I didn’t know much about the contemporary art scene in Bangladesh but decided to attend a lecture given by a prominent Bangladeshi artist, Firoz Mahmud. He explained the history of modern art in a few minutes because unfortunately it is not a long one.
The scene really began to take off in the 1990’s just twenty years after Bandgladesh gained independence from Pakistan in an extremely devastating and destructive war. So, as expected, a lot of contemporary artist’s work employ themes of freedom and independence. Mahmud started mainly as a visual artist (painting and drawing) but he seems to be passionate about and successful in all forms whether that is installations, works on paper, or videos. He likes to experiment with “various mediums,” while “time, place, and condition” are three crucial parts of his practice whether in the studio or not. The artist is also interested in “scale,” specifically playing and experimenting with how scale affects his work.
One instillation project he seemed to be particularly proud of was a color block plane sculpture made of over a million little multicolored beans. Mahmud explained that the beans had a deep symbolism for him; survival. Survival depends on food and in Bangladesh people are not surviving due to a lack of food. The airplanes that were part of his show “War and Conflict” took nine long months to construct and from seeing the photographs, it does not look like an easy job. Other statues the artist created were made of a very different material, fiber glass, but also had to do with the history of Bangladesh, specifically the violent and controversial aspects. He projected photographs of the life size fiber glass freedom fighters he created while explaining, “being from Bangladesh and knowing the history of what has happened here is very important to me,” the artist explains when asked about whether or not he has a specific narrative or opinion that he wants people to understand from his works.
His works on paper deal with the same theme of Bangladesh history and project important historical figures amidst water coloured stained canvases. There is something purposeful, yet candid about his work at the same time. He is a prolific artist, mentioning that he recently created over 266 of the same works on paper. That being said, his work is unique. The artist explains that he is interested in “geometric and pixelated shapes,” piled on top of portraits of prominent Bangladeshi historical figures; through this a collage effect is created which, in my opinion, works well to showcase the multidimensional history of the country. While it is clear that the artist has a point to share he does not force it on his viewers nor does he force it on those who attend lectures given by him. In fact, it took more than a few questions for the artist to explain, “I am a citizen of Bangladesh; I need my art to tell that story.” The artist is represented by Ota fine arts in Japan and based in New York City and Tokyo. He has exhibited in countries all over the world and is definitely a figure to watch.
Yorumlar