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Display

Bold sweeps and economic colours

Mansur Ul Karim's exhibit at the Bengal Gallery

FAYZA HAQ
MANSUR Ul Karim, who has his on-going exhibition of over 51 works at the Bengal Gallery, called "Vision of the Past", says that he grew up in Faridpur, and went into painting to overcome a feeling of emptiness, which he felt on losing his mother as a child. Questions about humanity built up in him and he felt that he could best express his feelings and individuality in paintings. Graduating in 1972 from the Fine Arts Institute he went on to do his Masters in painting from Chittagong. He stayed on there to teach.
Mansur's works are not straightforward representation of figures. He has simplified them and broken them, adding and subtracting in places. Very often there is a smudge where there should have been a face. Even the limbs are suggested in lines, sweeps and squiggles. He stresses on the figures, bringing in some of the background. Earlier his exhibitions had brought in more elements of nature, showing a relationship between man and nature. The moving on to figures alone is based on a feeling of emptiness in his life since his wife, the main source of inspiration, died in 2000. Mansur uses the figures as support to drive away his feelings of emptiness and loneliness. The reason why his figures have no clear faces and bear no details of eyes or nose is that he wants every viewer to feel that the pain that he has portrayed is that of anyone who is seeing his paintings. The element of anguish found in all his work and that is why he uses so much of blue, black and brown. While he uses different colours in different places, he makes sure that there is a harmony in the choice of colour in the composition. His figures are marked by simplicity, using oils and acrylic, depicting a deep involvement with human feelings and emotions.
Mansur says that he does face problems in this attempt to maintain the originality of his work so that the viewer can see his paintings and realise straight away as to the origin of his work. He feels that the viewer should understand the social and economical environment of his characters on the canvas or paper. He says that we stress on the originality of Indian, Chinese or African art and so we should stress on the setting of our Bangladeshi settings scenes. People looking at his paintings should be able to learn about social environment of the characters that he has presented, he feels. This is despite the fact that he wishes to maintain a universal quality in his paintings so that his farmers and fishermen could also have been from anywhere in the world.
In "To earn one's livelihood" we see a vendor of vegetables and fruit
in brown and green sweeps of strokes. The objects are done in red and they contrast with the bronze that has been used to delineate the figure. The background has been left white so that the effect is bold and dramatic. In "Three virgins" we see a women in beige, done in sweeps, curls and lines; another figure is in blue, touched with white and red, while the third one is black and blue, outlined with red and white. The last figure is clearer than the other two huddled semi-abstract images. The women appear to be sitting and talking. At the back we see splashes of brown and beige, with checkered patterns to the left and right. The fluidity of the lines is admirable indeed. "Goddesses" bring in two female figures in black and brown and they are reflections of his romantic concept of his wife.
"Coming back" brings in two fishermen and this recalls the artist's idyllic youth. The figures are in blue and green with the bodies and faces being simply suggested; forms of fish surround the two men. In the background are masses of blue and yellow in the shape of clouds. "Tension" brings in a couple
surrounded by two cows.
Mansur does a few study
sketches with pencil or pen before he embarks on the painting itself. He works in his studio in Chittagong in morning and evening, as the mood takes him. He treasures his creative work, and at the same time, he takes his teaching seriously. Over the years, apart from Mohammed Kibria, it is Rashid Chowdhury who influenced him most in his work. As a student, it was the works of Paul Cezanne that he admired most. Asked if our Bangladeshi viewers can appreciate semi abstract work, Mansur says every painting is a reflection of feeling that has reality: every abstraction has some realism behind it. He himself uses abstraction to reflect his dejection and angst.
Mansur Ul Karim has taken part in 12 solo exhibitions in Kolkata, Dhaka and Chittagong. He has also participated in over 15 group exhibitions in Europe, Japan and Bangladesh. He has won several awards including the Grand Award at the 8th Triennial International, New Delhi in 1994 and the Grand Award at he 6th Asian Art Biennale organised by the Shilpakala Academy.