Page 68 - Art and Crafts of Bangladesh

PAINTING 65

Through her selection of meaningful fig. 1.37 (top) Rokeya
symbols and measured application of Sultana, Air, Water,
colors, the dualistic life of woman Earth, tempera, 2000
becomes manifested. However,
sometimes she shows a tendency to fig. 1.38 (bottom)
represent woman in an overly Dilara Begum Jolly,
Udbhash-1 (Emergence-
romanticism affected ornamental 1), acrylic on canvas,
composition. 2000
Rokeya Sultana was one of the leading
artists of Bangladesh in the eighties.
She was always diligent, and at the
same time creative from the onset.
Beginning as a printmaker, Rokeya
soon began to be known as an artist
inclined to experiment in various
media of painting. As most other
women artists, the world of woman was the subject of her interest at the beginning,
especially the mother and child– which may be a reflection of her individual feelings.
However, gradually her interest went beyond the limits of the world of woman and
began to spread into the wonder of the entire universe and of the existence of man and
woman within the context of the universe. Rokeya wished to capture the form of
universal nature in abstract compositions by using unconventional media such as
tempera, and by capitalizing on the somewhat suddenly created
surface of the canvas. In recent times, simplified human forms,
depiction of the eternal conflicting relationship between humankind
and nature has been added to this (fig. 1.37).
Shishir Bhattacharjee is slightly different in his style of representing
messages through humor and satire. Forceful condemnation of
abominable political and social practices is Shishir’s leitmotif as well;
he represents the hideous and repulsive face of the leaders of society
in their undisguised ugliness. As a result, his paintings bring to our
perspective an uncomfortable contradiction. Shishir has not only
struck out with the unknown in creating forms, he has also demolished
the conventional composition of the pictorial plane. He uses his skill
of drawing in the ultimate use of exaggeration and transformation of
the human body and expressions, in creating the unbelievable world of
comic and fantasy. Shishir tears down the stylized discipline of
composition and disperses forms haphazardly throughout the canvas,
creating the forceful form of his individual style. Thus, Shishir
becomes unconventional through representation and striking
expressions (pl. 1.37).