Philology of Epoch

Gallery Twenty One and ARTcon have jointly organised a 15-day solo painting exhibition titled “Epoch” by eminent artist Monsur Ul Karim at Gallery Twenty One in Dhanmondi. This is the 26th solo exhibition by the artist.

Eminent artists Monirul Islam and Hashem Khan; noted art critic and writer Professor Nazrul Islam and fashion designer Tootli Rahman jointly inaugurated the exhibition as special guests on September 30.

Artist Monsur came to prominence in the late '60s. As an experimental painter, he delves into figures, themes, colours and textures. His works zoom in on the struggles of common people. Sailing boats, fishing nets, clouds, monsoon, changing tides, erosion of riverbanks and the displacement of people have appeared as recurring themes in his paintings. He has a yearning for portraying his favourite subjects in his works, employing bright and lively colours to denote the Padma river and its surrounding atmosphere.

Monsur Ul Karim, in his present solo exhibition, is a little different in presentation of his works. Coming up with several variations, he is now more experimental with forms and colours. In general Monsur is more colourful in this exhibition than he was ever before. He produces cool compositions of blues and dark greens with whitish cross bars. Some of the colour fields are flat; some are decorated with small forms and some with dots. Some canvases are composed with bright and contrasting vertical bars; some have a combination of horizontal and vertical spaces. Several compositions are basically abstract in nature while some with images of trees or human figures. In some works Mansur adds spaces decorated with irregular and unrecognisable form or image.

Monsur ul Karim was born in Rajbari in 1950. He did his graduation from the Institute of Arts (now the Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka). Later, he completed his Masters in Fine Arts from Chittagong University. He has recently retired as a Professor from the same university. For his contributions to Bangladeshi art, the artist received many prestigious awards including “Ekushey Padak” in 2009 and “Sultan Padak” in 2014.

The exhibition, opening from 12 pm to 8 pm daily, will remain open till October 14.