Samarjit Roy Choudhury: Recreating childhood

Samarjit Roy Choudhury is a name in the country's art scene that needs no introduction. His unique approach to developing a visual dialogue between simplified, nearly abstract language and motifs from the country's rural and traditional roots is one of the most notable features of his work.

At the opening of his solo exhibition, “Montage”, at the Bengal Gallery on September 6, Professor Nazrul Islam spoke of how Qayyum Chowdhury and Samarjit Roy Choudhury taught at the Arts College together. “He developed his own romantic style later on — replete with kites, birds and buntings,” Islam said.  The colours were buoyant as he was young at heart. When teaching at Santa Mariam he created an ideal atmosphere for painter, Islam said.

The main speaker of the evening, Qayyum Chowdhury noted that Samarjit wore bright russet coloured bush shirts even in his late 70s. “He was a student of graphic design and contributed greatly with his beautiful floral work. He taught with dedication,” Qayyum said. “He looked after the details of the department so that someone like himself was free to get on with own work. He depicted life in Old Dhaka with a unique combination of thick and thin lines. His images are mostly in acrylic. His present exhibition is more powerful than previous ones,” Qayyum added.

Samarjit Roy also spoke to The Daily Star on the occasion, about various facets of his work.

Tell us about the forms and style you've worked on in this exhibition.

Samarjit Roy Choudhury: I experience boredom with monotonous work. I have a style of my own. I use circles, rectangles, squares and so on.  I consider these as part of the environment. The rectangles and triangles are not part of Cubism of Picasso and Braque. They are part of the figures I present. My colour dimensions go outside Cubism. Squares and rectangles are scattered throughout my work. In my latest work vertical lines play an important role.

How do you picturise your childhood, and how do you reflect them in your work?

Samarjit Roy Choudhury: There are buntings. Of course I've learnt drawing but there is the naiveté of childlike drawings at times. I bring in the use of loud, gay colours for instance. Children catch fish and fly kites. Portraying games is important for delineating them in my depictions. These factors are found in an abstract way. When you see squares in my paintings they often stand for kites. Without circles, squares and triangles, one cannot proceed with anything in drawings. A viewer may interpret the square as a form of beautification. This could be a cloud. In this way, my work stands for my contented and blissful childhood. I also keep boats in my work, which represent the water vessels used by Freedom Fighters during the Liberation War. Thus my youth mingles with the days of the War.

Behind the drawing in the woodcut are my childhood days. The lines are put in a messy manner, as if some blind person was at work. I have added to this carefully; I rectified this and made a form. I was fond of birds in my childhood. I found these flying creatures all around me in the wilderness of the forest where I wandered and played at will. I used to keep them as pets in cages. I fed them and bathed them. I cared for them, in short. At times I brought down birds with my catapult. I did not quite realise, as a child, what I was doing. I avoided these with time. I like birds even now. They are a part of the natural environment that soothes us and lends harmony.

Fishing with poles was another element that was dear to me in my carefree days of youth. I had no responsibility and my days then were full of harmony and peace. They were my golden days. There are bamboo trees in my work. I cannot remove them, try as I might. They are an inseparable part of my memory.

Why do you use so much of red and green?

Samarjit Roy Choudhury: Bangladesh is green to me, as far as I can see of this flat river-washed land. This is 'Ruposhi' (beautiful) Bangla — it has so much of 'roop' (beauty) in it – with its six seasons.  There are so many colours and forms in the seasons. If you analyse it, you will find all the seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter. The wet rainy season, dry and cold blasts are there. If the sun is hiding due to the mist, it feels like snow. My paintings are not realistic like photography, and I don't expect them to be. I am a person who loves his idyllic childhood days, and tries to capture them in his work.

I want my work to be different. To develop a style of your own is not easy. I have worked on paper and on canvas. There are 71 pieces in this present exhibit in the Bengal Gallery. On paper there are 17 watercolours. There are woodcuts which I have done in Cosmos and Shilpakala Academy. The rest are in acrylic.

“Montage” continues till September 22, and is open from 12 noon to 8pm every day.