Abu Taher's interplay of line and form

Tribute to My Master

Influenced by Picasso and Giacometti , his colours are evolutionary. They are often like random splashes, although done with painstaking care. While parts of the compositions appear like techniques of action paintings, portions depict careful brushwork. He sometimes uses the spatula to create bands of colours which are crisscrossed in many directions-- creating balance in tension.

The Liberation had a great effect on his painting. He had been taken away for questioning by the Pakistan Army and that left an indelible mark on his psyche. It resulted in some of his pessimistic works that included figures like Egyptian mummies. In the '70s he turned to loud and luminous colours. After Picasso's death in 1973 he broke away from his dark conservative hues and went into scintillating brightness. The images of people disappeared from his pictures. His works became an "outward expression of an inward need". In the '80s his colours were random, evolutionary and sensuous. Some examples of that time are Whirlpool, Agression and Old Hut.

He had, in the early '90s also used Chinese landscape painting with abstract expressionism, the latter being his basic style all along, and by 1995 he had been regarded as one of the 10 top artists of Bangladesh. By the late '90s he used two new forms of expression . Abstract forms were created on heavily textured surface in one. The texture was made by external materials like netted textile or paper. In the other he made large collages from photographs taken from foreign magazines. Abu Taher has done geometrical forms, images of human faces, landscape paintings and human studies. Abue Taher also deals with the human mind and so the complexity in his canvases. The bright pulsating lines and forms are a reflection in which the human mind functions.

Today, in his work there is a combination of red, blue and yellow, creating a radiance of space and lines. There is no background of white there is instead a soothing watery blue to frame the speeding, splashing colours. You can't help but feel the inner tide. The paintings take us to a world of colours ,where the painter moves from one dreamy vision to another. Although he loves to bring in abstractions and geometrical shapes, is also good at portraying human forms and elements that go with it such as earthen vessels and dhols.

Abu Taher has had 11 solo paintings and innumerable joint ventures. He has had four awards. These include Honourable Mention in Pakistan National Art Exhibition in 1965, Silver Jubilee Art Award from the Bangladesh College of Arts and Crafts, and the Ekushey Padak of 1994.He has also participated in many seminars and workshops at home and abroad.