Two art pieces by Bangladeshi artist on display at the art gallery. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVAID/EXPRESS
Titled “The Colours of Mind,” the exhibition comprises a total of 25 art pieces, ranging from pencil drawings to paintings in oil and acrylic.
“I’m fascinated by Hossain’s work because of the flow of colours, the layering and the source of light in his paintings,” said the curator Nahida Raza. “Given his grip on the subject, his artwork is a valuable resource for young artists and art students who can learn a great deal from him.”
Staying close to his roots, Hossain’s canvases typically revolve around nature and human beings and their correlation. There is some element of mystique to his drawings and water colour paintings.
“At first glance, my work may seem a mundane reflection of mankind with his surrounding but it slowly unfolds the secrets of my subject,” said the artist. “While working with geometrical lines, I try to impart the feeling of space with subdued colour and white pigmentation,” he added.
He has been mostly preoccupied with women’s traditional figures of fetching water or tending to cattle in the villages. He has also experimented with the images of rickshaw in the old city with boy.
One of his paintings, “The Girl on the Road” shows three women working and fetching water. Shining brightly against the backdrop, their clothes are depicted with gentle swirls of a rich palette comprising tones of blue, red, yellow ochre, grey, umber and purple.
The artist finds solace in painting people from his land. “I believe that there is a lot of graceful poetry and rhythm in the manner in which women work in the villages of Bangladesh,” he further said.
Moreover, he also seems inclined to paint foliage. “I find solace in the wilderness, at the same time I’m attracted towards the white sun rays filtering through the dense green, sound of the tropical rain and the movement of rain drops of the green leaves,” he added.
Painter Mansur Rahi, who will inaugurate the exhibition, has also graduated from Hossain’s alma mater, Dhaka Art College.
According to Rahi, Hossain’s work is a realistic study that reveals the mysteries of nature. “You have to be a master of law to break the law and Hossain skillfully achieves that with his tricks which lend him an inimitable signature,” said Rahi.
The High Commissioner of Bangladesh Sohrab Hossain will be the chief guest at the event that will continue till April 30.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2014.
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