<i>Fokhrul's sweeping strokes and windswept landscapes</i>

Artworks by Md. Fokhrul Islam

Md. Fokhrul Islam's ongoing exhibition Image at Gallery Shomotot presents the rain drenched Bangladesh scenes in monochrome colours. The landscapes are more in the mind of the artist rather than what the viewer may readily see -- as the images are interpreted in an abstract manner. Those who go in for lyricism and romanticism, will find the sweeps and dribbles quite fascinating. The economic use of colours, using only mustard yellow, sooty black and pristine white with simple, minute motifs, are both eye-catching and awe-inspiring.
The energy, restrained and disciplined, which go into the formation of the highly imaginative paintings, makes one intrigued. Fokhrul says, “When I create, I don't try to flaunt my skills. For me, painting or creating an art work is the simplest way to express my feelings and emotions.” Pools of water with blossoms, moonlit skies, dark forests with clumps of flora and hidden fauna as well as urban high-rise are grist to the mill for Fokhrul.
Fokhrul does not depict the obvious landscape only -- but stirs the imagination with his mysterious “seed bursts, spots, rips, splinters and gashes”, as Salwat Ali, a Pakistani art critique puts it. One may think of his paintings, done in oil on paper as pinpricks, which recalls both pain and ecstasy. Along with the poise and calm of sleepy nature, one also finds storms, cyclones and floods spelling death and destruction.
His haunting images and deserted landscapes are both aesthetic and intellectual. Through the pictures we can trace man's fateful journey through life. His thought-provoking experimentations are striking even when he goes on to depict objects like the pendulum.
The artist goes in for the universal rather than the particular and local. As he lays on his jet and sooty colours of printing press ink, with mustard oil he colours with pulsating waves with geometric precision and inimitable exactitude. He proves, without doubt, what Patrizia Guiotto of Italy says of making successful paintings with minimal colours. Many of his European critiques have admired his sensitive and emotional intensity.
Fokhrul Islam has exhibited in India, Europe, Japan and Bangladesh with tremendous success, although he is an introvert and cares little for official acclaims.
The exhibition ends on November 29.