Saleem's cerebral creations

Paintings by the artist.

“My favourite theme is nature, which is an infinite source of wonder and beauty. It is static and at the same time constantly changing. I feel that nature around us is not always bright and vivid, so I consciously depict it in bold colours.
“When I draw a piece of nature, I experience marvel and anxiety, curiosity and eagerness, hope and fear -- all coming together in a forceful explosion,” said noted Bangladeshi expatriate painter Khurshid Alam Saleem. His latest solo painting exhibition is now on at Shilpangan Contemporary Art Gallery, Dhanmondi, in Dhaka.
The painter has drawn inspiration from nature and its various aspects. All of his paintings have the same title, “Image of Nature”. The artist explores himself through nature.
Saleem's abstract compositions have a salient impact with their vivacious, roughly geometric spaces and dissimilarity between uneven texture and bold colours. Strong brushstrokes and colour arrangement characterise the highly abstract images.
Saleem regards pure colour as the most significant means to articulate his feelings and sensitivity. He applies his colours meticulously, in thick layers, and enhances the textural intensity. The painter is a consummate colourist, articulating his mastery in a glowing yet subdued range of emerald green, bright yellow, purple, violet, transcendent blues, burning crimson, soothing sapphire and more. Looking intimately, from various angles, one realises that most of his works explore the layer of colours and their simplistic reflection of nature.
Saleem, a workaholic and thinking artist, keeps creating the offbeat with exceptional improvisation and élan. His works give the viewer a touch of the cerebral, and help contemplate about a range of themes (mystifying nature and various aspects of human psychology) where one can delve into mysticism and spirituality. His paintings also denote many modern characteristics. Geometric patterns, unusual shapes and lines effortlessly mingle in his works. Some of his canvases are occupied by collages and different types of elements as a part of his continuous experimentation. Most of his paintings also demonstrate columns, long and short bars, oval and round shapes. Anticipation, longing, imaginings and nightmares -- these feelings and experiences have been evoked with passion. He allows all these elements to frequent his canvases in various symbolic configurations.
Born in 1951 in Mymensingh, Saleem graduated in drawing and painting from the Institute of Fine Arts (now Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka). He took a special course in advanced colour print at the Department of Art and Art Education, New York University. He has held several solo and group exhibitions in different parts of the world and has received a number of prestigious awards. Saleem was awarded Olympic medal and torch as an invited artist from the US at the Beijing Olympic 2008.
The exhibition will continue till November 30.