Sanctuary in theology and myth
TOWHEED FEROZE

Ronni Ahmed, a young artist detests anything that has to follow a mundane pattern and being a true aesthete he never allows the unimaginative to rule his work. In that line we get his latest work titled, ‘Archaeology of Noah’s Ark’ – indisputably a piece that has novelty written all over it. ‘What is the point in painting if it does not stir,’ is Ronni’s expression and looking at this huge one piece show one cannot but agree.
The exhibition, currently on at the Alliance Francaise has one large canvas covering three walls and the entire piece is like one long eventful journey.
The basis of the work is the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark but as Ronni makes this the main theme it’s the sub themes, the secondary subjects that tend to pique human emotions and inspire contradictory feelings. While Ronni shows us the epic adventure of Noah, he takes us on an extensive journey through the domain of myth, proverbs, superstition and legend. And once the viewer is sucked in, the robotic clamour of urban life is minimised. Do not be taken by the idea of one canvas only, because with the plethora of subjects the mind is never given a break.
In fact, juxtaposed against the theme of the ark, this work delicately opens up the world of fantasy that has been with us for thousands of years.
Myth plays a vital role as Ronni, at regular intervals takes refuge within the colourful lives of Mount Olympus. Unicorn, Centaur, the Gods find place and they provide a curious interlude to the perennial subject of the ark.
But, the attraction in the piece is the sub- themes that cover a lot of our contemporary beliefs. ‘This is a random work involving the ark, theology, proverbs, superstitions and as all these subjects collide to form a literally fantastic aura, in the end it’s reality that is made the villain and pointed as the only core of all hypocrisy,’ said Ronni Ahmed.
He also said, ‘Now, there are two ways to appreciate this work, one is by looking at the images that vary tremendously and the other is by trying to relate these figures to form one whole meaning. Though the former is easy, the latter is unquestionably tough. But, those who are looking for some challenge this piece will not disappoint them’.
The artist has used a lot of colours, especially those with shocking tones and as a result the piece hits the viewer instantly.
Maybe, some of the images are downright bizarre or too magical but the whole idea is to make the viewers feel like he/she is in some wonderland.


Ronni Ahmed in his second solo show
NAUSHAD ALI HUSEIN

Mythoronnia, the ongoing painting exhibition at the Alliance Francaise in Dhaka, at a first glance is nothing more than a bunch of crude forms put together to represent the artist’s deeper self. The exhibition consists of several paintings, sculptures and pieces of installation art. The artist Ronni’s work is highly expressionist, and he does not do intense work with lines or use a lot of colour. The works are all very non-stylised, and at times shows a lack of any special technique.
The most fascinating piece in the collection is a twelve-foot long banner painted on acrylic. This huge work is called After having a great deal of impressionism we are waiting for Mr. Beckett. This is one of his most elaborate works, but again, it seems to be nothing much more than a compilation of crudely drawn forms. With some care it could have been a wonderful piece. Even though Ahmed tries, and often succeeds in expressing his creative thoughts, he still has to go a long way before being called a consummate artist. He has to do a lot of practice to be able to master the ability to produce mature and sophisticated pieces of work.
Another piece with a grandiloquent message is titled Caged friends are living happily and singing Lalon Shah. In this interesting piece Ahmed tries to portray his idea of the newer generations, who he feels, live enclosed and restricted lives due to the bindings of society and ignorance, while singing Lalon’s words of spiritual freedom. Of course, he manages to express this – after all, it is an easy concept to express.
Apart from painting and other attempts at fine arts, Ronni also sings and composes for a local rock band. Despite his inclination to dabble in unconventional and absurd themes, Ronni should focus more on realistic paintings and imagery. It would help improve his skill as a complete artist.
The exhibition started on March 4 and will go on until March 14. It is open on all days from 9am to 12 noon, and 5 pm to 9 pm.


