrylic, and crayon. Here he has returned to the human form, to
almost academic naturalism. Through huge corpulent nude men and women or in large
female portraits, Jamal Ahmed perhaps wants to reflect the mental conflict of the life
of modern man afflicted by loneliness (pl. 1.32).
Among his contemporaries, Mohammad Eunus’ skill in creating a luxurious canvas in
oil painting is quite evident. The fragmented form of urban structures and the skilful
representation of lanes and bye-lanes are the subject matter of his early works. At a
later phase, he leaned towards abstract representation, though adding various
connections with actual experience within it. Various images and symbols have found
place in his canvas in fragments. Sometimes he even attaches objects that he has
picked up somewhere. However, the rich compositional quality of Eunus’ surface is
created through the richness of color application, through the handling of the
paintbrush and the construction of texture and the dense harmony of lines and
scribbles (pl. 1.30).
Tarun Ghosh attempted to create his own pictorial language right from the beginning.
His profound attraction towards indigenous tradition made him interested in the folk
heritage. Like many other artists, the Behula tale also appealed to him tremendously.
However, Tarun did not make particular use of folk elements in the compositional
style of his paintings. His Behula tale appears through shapes, lines, colors, and
scribbles and a densely knit surface of textures. Thus, Tarun has obtained inspiration
from folk art yet created an original style for himself (pl. 1.33).
Shahadat Hussain started off as a printmaker and displayed technical skills in the
various media of printmaking. However, after becoming a resident of Paris, he
gradually turned mainly into a painter. His works done chiefly in watercolor and oil
painting reflect his personal dream world, a world filled with conflict between real and
super human forms. The immense metamorphosis of forms creates in his paintings a
manifestation of modern man filled with suffering.