Exhibition
Nupur's promising swirls
Fayza Haq
Yasmin Jahan Nupur's exhibition, "Breakfast news" opened at Alliance Francaise on February 3. This young artist, with her 15 large acrylic on canvas creations, has a remarkable vision indeed, for one so young. With a surrealistic approach, she brings in the confusion, uncertainty, fear and horror of modern existence, specially seen locally. Her exhibit is a protest against the daily mishaps -- kidnapping, murder and rape -- that we find presented in the pages of the dailies, as we begin our day with a cup of tea. Death due to bombing, stampede, arson, and accidents is the rule of the day, as she sees it, and this is what she focuses on her canvas in her powerful symbols. Her protest is against the socio-economic and political injustice, which are reflected in the daily news, whether it be in the newspaper or morning TV. "We live in the midst of chaos and death in a perpetual state of denial when we declare that 'God is in heaven and all's well with the world,' " Nupur says. It is amazing how we coolly have our breakfast and read pages of news on mishaps in our country and the world over, she says. We've got used to blood and bullets, as a matter of routine, she says. In one of the paintings, Uncertain fate Nupur has a figure with formal western clothes, with a bandaged face. Around the figure float symbols of progress. "We try to be oblivious to the dangers around us. We're so lost in the stampede for progress that we're in fear of losing our cultural roots." This is done in loud, striking colours, that catch the eye like black, vermilion and gold. Once again, in Suicidal tendencies, we see a circle of paper jet-planes forming a halo around a man, who points a pistol to his head. This again speaks of the negative attitudes of our present society. Try to fly brings in a personal desire and presents a figure holding on to another with thongs. The second figure is also that of a woman and delineates the artist's desire to soar above the people around her, with their petty sense of values. King of dreams depicts a lazy, carefree ruler, with peacock feathers on his crown, depicted as sitting idly and lazily. Dark figures of suffering mankind jostle around him but have little effect on him. This reflects chaos, confusion and turmoil of the common man. Death of an angel brings in the painful scene of a maligned innocent, with no rescue in sight. Death, destruction and pervading gloom are the messages of also the other surrealistic paintings like Forbidden thoughts, Therapy and Showcase that bring in depictions of rape, torment, unmitigated fear, and untimely deaths. Nupur's teachers include Mansurul Karim, Abul Masur and Dhali Al Mamun. Her mentor was Salvador Dali, although she says she has tried to create images of her own. She has taken part in 17 joint ventures and seven workshops in Chittagong and Dhaka. She has done her MFA in 2004 from Chittagong.
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Selected works by the artist, (bottom) King of Dreams |