Dynamic Daring Daily

Collage-Kalpo : Workshop organised by Bengal Foundation
RAFI HOSSAIN

Organised by Bengal Foundation and conducted by painter Monirul Islam, a painters’ workshop, Collage-Kalpo, started on July 15 and will conclude today. The event is being held at the rest-house of Bengal Jute Factory at Ford Nagar.
The aim of the workshop is to promote seventeen Bangladeshi artists, some renowned and some very young and promising, and bring them together to work on a common platform. The Collage’s objective is to encourage them to create artworks out of everyday materials. The artists are Hamiduzzaman, Shamshuddoha, Alokesh Ghosh, Md. Yunus, Dilara Begum Jolly, Ronjit Das, Shiddhartha Talukdar, Tarun Ghosh, Nilufar Chaman, Rafi Haque, Roni Ahmed, Shulekha Choudhury, Uttam K. Ray, Tayeba Begum Lipi and Shahjahan Ahmed Bikash.
This is the first time that artist Hamiduzzaman is working on corrugated cardboard. The themes and tones of his work in this workshop are different from his usual oeuvre. Artist Rafi Haque usually does etchings. This is also his first time working on corrugated cardboard. The natural surroundings and ambience of the workshop locale has had an impact on the creative impulse of the artists. Rafi Haque expressed surprise at his own work, “After I had almost completed my work on the first day, I realised that the river flowing by the rest-house had found a place in my work.” Young artist Uttam Kumar Roy has brought in the silence and living forces of nature on to his canvas. His work, completed on the first day, is dark red at the top, like a diminishing sunset, the greenery of ferns in the middle and the imprint of a single human hand at the bottom, as if signifying the existence of the human being within nature. Artist Ranjit Das spoke on how an artist must constantly redefine concepts and perceptions. “When I started off for the workshop I had prepared myself for water colours or working with acrylics. It was only later that I looked at the title of the workshop and realised that we would be working on a collage. I immediately changed my preconceived ideas. What I am doing now is tangentially related to my original conceptualizations but in a different form.”
The workshop focused on the use of grey board. According to Monirul Islam, grey board is a cheap and locally available material. “Now we have to explore ways of making this material durable,” he said. The artists have been working with corrugated cardboard. Local pigments, such as rice ash, organic gums, as well as acrymine colours are being used on the corrugated boards. Monirul Islam in his remark said, “I am pleased to see that our artists are enjoying working with these local materials.”
Bengal Foundation has once again flawlessly organised a memorable event and all the participants including Monirul Islam have expressed their satisfaction and contentment in being a part of this workshop. A few of them felt that it was slightly difficult to produce four artworks within the four days of the workshop. However the majority appreciated the ambience they were working in and felt that because of the beautiful surroundings they could have actually produced more than what was expected of them. The artists were particularly happy to be working in a group comprising of all ages. They could learn about each other’s style of work and techniques and not just the finished products. This they felt creates a special bonding between the painters.
The participants were guided by Monirul Islam when making the collages; contrary to an art camp where there is no instructor. So a number of interesting works, created in their own ingenious styles, but on the same theme, emerged from this workshop. The artworks of this workshop will be on display at Bengal Shilpalaya Gallery quite soon.

Dynamic Daring Daily

The story of Charupith

Hussain Amir Ali explores the events leading up to the formation of this school of art

