Exhibition: "A Contemporary and Folk Art Exhibition from Bangladesh" May 2009

The artists presented in this exclusive exhibition of Bangladeshi painters in Jordan, represent a comparatively younger genre of the Bangladesh’s artistic community. The idea behind this selection is to manifest the fact that Bangladesh, which is known in the western societies at large as a country of extreme poverty, over-population, floods, cyclones and other catastrophes and political and social violence, has also got a positive face to be admired by the world. There exists a very active and lively cultural atmosphere and throbbing world of literature, music, dance, theatre, film and visual arts as well in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has got quite a large number of artists working in the fields of painting, sculpture and other mediums of expression and many of the younger generation are attempting to express themselves in the contemporary vocabularies of the international art scene. This is evident from the increasing participation of young artists in the Asian Art Biennales held in Dhaka. The artists presented in this particular exhibition range from the mid-age group to the youngest practitioners.

They come from the various districts & centers of art activity in Bangladesh. The selections had to be kept within easel painting size only for obvious reasons, transportation being a major criterion. Artists in Bangladesh work in a wide spectrum of manners, ranging from the traditional techniques to contemporary themes, abstraction being a major trend. When selecting artists for this exhibition the primary objective was to present a scenario of the up-to-date developments in the current art world of Bangladesh where one could notice a synthesis of tradition and contemporary ideas and a reflection of the Bangladeshi context. These artists display many features which could be termed common in most of them, but they have differences and individual characteristics as well.

The commonality could be noticed in their use of figurative idioms, use of motifs from tradition and daily life and a tendency towards the narrative. The two-dimensional surface of the picture plane is generally treated with a thick use of pigment and many of them have an inclination for vivacity of colour. Of the artists the three senior most are, Mohd Rafiqul Islam (1955), Ranjit Das (1956) and Mohd Younus (1956) each have their own distinctive styles. Inspirations from the elements of folk myths, tales and arts of Bengal are a strong influence on some of them such as, Kanak Chanpa and Mohd Younus. Abu Sayeed Liton , M. Alam and M. Zhinuk give abstraction to naturalist themes and instill in present day urban and rural life, a narrative characteristic. Iftekharuddin on the other hand takes the help of vivid colors, geometry and abstraction in order to represent his statement. Besides local themes, the ink rendering of Ranjit Das belies the maturity and the influence of oriental art in an international style.

Articles about the Exhibition: http://www.jordantimes.com