Beauty from another dimension
The fine line between a photograph and a painting are quite invisible in Arif Ahmed's paintings of celestial bodies. His science-inspired paintings, revolving around astrophysics, are matchless on the present day Bangladeshi art scene in terms of their subject.
The artist's first solo exhibition was held at Drik Galley in the capital recently. Organised by Unmad, the exhibition attracted a whopping number of young audience.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. The exhibition featured 58 paintings made on acrylic on canvas and mixed media on canvas.
The subjects of his paintings range from auroras to celestial bodies in deep space which are invisible to the naked eyes. Ahmed artistically depicts different phenomena through his brush and colour which result in some eye-catching artworks of nebula, supernova, Andromeda galaxy, northern lights, wormholes, space explosion and more.
The artist can appreciate the beauty of the universe and let others see the beauty through his works. The cosmological world of spiral galaxies, stars and planets or microscopic world of cells gets a new dimension and of course a variety of colours in his paintings.
About his exhibit, Ahmed said, “The vastness of space always amused me, and it's time we pay attention to it as there are many things beyond our imagination. The universe is amazing and full of wonders and colours. I try to portray the vividness of space in my paintings.”
“Every artist has a place of expression and in my imagination astronomy has a special place. I read a lot on astrophysics and finally ended up incorporating science in fine art. I completed these 58 paintings in the last two and a half months.” added Ahmed.
Arif Ahmed, an animator-turned-painter developed an interest in fine art when he was a teen. But instead of studying fine arts, he ended up studying Applied Physics and Electronics at Dhaka University.
An Associate Professor of Multimedia and Creative Technology Department at Daffodil International University, Ahmed has a solid background as a pioneering 3-D animator. He has plans to continue depicting the beauty of universe through his paintings and inspire youngsters to know more about the science.