Maksuda Iqbal Nipa's poetic vision in painting

Cosmos Books has published a book titled “Maksuda Iqbal Nipa: Episodes of Her Gaze,” a retrospective on the career so far of the Bangladeshi painter. 

For many years painter Maksuda Iqbal Nipa has been portraying diverse aspects of nature through her unique abstract abstractions. The USP of Nipa's works remains in the pigments and its fine treatment on the surface of the canvas. Using vibrant colours, Nipa delineates the harmony of nature. In her words, she has acquired the style of presenting serenity of nature while doing her ME in Fine Arts (Painting) at Aichi University of Education, Japan.

“I use different layers of colours in my oil painting, which gives an expression of different elements of nature. I've been doing a lot of experimentation to achieve mastery in the technique,” said Nipa.

As an incessant voyager to the aesthetic lane of art, Nipa has captured the beauty of nature, portrayed the multifarious aspects of human relationships and articulated the ecstasy of eternity in her paintings. The colour of nature gracefully serenades the forms and motifs in her search for solitude, introspection and contemplation. 

Delicate lines, impressionable brush-strokes, lurid colours are evident features of Nipa's paintings. Metaphors play in rhythm in her mind-blowing paintings where profound droplets and various strewn forms are visible. Every line, dot, sprinkle and vibrant colours on Nipa's canvas radiate various insightful moods, melodies and feelings.

The lyrical surge of sensitivity coupled with a nuance of abstract expressionism builds up a panoramic view in her paintings where exquisite textures evoke fantasy and inner sensitivity. Nipa's canvases are bountiful in abstract images. Thick and shimmering colours create volume and perspective in a poetic way.

A reflective and resourceful painter, Nipa has created an artistic hallmark of her own. The most momentous aspect in her works is colours with which she loves to experiment with. She applies colour directly, piling up thick layers on the canvas. The layers provide a distinctive touch to her work and that is why her canvas carries an individual signature. Over the years, Nipa has developed this technique, an expensive and time-consuming one, requiring immense effort and devotion.

The book contains nine authoritative reviews on Nipa's works by eminent art critics of both home and abroad. The back page of the book contains three important comments: They are:

“Nipa's work resonates with me because it brooks no boundaries or borders. It is driven totally by the mind's eye and what is chooses to see, for beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” writes Emmy and Oscar winner Dr Jim Frazier.

“Nipa's work evokes shades of Monet,” writes Dominique Stal, an art expert, Paris.

“The analogues transformation of temperament, colour, and the sound of light give structure to space and time with infinitesimal sensations. Nipa's Private colour codes are her motifs of insight gazing from the visible to the under lying entities,” writes art critique Javed Jalil.

In a nutshell, Maksuda Iqbal Nipa's paintings cannot be grasped at a glance and require an active engagement from the viewer.