Printmaking in Progress

The workshop.

Printmaking – a process that utilises etching, lithography, woodcut etc. to transfer images into paper – is past its industrial heyday. At present, it enjoys an afterlife as a medium of art. It has often been pegged as a democratic medium as its basic premise is to prepare a 'plate' in order to reproduce an image in the multiples – at times even exceeding a few hundreds, depending on the artist's intention and the quality of the image inscribed on the plate. The very process enables an 'original print', to use the printmakers' lingo, to enjoy wider circulation, which is never possible in other mediums. Though its application in the fine arts context had long since occupied a special niche, the art-loving public in Bangladesh is yet to wake up to its intricacies and diverse application. The very concept of pulling out 'multiple original prints' still catches most gallery-goers off-guard.

Jafar Iqbal, Faces, etching and aquatint, 36x54cm, 2013.

Alamgir Huq, whose name seems eternally attached to 'etching and aquatint', one of many printmaking methods that uses metal plates, preferably of brass or zinc, to develop an image, has recently taught a workshop in Dhaka courtesy of the Shunno Art Space at Lalmatia. Resident in Toronto, Canada, he turned out to be one of the artists whose devotion to the medium he was trained in still seems unremitting.

Huq completed his Master's from the Department of Printmaking, Institute of Fine Art (now, Faculty of Fine Art, Dhaka University) in 1979 and became known for his aesthetically pleasing formalist etchings – works that helped him launch a career on a fairly firm footing. He migrated to Canada in the early 1990s, and pursued his passion for etching with the same zest and perseverance he was once known for amongst his peers. His recent sojourn in the country of his birth saw him busily transferring the knowledge of acid-free etching – which he refers to as 'nontoxic printmaking'.  The locus of such a novel transference -- the Shunno Art Space, has become the hub of printmaking in the last five or so years. It was responsible for many-pronged activities centering on the medium. Its very first attempt was aimed at reruns of a bulk of prints from plates that dated back to the early 70s and the 80s; and the plates belonged to none other than the veteran artist Murtaja Baseer who was all set to have an exhibition of his etchings he had done throughout his career.  A total of 41 plates were restored to ensure quality printing; and about two thousand prints were pulled including proofs and prints that went into the final editions.

Nasim Ahmed Nadvi, Window, etching and aquatint,
36x54cm, 2013.

After about a year of meticulous labouring the works were all completed before a major showcasing at Kaya on August 17, 2007, to mark Baseer's 75th birthday.

As they kept devising programmes aimed at the fledgling talents of a nondescript yet thriving art scene of Dhaka, in 2009, Shunno embarked on a material technique workshop where art students had the chance to learn hands on the advanced techniques of etching and aquatint. The year 2011 saw the publication of a portfolio of prints containing the yields from a soft ground workshop where mainstream artists participated. Complete with twenty fine etching prints by twenty major artists of the country, amongst whom Qayauum Chowdhury, RafiqunNabi and Shahabuddin Ahmed left their signature inscription into their respective pieces, was a successful production that houses works generated from painters dabbling spontaneously into printmaking.  Shunno also mounted two exhibitions – one in 2011 at Izumi, Dhaka, and the other in 2012, in New York – of Bangladeshi prints as part of their promotional drive.

Mustafa Zaman, Double Figure and Absent Mind, etching
and aquatint, 36x54cm, 2013.

In the context of interventions on many levels to revitalize the art scene, the recent workshop seemed keyed to widening of the field of possibilities and making this democratic medium less intricate. Alamgir Huq, one who pioneered in introducing non-acidic process in this clime, simply wanted to scale down the danger that acid bath poses to the etchers' health. With non-acidic solution introduced to artists interested in etching, biting lines and images into the metal plate becomes hassle-free. The weeklong workshop entitled 'Six: One', was launched on March 19, was his third among three workshops he has taught in Bangladesh. The first was an inaugural workshop at the Safiuddin Ahmed Studio of Bengal Foundation, and the second at the Faculty of Fine Art, Chittagong University.

Ronni Ahmmed, Relics of a Space Travelers Summer
House, etching, 36x54cm, 2013.

Traditional methods of etching usually involves a lot of semi-dangerous juggling between toxic materials and laborious processes. Etching itself requires an acid bath – where the plate is to be immersed to get the desired result after careful sequencing of 'bite' times. Huq's acid-free etching – one that uses blue stone and salt on aluminum and/or zinc plate – can contribute to the further democratisation of this method.

Meanwhile Shunno Art Space, run by Jafar Iqbal, who, this time round, was keen to let six artists working in various other disciplines to learn firsthand the new method, is set to present the yields of Six: One at the open studio, beginning from June 8. The exhibition will run for one week.

For more information, check out at – studioshunno.com

Dewan Mizan, Metamorphosis, etching and aquatint, 36x54cm, 2013.