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Exhibition

Lyricism from home and abroad

Md. Muniruzzaman's exhibition at Muscat, Oman

FAYZA HAQ
MUNIRUZZAMAN who had been to Oman in 1997 on the invitation of the Bangladesh Ambassador at Oman, Maj. General Amin Ahmed Chowdhury, had gone with a team which included the artists Mustafa Manwar, Rafiqun Nabi and the photographer Noazesh Ahmed. The had held a group exhibtion for seven days and had found encouragement and appreciation from the Omani Society for Fine Arts, who had organized the show as well as the viewers. This was the first such foreign exhibit at Oman.
Muniruzzaman says, "With the memories of my visit to Oman I did some paintings and combined those with with typical Bangladeshi scenes. I am related to Ambassador Chowdhury who once again invited me to come over to showcase my paintings. This took place from 2nd April to 7th April and it was called 'Landscapes from Oman and Bangladesh.' I had taken 12 Bangladeshi scenes and 12 delineating Oman scenes. I did eight more having arrived at Oman.
" Also, I held a workshop with six young Omani fine arts students teaching them water colour in the outdoor areas. This was for a week. The Oman economy is so good that the Muscat appeared like an exotic and clean flower vase. However they lacked behind in the world of fine arts as they have no academy there to guide or instruct them. Their Society for Fine Arts is the only source through which they have some learning in that area. Our ambassador told them that they needed a proper school or coaching centre with an adequate syllabus or they cannot be accomplished artists. The artists are weak in drawing and
each one goes his own way with abstracts or realism in a haphazard way. They lack the grooming that the students get say in Bangladesh even though participate regularly in our Asian Biennales. They have become artists through their individual efforts and not though any academic training. Sometimes they go overseas and get training for about three moths and this is the extent of their
formal education in fine arts.
"I was satisfied with my exhibition this time as there were many viewers and I made adequate sale of my paintings. The ten paintings sold was a record for Oman which does not have a tradition of art appreciation. These works were both in oil and water-colour. In Bangladesh, in comparison, the young artists are far more advanced in their education and their regular
experimentation. We may not be a rich country but we have progressed considerably in the field of fine arts."
Talking about his own entry into the field of fine arts, Muniruzzaman says," The first person who inspired me was my mother, who id a lot of intricate embroidery and encouraged me enormously. My grandfather was a 'puti' singer in the folk tradition and this too gave me an impetus. My youth was in Barisal before I came to study at the Fine Arts Institute at DU and did my masters from there. Although I have not studied abroad I have gone overseas with my paintings as to UK, Russia, India , Japan and Nepal and studied the works there. I have five awards including a Japan international award and a United Nation Centre (Bangladesh)'s award."
"River Padma" is about Bangladesh and we see the river flowing in sweeps of blue and white below a mauve sky. Some trees and land have been brought in miniscule manner in the backdrop while in the forefront is the silvery and burnt sienna shore with some green slopes to break the monotony.
"Landscape" shows Bangladeshi cows of different hues -- black, brown and white-grazing in peace with the flowing and winding river behind and between them and shrubs of different plants and grass patches intermingling with the flat landscape. Gathering purple clouds add more colour to the composition.
"Boat" from Bangladesh is a dramatic and idyllic creation of a boat that has been grounded. It is outlined with black and brown while gold like flecks form the covered area. The reflection on the water in brown , gray and mauve which match the deepening indigo sky make the painting striking indeed.
The mustard field , which
once again depicts Bangladesh, has a mass of yellow and gold with the figures of a mother and a child crossing the field. Emerald tints are brought in the forefront while a clear blue sky with a few billowy clouds and green clumps of tree tops are brought at the back.
"Rest" from his homeland brings an exquisite delineation of boats tied to the shore with an angry and ominous splash of
indigo high up in the sky. The poles of the boats are smudged vermilion, burnt-sienna, blue while the bodies of the boats are brown, blue and red along with white with bars.
From Oman comes a landscape with a goat in brown and white standing against bleached white sand and tiny palm trees in the background. Hills in brown and gray have been brought in along with a
pale blue-gray sky. The picture evokes space and loneliness.
"Childhood", based in Oman, brings in a bending figure of a woman in red , seen from the back with sweeps of lyrical gray and green along with indigo forming rocks, trees the sky and sweeps of sand.
"Jabrin Fort" is a red depiction of an old fort lined with trees with red sand in front and a clear sky with a few white clouds at the back. This brings in the history of the country that Muniruzzaman had visited. There is another old fort, falling to pieces though some of the towers and walls are still intact in another painting . This has the white sand and the portrait of a turbaned old man with flowing white beard and cloak like white clothes, holding a stick in hand .
Equally impressive is the portrait of an Omani dignitary with his black and gold cloak, pink and blue turban and a salt and pepper beard and moustache. Similarly there is the portrait of a woman selling earthenware with clay stoppers . She is done in gold and orange with touches of scarlet while the earthenware vessels are black and brown.
Another Arabian scene is the seascape with the indigo water between slopes of hills and sweeps of beige beach. On top is the dark blue sky with beige impressions of clouds.
Md. Muniruzzaman is in charge of Gallery Chitrak and his works are among the collection of the Shilpakala Academy, the National Museum, Osmany Museum, Sylhet, Shilpangan Art Gallery, the Goethe Institut, Dhaka and Rhone Poulence Rorer's worldwide HQ building in Philadelphia, USA, and Galerie Danial Besseiche, France.