Of decaying time and unexpected incidents

Artists quickly react to any unwanted incidents happening in our daily life, as they are more sensitive than ordinary people. Ratnashwar Sutradhwar is such a sensitive artist, who is conscious of socio-political and contemporary issues. He instantly responded to his remorseful self, depicting unexpected and unwanted incidents over the years on his canvas -- like street accidents, launch sinking, Rana Plaza Tragedy, petrol bomb vandalism, assaults on religious and ethnic minorities, sexual harassment, burnt faces in the hospital, traffic jam and more.

Ratnashwar's first solo exhibition, “Pixel Error”, opened on October 1 at Zainul Gallery-1 of Faculty of Fine Art (FFA), University of Dhaka (DU). The artist selected such subjects and issues to portray his canvas with different media like oil, acrylic and water. A visitor may confer with his feeling of sadness viewing the artworks. The artist tried to capture the remorseful, grim and turmoil times on his canvas, portraying the fearful incidents in many square-shaped pixels. The sheer indifference of the state mechanism has aggregated a collective rage and proved a big failure to tackle such incidents.

Ratnashwar says, “We are living in an era of smart technology with a low resolution self conscience. I have tried to express the socio-political incongruence and unwanted incidents through the pixel. A blurred image of the subject lies underneath my painting.”

In one of his paintings, Ratnashwar depicted various ramifications of Liberation War, along with the haze visage of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as an icon of a charismatic leader and the symbol of cherished Independence.

A blind baul appeared twice on his canvas as a source of his artistic inspiration, as he learnt many things from him (baul), was entertained with his music and got awestruck with his transparent vision and conscience. Besides, the exhibition features several portraits including self-portraits, and landscapes showcasing nor'westers in the rivers.

State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid Bipu inaugurated the exhibition as chief guest while eminent artist Jamal Ahmed and art collector and connoisseur Durjoy Rahman Joy attended as special guest. Nisar Hossain, Dean of FFA, DU presided over the inaugural ceremony. The exhibition, open from 11am to 8pm daily ends on October 7.