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Ranjit’s works are pristine yet thought-provoking

FAYZA HAQ
RANJIT Das, 50,who won the Grand Prize in the National Exhibition in 1995, has proved beyond doubt, that he is a proficient painter in Bangladesh. Having done his Masters in Baroda, Gujarat, he has continued with his endeavours, despite the fact that he has had to make ends meet for his family of five, by taking up a mundane job at the Teachers' Training
College. Many local artists enjoy both creating and teaching; but for Ranjit, his job at the college is something, which he must maintain, while his heart yearns to create with paints. He delves and dares, and carries on notwithstanding the present socioeconomic set up in Dhaka.
This is despite the many obstacles that he has had to overcome. Always presenting a sunny front to his friends, Ranjit weaves his way through the slings and arrows of daily
urban existence, and paints like one possessed. His paper creations and canvases appear idyllic and nostalgic, and are certainly passionate. A lot of thought, skill and imagination have gone into each of his works, which appear like some uncut gem, if viewed from afar in the galleries.
Ranjit has had a fairly uncomplicated, but cultured background -keeping in mind that his mother made clay dolls, while his father, an accountant, had a book of sketches, which he kept for a year. Ranjit, in his school days, was inspired by the linseed oil smell used in cinema posters and the glass paintings of the tiny shops in Old Dhaka. His parents never compelled him to go in for a conventional bourgeois type job. His wife, Tandra, paints too; so now he gets the backing in his relatively new family.
At the end of the day, he says, "I have no regrets." He patiently takes things in his stride; he is not bogged down by the fact that his numerous sales (which began in Baroda, as a student) do not necessarily usher in the amount that gallery goers expect him to take home. Driven and diligent, he pursues his muse and steadily burns the midnight candle. What makes him tick? It's his belief that one day he'll overcome his obstacles, and his dreams and aspirations will eventually come true.
He takes his inspirations from the European and Subcontinent masters, like the Renaissance and Modern artist, along with his teachers of the past and present, such as MF Hussain, Subramanium, J Bhatt, G Sheikh, Suja, M Kibria,
Aminul Islam, Murtaja Basir, R Nabi and many more. He has studied his art books and managed to see cities of the Subcontinent -- stretching from uttar Pradesh to Tamil Nadu. He has drunk deep of whatever he could see in the galleries, while in Europe, in countries like France, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Reserved and self-effacing, the works of this giant among painters have been repeatedly seen at the Shilpakala Academy, Shilpangan and Alliance Francaise. Just last year, he got yet another award in the National Exhibition. He has won acclaim in uSA too, fairly recently. Buoyant and spontaneous, his paintings combine figurative elements with abstraction. There is something pristine yet thoughtprovoking in all his works. Such an individual -- with his innumerable exhibitions, at home and overseas -is surely worth admiring.