Bangladesh Celebrates Poet Jasimuddin's Birth Centennial
VognoDuut 197
Abdus Shakoor talks about his exhibition at Shilpakala Academy
Fayza Haq
Abdus Shakoor Shah, talking about his ongoing exhibition said, "It was Shubir
Chowdhury of the Shilpakala Academy who decided the subject. I spent three
months over it. There is some experimentation here for I had to deal with
Jasimuddin's 'Shojon Badhiar Ghat' and 'Nakshi Kanthar Math' as there are
characters here like the go between in a marriage and protagonists like Dulali
and Sujon and their love affairs. There is the presentation of the 'lathial'
and other important personalities called Saju and Rupa. The subject has
differed somewhat while I used water, acrylic and oil as before. Thus it is the
composition which has changed from before such as when I've put my subjects in
a round circle. I did this to bring a variation in my work. However, the
vastness of the poems is such that I felt I could not do justice to them in the
short time given to me. It would require about seven years to treat the subject
adequately. I have treated the subjects briefly and with the help of symbols."
Asked to elaborate on his symbols, Shakoor said, "I have presented the ways the
poetry has described the girls such as with dark skin but inimitable beauty,
the birds have come in standing for freedom, the thatched huts are there with
banana trees standing for peace and harmony. The influence of older relatives
like uncles and aunts have come in to show strong family bonds that characters
like Saju and Rupa enjoyed in their lives and which is there even today in
rural existence. The plot of 'Nakshi Kanthar Math' however is a vast canvas
that requires at least a year from an artist like myself." Speaking his
treatment of his subjects, Shakoor said, " 'Nakshi Kanthar Math' deals mostly
with love affairs. It brings in the setting of a vast area, which I've been
unable to bring in. Saju for instance is seen speaking with her father
discussing her love and marriage. Again, in 'Sujon Badiar Ghat' there are
important characters like Dulali and her friend talking together which I've
delineated in a red circle along with leaves and birds. I've used black and
blue to bring in the complexion of the bronzed beauties in the villages."
Touching on how he formulated his particular style, Shakoor said, "For six
years now I've been bringing in the impact of folk art in my work. I did work
of that type at times before but I did not have it uppermost in my mind that I
should reflect Bangladesh, its language and its culture in my work. While
working on this particular theme of Jasimuddin's poetry I've had the fear that
the work might be illustrative which I didn't want. In order to bring in the
quality of painting I've maintained my old style keeping in mind the surface
and the composition. As for the lettering it is a part of the poems that the
paintings are about. I do not consider it as calligraphy as in that one plays
with the shapes of the lettering, and forms designs and motifs with them. The
writing, however, is an integral part of the composition of the paintings.
Calligraphy, on its own, can be an art by itself." Continuing about the use of
flat colours with the contrasting blues and reds, the delineation of the
clothes and jewellery, Shakoor said, "I want the viewer to straight away say
that he is viewing a Bangladeshi work when he/she sees my painting. I want to
maintain my Asian identity and revel in the flat surfaces. The colours are
bright while the heroes and heroines are black or blue or even brown and gray.
I've been influenced by the works of Jamini Roy, Quamrul Hassan, Qayyum
Chowdhury and Rashid Chowdhury. My teacher in India, K G Subramaniam also
painted in this flat surface style. I chose folk art for my work by an incident
in my life. "My painting won a prize in Japan in 1991 when I was dealing with
the problems of the third world countries. I had used four entries with motifs
taken from the 'shital pati', and out of 22,000 five countries won the prizes..
I was basically influenced by the Bengal School of Art but I did not use any
religious overtures. I've tried to present my human figures and the
accompanying motifs of birds, fish, animals and flowers in the simplest
possible way. There are six canvases and 34 drawings and paintings on paper.
Abdus Shakoor has had ten solo exhibits and has participated in over 25
international and national exhibitions in India, Italy, France, Russia, UK,
Japan, Denmark, Czech Republic, Brazil and Bangladesh. He has won nine awards
including the Best Prize at the Lalitkala Academy, Gujrat, India in 1977. He is
the head of the department of the Crafts, Institute of Fine Arts, DU.