The exhibition had ended and most of us had returned to the guest house. While some of them were trying to find an empty room with a television, the rest sat back waiting for the food. I was one of those who were in the latter category. Things changed when I met Mokhlesur Rahman, founding member of Charupith, and he soon started talking about the birth of Charupith.
“I was a friend of Shamim (the present principal of Charupith) from the Institute of Fine Arts in Dhaka way back in 1980,” said Mokhlesur.
He remembered Shamim discussing about their future. At that time they had planned to avoid a full-time job once their studies were complete. Shamim had planned to return to Jessore and try to develop the arts there.
“Shamim was deeply affected by the incident that took place in his past,” explained Mokhlesur. Shamim in his childhood took lessons in art from the great SM Sultan. Sultan wanted to open an art institute to teach the children there. But lack of support frustrated the great man and he left Jessore for Dhaka. At this point in time Shamim took up the initiative to complete Sultan’s dream and thus continued his studies in arts.
“One of Shamim’s biggest advantages was that Jessore was his home town and the presence of friends and family was a big help in the development of Charupith,” said Mokhlesur.
In 1983, these aspiring young men organised the first ever exhibition at the Jessore Public Library.
“We had taped the windows with newspapers and had made many such alternations to give the library a gallery look,” reminisces Mokhlesur.
People from all walks of life visited the exhibition and appreciated the efforts of the 23 fine arts students whose works wereexhibited.
In 1985, both Shamim and Mokhlesur graduated and their Masters classes didn’t start till1988. Shamim returned to Jessore and Mokhlesur joined him there.
“For three months, I lived at the house of Shamim’s sister and I worked with Shamim to get Charupith going,” said Mokhlesur.
Mokhlesur had to return to Dhaka as he ran out of money and so had to join a firm to get a regular job. In the meanwhile, Shamim continued with his works; teaching young students.
“Initially these children were taught for free and were also provided with the materials needed,” said Mokhlesur. At that time, there were almost 500 children being taught at the old building of Michael Madhusudon College. There were kids from the streets, slums, flats and bungalows.
“Most of the poorer children stopped coming once they grew of a certain age,” explained Mokhlesur. Their parents didn’t think that highly of arts and preferred their children to help run the family.
“We started charging Tk 10 a month so that people didn’t would stop taking us for granted,” said Mokhlesur. Yet they continued providing the materials to the children.
In 1986, Charupith, who by now had even formed an administrative committee, held the first Baishakhi rally to celebrate the Bengali New Year.
“With the help of its students, Charupith was able to successfully hold the rally which became an annual event for the people of Jessore,” said Mokhlesur.
The students from Charupith studying Bachelors in Dhaka along with Shamim and Mokhlesur, started the Baishakhi trend in Dhaka as well.
Also in 1986, Charupith organised a ‘birthday festival’ for SM Sultan and after his death, this event evolved into a national event, the ‘Sultan Mela.’
Up until 1988, Mokhlesur visited Jessore regularly to help Shamim while Shamim continued with the students.
During his Masters classes, Shamim used to return to Jessore every weekend and look after the students. And if it wasn’t possible for him to visit Jessore on certain weekends, then the senior students used to look after the junior kids.
Charupith gained popularity for its contribution to arts in Jessore. Meanwhile, back in Dhaka, Mokhlesur opened his own firm named Spectrum. The going was tough for both Shamim and Mokhlesur as they had to study and also look after their respective works.
Amidst all this, the two finally graduated in 1992 and Shamim returned to Jessore while Mokhlesur worked on his firm.
Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of a tired Shamim who was busy clearing up at the gallery. As dinner was being served, the two of them gave me a brief note of all that happened after completing their Masters.
“In 1994, the government provided us with a land at Munshi Meherullah Road,” said Shamim. Gradually, the institute was constructed and this year they completed the gallery. There are a living quarter and a library in the building that was opened for art research in 2001.
The days passed on and in 1998 Shamim were awarded with a fellowship by Oshoka Foundation in USA for his works with Charupith.
“Part of this money was used for improvements in Charupith while the rest was used much later to award the first fellowship to Rajiuddin Chowdhury in 2000,” said Shamim.
After the fellowship ended in 2001, an exhibition was held at Zainul Gallery in Dhaka. With the success of this fellowship, Mokhlesur helped provide for the second fellowship in 2001 to Rashid Amin. Amin’s exhibition was held at Gallery 21 in Dhanmondi in 2002.
“This was a bigger success than the earlier one,” said Mokhlesur.
In 2001, Shamim and Mokhlesur ventured in yet another project. This time they planned to set the foundation for the first art college in Jessore.
“We talked to the DC and also with a few principals from different art colleges elsewhere,” said Shamim. And at the Baishakhi rally, it was publicly declared that an art college was soon to b built in Jessore.
The two then set the curriculum according to the national board and submitted the whole plan to the DC. From there on, an administrative board for the college was formed while teachers were appointed, and the SM Sultan Fine Arts College began its journey in 2003 under the administration of Nargis Begum.
“We did not want to get directly involved with the college but just wanted to help set the base for the college to go ahead,” explained Mokhlesur. Nurturing Charupith and turning it into a major art research institute in that region was on the top of the agenda for both these men, and so, the reins of the college were handed over to someone else.
“Now, with the inauguration of the gallery, Charupith completed the first twenty years of its existence,” said Shamim.
“Now we have to plan for the next twenty years and start working,” smiled Mokhlesur.
Plans for the near future are to bring in more resources to the library along with some technological advancement at the institute. Apart from that, Charupith is also planning to award their third fellowship as soon as the finances are arranged.
“We also want to invite artists and researchers from here and abroad to give lectures on arts to help the students here,” said Shamim. They also plan to screen recorded seminars organised elsewhere in the country and a couple of films as well.
Shamim also revealed that they want to pass on the art of making festoons to the coming generation.
“Once we are gone, there should be others to keep the legacy going and so we should start taking preparations for it from now,” he said.
The watch on Mokhlesur’s wrist beeped at the stroke of 11 and I realised how an hour flew by! The tantalising smell of the biryani was making me lose my patience. By this time, Shamim and Mokhlesur had gone in their respective rooms while the hungry rats in my stomach quieted down when I was summoned for dinner.