OVER 55 works at Maksudul Ahsan's exhibit at the Divine Gallery dwell often on the subject of solitude, where he has transformed his own poetry into painting. The subjects deal with love and nature and here the medium is oil. The other paintings

form the "Memory" series in acrylic and mixed media. The latter collection deal with his past over the years, including his childhood in the environment of the Meghna and Padma. The elements have not been presented as photographic forms but have been broken and reflected.

In one of the "Solitude" paintings one sees many faces of people, one being a young woman, while the rest are blindfolded young men at play. This follows the words of the poem which says "Shundorer chok bedhe chere dao, Kana machi khelok du phota me". Behind the

figures at play are rectangles of pale blue and beige and semi circles of indigo and pink. The figures are mostly in blue, gray and beige with outlines. "Solitude-8" shows a portion of a face of a woman lying down, with her hands clinging on to something. The background brings flower vases and floating leaves with autumnal colours of orange, brown, yellow and pink. The background is divided into rectangles in which float leaves and stems, with a flower at the side.

"Solitude-7" has the figure of a man who appears to be floating. At the side is a jar containing a plant. The background is divided into blues, greens and beige. A woman's figure with a garland in her hand is brought in "Solitude-12". This painting too is dream like with a man looking up to the woman. This too is in shades of russet and gray. Another painting in the same series has a man playing the flute and he has been done in shades of brown while his eyes are blue and his lips are hinted at. In the background is a woman with flowing hair and trailing "anchal ". Leaves and splashes of colours in yellow, brown and blue form the backdrop. A man, done in brown and pink, forms a part of "Solitude-4". There is a young woman at the side. He wears a crown and she sports a peacock feather on her forehead. "They are apparently figures taken from the past days such as Salim and Nurjehan or Yusuf and Zulekha," the artist explains. Two figures are brought in two sides in "Solitude-6", one of a woman and that of a courting man. The man has a feather on his head while the woman flaunts a lot of jewellery. In between the space is covered with rectangles, semicircles and waves of brown, beige and yellow.

In "Memory-1" we see a figure in front with a slouched hat. This is in blue, beige and gray. At the back is the river with boats. The sky and the water are in gray and blue, washed with white. Behind the man is a beige sketch of a house. The forms are outlined and suggested. A spiral hurricane is brought in "Memory-2" and this gyrating energy is in blue and black. In front are splashes of yellow, pink and blue to bring in the affected land masses. "This" says the artist, "is from my memories of sudden wild storms on the banks of the Padma and Meghna". A figure of a Buddhist priest with a

shaven head and a tiny sprig of pigtail, done in black, is brought in "Memory-3". The rest of the painting consists of abstract swirls of pink, blue, gray and yellow with some texture work specially lines going through the work. Matching this is a portrait of a priestess done in gray, black and blue. This too brings in the element of meditation. A bridge is brought in "Memory-4" along with some trees in the background and the side. The bricks in the bridge and the water collected at the bottom are brought in details. The sky is in cubist form of gray and blue. Bird forms are found in "Memory-6" while the

land masses in the composition have been done in rectangles and triangles of brown, gray and white.

Maksudul Ahsan has had seven solo exhibitions in Montreal, New Delhi and Dhaka between 1994 and 2003. His joint ventures number more than 25 and they have been held at India and Bangladesh. He has taken part in five workshops and artists' camps at New Delhi and Dhaka, working on lithographs, serigraphs and oil painting. His works are in the private collections in uSA, Canada, Australia, and India. He has been the art editor of "Shamay Songlap" and "GRAM". At present he is a freelance artist.