Pleasing Forms and Textured
Grounds
Mustafa
Zaman
Alone,
mixed media on paper.
Most
of the works of Artist Iftikhar Ahmed thrive in textures
and vivid colours. He also reveals a tendency to build his
images around structures that often take their cue from
architectural parts. There seems to be a tug between the
two tendencies. One enforces the artist to give into the
texture and colour-laden pictorial solutions and the other
inspires him to bring the structures in sharp focus.
There
is also the traditional rift in the history of Modern art
between a colourist and a structure-prone artist. Iftekhar
stands in between the two.
The artist who is currently residing in Paris on a scholarship,
came back to enjoy a break and to have his 11th solo at
Shilpangan.
This
exhibition has caught the imagination of many architects
of Dhaka. Aminul Ehsan, a working architect, even penned
a review on the artist in the Daily Prothom Alo, where he
wrote that the artist strives to find a space beyond the
physical dimension. Although any image that is referred
to as art takes us beyond reality. In Bangladesh it is most
apparent in Iftekhar's work claim the young architect.
He puts
the physical elements that almost look like slabs, pillars,
walls along with meandering brush strokes, in the vein of
Monirul Islam, to set off his composition. Textures come
in to bail him out of the problem of flatness. The ripples
that form as he applies his colours in one particular area
or on the background using a roller are the tactile effects
that seem something akin to what G.S. Kabir invented in
the late 80s.
Life
in a cage, oil on paper.
Whatever
the responses of the viewers to the cannily composed works
on paper by this forty plus artist (that are mostly done
with oil) are, Bablu, a former student of the Institute
of the Fine Arts is frank about the fact that his works
produce a sense of déjà vu.
Though
reminiscent of many other artists, Iftekhar seems to want
to break free of what bounds him, and the elements of his
art pieces seem to want to disjoint themselves from the
harmonious coexistance that is his composition.
The
boldness is visible, so is the resolve to make his signature
mark. Perhaps the realisation that his is the generation
that is trying to rid itself of the burden of Kibria's legacy.
Nostalgia,
mixed media on paper.
The
artist puts a spin on abstraction in many a work. Often
they seem like a cosmetic job. In a few works, the artist
renounces the ideas abstraction is based on. These works,
where horses and humans figure, are testimony to the artist's
effort to invent his own language, yet they are also indicators
of his duel tendency.
The
exhibition titled Searching Space was held from 10 to 25
October at the Gallery Shilpangan. It will travel to Paris.
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