View from Varendra
Group exhibition at Bengal Gallery
Fayza Haq
The ongoing exhibition "Chitral Varendra" at Bengal Gallery features artists from Rajshahi. Despite their differences in style, the eight artists are aware of the changes in the international art scene, and are sensitive as well as dynamic in their work -- be it in chalk and paper, canvas or sculpture. The artists include Golam Farouq Bebul, Siddhartha Talukder, Hritendra Kumar Sharma, Zahid Hossain, Azadi Parvin, Amirul Momanin Chowdhury, Mostafa Sharif Anowar and Naznin Akhter Lata. Speaking to some of the artists present at a press conference, one learns about their background and style. Golam Farouq Bebul said that he loves to work with nature. This is what inspires and soothes him. Working with acrylic, he follows ideas of his teachers Mohammed Kibria, Shafiuddin Ahmed and Abul Barq Alvi. Paul Klee and Marc Rothko are among his favourite artists from the west. Bebul also admires works of the Indian artist Ganesh Pyne. For the exhibition he has worked with acrylic "as it has a large scope in bringing gradation in tones. Moreover it dries quickly and has more longevity than oil in a climate like ours," as he puts it. In his paintings he shows broken huts, experimenting with lines, forms and tones. "I haven't done a portrait but the houses depict the difficult lives of many in our country," says Bebul, who is an associate professor at the Department of Fine Arts, Rajshahi University (RU). Zahid Hossain, who studied at Institute of Fine Arts (IFA), had Aminul Islam, Qayyum Chowdhury, Samarjit Roy Chowdhury and Rafiqun Nabi as his teachers. His work is semi-abstract, in mixed media. He has shown nature with its fauna and flora, and brought in human figures too. One of his paintings shows a woman with a child, as well as flowers -- in the shape of a shora. He has used bright colours as he feels that he can best express his feelings and thoughts through them. Hritendra Kumar Sharma's favourite medium is charcoal. He has a fascination for creations in black and white, after having seen Satyajit Ray's film "Pather Panchali". Hritendra has repeatedly used the horse as a symbol of energy and struggle. One of his drawings has a galloping horse with a man lying on the ground in front of it, along with a looming shadow. He is influenced by Rafiqun Nabi and Qayyum Chowdhury and says he prefers to do most of his work at night. Amirul Momanin Chowdhury has brought in woodcut prints. He had the studied printmaking, which he found interesting. He brings in a quaint world of reality and imagination in the series, "Nuhash and the Aliens". He plays with the forms of owls, flowers, the moon and a wide-eyed on-looking child. The exhibition, which ends on 10th June, demonstrates the prowess of the artists from the Varendra region quite effectively.
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An artwork in charcoal by Hritendra Kumar Sharma (left) and Novera, a stonework, by Mostafa Sharif Anowar |
