Youth
5 days ago

Beyond canvas and sculpture

A tribute to artists at Aloki Gallery

A young girl stands before the artwork presented during The Story of Art event at Aloki Gallery in Dhaka recently
A young girl stands before the artwork presented during The Story of Art event at Aloki Gallery in Dhaka recently

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Aloki Greenhouse Gallery seems to perfectly blend with the vibrant and eye-catchy variety of paintings by veteran artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma or the solidity and mesmerisation present in the art of Rafiqun Nabi or the fulfillingness in the creations of Monirul Islam. In broad daylight, the event powered by Berger, the illustrious brand providing paint products, shines luminously as sunlight pierces through the Gallery's glass doors and captures a weight in the darker times of the night. Couples wearing matching outfits, family dates, children enjoying their time in the corners, female visitors wearing sharee and swift clicks in smartphones, and chairs kept at the Gallery for 'adda' or chatter and restmade it a go for all.

 

Hosting sculptures and paintings of veteran artists such as Mohammad Eunus, Shahid Kabir, and Jamal Ahmed and celebrates female creative figures like Farida Zaman, Rokeya Sultana, Kuhu Plamondon, and Ivy Zaman. Aloki Gallery looked even mystically alluring, combined with the warmth of fried cauliflower, chicken patties, and hot cup of coffee offered to the guests in the evening by Musa Kabir Ripon, the head of event management for the programme. Ummey Mabruka, a postgraduate from the Fine Arts department at Jagannath University, helps customers understand sculptures and artworks and makes deciding which items to purchase more manageable.

Musa Kabir Ripon thinks of the event as a success as it celebrates the value of things, 'The process of selling intellectual property, like paintings or sculptures, is a bit unusual. One cannot simply treat it entirely like a commercial thing.' He finds the charitable side of the event joyful, 'Adiba Hussain Apu's father, Syed Makbul Hossain, was a humanitarian, freedom fighter and an elected leader. He had schools built in Sylhet. A portion of the profit generated by the artworks sold will be donated to the benefits of the schools,' he added. Inside Aloki, it is warm in the presence of daylight and poetic in the nighttime with yellow bottom lights reflecting off the flyers screaming 'Dhaka storytellers presents the story of art - immerse in the extraordinary' and the photographs, sometimes names of the 28 participating artists: Mohammad Iqbal, Anisuzzaman, Mukti Bhowmik, A H Dhali Tomal, Azmeer Hossain, Shyamal Sarker, Tejosh Halder Josh, Shahanoor Mamun, Hasura Akter Rumky, Asma Akber, Sheikh Afzal Hussain, Rafiqun Nabi, Monirul Islam, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Abdus Shakoor Shah, Shahid Kabir, Shahabuddin Ahmed, Farida Zaman, Jamal Ahmed, Muniruzzaman, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Mohammad Eunus, Kuhu Plamondon, Ranjit Das, Rokeya Sultana, Ivy Zaman, Ahmed Shamsuddoha, and Vinita Karim. Lasting for a week, the event garnered art lovers' warmth across the city.

Tahseen, an artist and architecture student, thinks of artists as poets, 'I love it when someone visits my creations and forms opinions or perceptions. An artist will create something, and individuals will, expectedly, form discrepant opinions of that.'

 

 

Art Talk with veteran and leading artist and professor Rafiqun Nabi was one of the highlights of the week-long event held in Dhaka.

Rafiqun Nabi, nicknamed Ranabi, amongst the art-knowing society in Bangladesh, is one of his kind but rarely fails to deny his excellence as an artist. He said, “I was lucky to become an artist as my family supported me wholeheartedly. I could focus on my creativity and nurture it from a young age. As a teenager, I used to get involved in wall magazines, cartoons, and paintings. Much of my artist streak is genetically borrowed by me from my father, who returned home after his day-long work as a police officer and sat down regularly to paint.” Ranabi, as a celebrated artist, is quite incapable of taking the blame for being a star artist in the country but capable of passing the blame onto his predecessors: Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin and Quamrul Hassan, the likes who substantially shaped the artist entity in the country. "Alongside knowing how to paint or draw, it is significant for an artist to feel, perceive, observe, and be passionate about expressing emotions or ideas through paintings or art," said Ranabi in response to his advice for the young generation of artists, painters or creative workers.

Rafiqun Nabi extends his opinions to the passion of amateurs: “They have the zeal to pursue art or painting as an expression to carry on as a regular activity, that is worth pointing to.” Ranabi thinks it is essential for an artist to observe and be mindful; he says, “Chokh Kaan Khola Rakhte Hobe (Keep your eyes and your ears open to observations around you).”

Dhaka Storytellers, an initiative by the founding committee of Tampaco Foils Ltd, is concerned with catering to art and celebrating artists and creative minds like sculptors in the country. Adiba Hussain, a co-founder of Dhaka Storytellers, joyfully admits the need for such events in the country, “Experiencing art and craft is opposite to the culture we are currently going through, a fast-paced one lacking the emotion and reverence.” “We are doing it for charity,” Adiba Hussain exclaims her purpose of hosting such events. "We have Ranabi, Monirul Islam, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Shahabuddin Ahmed, so I believe the event will be impactful and demanding of reverence.”

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