Arham's calligraphy plays with familiar idioms

Arham Chowdhury says his works reflect “life's philosophies”.

Arham-Ul-Huq Chowduhury has won the hearts of many with his versatile work -- be it steel sculpture made from the leftover products of the CRP, or the dresses and kurtas designed by him, or even Bonsai or Bangla calligraphy. He is holding a Bangla calligraphy exhibition at Dhaka Art Centre, in Dhanmondi.

Previous exhibitions have proven him to be a young man with facets of knowledge and skills. It is unique that a self-taught painter, who is doing his PhD in Anthropology, should delight art buffs in the manner that he does. He held a show on paintings of masks or faces -- that too was remarkable, and was admired by one and all.

For his tenth exhibition, he went to China and had a good time there -- immersing himself in the ancient and modern Chinese culture. Even though he lost his father recently, he has the spirit to carry on his artistic endeavours. One has seen his calligraphy at the Goethe Institut, and members of the Alliance Francaise know him well too. It was at Alliance Francaise that he had his first creative art exhibition -- with clay furniture and bric-a-brac like lamps, which were often painted over and readily sold. If one saw the paintings that he had done on furniture, one was amazed that this fairly young artist could put paints on wood to create scenes form Ispahan -- featuring horses, princes and princesses along with spring, trees and shrubs -- to impress any art buff.

For his Master's thesis, he had written about doors and windows of old Dhaka. His knowledge on the Hindu-Muslim culture of Bangladesh is remarkable. Ahsan Manzil and the Lalbagh Fort, along with Panamnagar and Rayer Bazar, are places that he knows like the back of his hand. He is knowledgeable about the raids of European pirates through the Buriganga and Sheetalakhya, as also through Calcutta and Potuakhali. The Armenian culture is well known to him, as he has studied it whenever he could. In short, he is a walking library of information on Bangladeshi culture and civilisation.

Arham's calligraphy follows the tradition of Arabic calligraphy, says Rashid Amin, a senior artist. In “Paka aam-e kaker thokor”, the image of a crow pecking on the ripe mango and not on the green one has been articulated through ornate words. In “Chhata diye matha rakha”, a woman uses an umbrella to shelter herself. “These are life's philosophies,” says Arham. They are idioms and phrases and reflect bigger things in life. “Kotha-e hathi paye”: a good word would get you an elephant. “Biral toposhshi” is a cat, which has a saintly look but actually it is a conniving creature.

Arham deals with flora and fauna with pale, immaculate illustrations.