Clarion call to return to Nature
Samar Mojumder, never ceases to wonder at the beauty of the country side, although he is a long time resident of Dhaka. His oils and acrylics can be seen at the Dhaka Art Centre, at Dhanmondi Rd 7/A. Although he works at Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), as a designer, he makes a living as a creative artist in a big way. Like Nietzsche, Walt Whitman, Thoreau and Frost, to him contentment and joy remains in going back to the soil of the country. Having learnt art under Samarjit Roy Chowdhury, and sharing a hostel with senior artists, he had a love of art from the outset.
Even though he enjoyed his childhood days at Feni, swimming in the ponds, angling fish, and enjoying the greenery and flowering trees and hedges of the village life with its endless river, fish and flowers, he kept to himself because of his interest in depicting life around him.
Samar says he was deeply influenced by artists like Picasso and SM Sultan as they were all time greats. He says that he admires the great artists of both the East and West, but that he tries to create art from his personal vision.
When he paints the lost cow with its red face, the artist wishes to present the theme of how in his youth the family had lost a cow -- and the joy the family had in retrieving it. Hence, we see a cow between brown trees along with green and beige hillocks at the back and flowing stream. His tree that is bent in three points has blue above it, as if the image as in a beaker, while leaves hang out below. The presentation is indeed unique such as the circle of crows--some sitting on a lichen-covered wall while others are flying above forming a neat circle with the other blue and black beings.
It is marvellous how the Dhaka-based artist sees beauty in ordinary crows. Here the painter has kept his senior artist Rafiqun Nabi in mind. As for aquamarine and lapis lazuli circle of fish -- with the background of water, the acrylic on canvas is wonderful too. Here, Farida Zaman is brought to mind, as she specialises in presenting fish and fishing nets. The artist's depicts a Hindu bridal couple, with the bride decked up in rose red while the groom is wearing a crown of “shola”. Hanging jade leaves are brought in, as also the flowing steams and green grass in the backdrop.
His acrylic delineations of village women at work or resting, shows us women embroidering, making “alpana” with rice flower and embroidering “nakshi kathas”. The backdrops are umber, burnt-sienna and pale turquoise and pale umber. The pictures of village life are indeed fascinating. A woman with an artistic Afro-type hair style, white hanging ear-rings and beige sari; holding a pet calf or goat; a mother teaching her son – while her face is presented as a Pablo Picasso mask, and the village woman is cutting in her kitchen--these are all mind whirling. Although the women wear stark white clothes at times, they appear idyllic and happy doing their simple tasks.
The mixed media on paper are even more amazing and imaginative. The “Immerse Thyself”, mixed media on paper items, there is the shepherd in red playing the flute, with his flock of lambs in the back drop. There are emerald and jade green swirls to depict the hillocks and trees at the back. The pale beige fire is seen in front. A tempo or “rickshaw” is seen in another painting. The front has pale umber while gold green and blue are seen at the back.
Another picture depicts a tokai-like child in white, with other faces of his family -- merging with the child's nostalgia -- seen at the back. Again there are rotating strokes of leaves and watery mud paths. They form a whirl of a bewildering maze.
“My country is what I know best, and what I wish to depict,” says the artist.
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