Lala Rukh shows finesse and flamboyance in sculpture

A sculpture by Lala Rukh Selim

With a supportive family, Towfiqur Rahman, a sculptor for a husband, and a host of intellectual friends like Wakilur Rahman, from Berlin, and Saiful Haq, a well-known architect, she is least bothered about fame. Being an editor of the prestigious Art and a busy homemaker-cum-experimental artist, her time flies by, without an eye on local or foreign acclaim. Confident and poised, she is optimistic and daring, as is easily recognised in her post-modern work.

If there is anybody that inspires her in particular it is sculptor Novera Ahmed from France,who had her exhibition at the then Central Public Library, Dhaka, in 1960. Lala Rukh calls herself a 'student of sculpture', as she says that as a teacher, there is no end to learning.

The sculptor says that the open-mindedness of her family helped her to find her feet. Lala Rukh said that she grew up with massive volumes on fine arts which belonged to her grandfather, parents and older siblings like her sister , Gul Rukh. She was taught that art was an integral and vital part of life, she says. At her institute she had been guided by Mahboobul Amin; next she chose sculpture as she felt that it had enormous scope for her as it is still fairly unknown territory in Bangladesh: there was much for her to experiment with. 'Its 3-D form intrigued me no end: it was more real than anything else that I'd experienced: at that time, I found its tactile quality greatly interesting and promising in 1981,' she elaborates.

Furthermore, Hamiduzzaman Khan,a family friend, guided and inspired her. So did art books, like those on Michaelangelo and others that contained Indian sculpture illustrations. She learnt about Ram Kinkar Baiz even before she went to Shantiniketan to do her Masters. Touching on her interest in sculpture, Lala Rukh recalls an incident when her husband, in the then East Pakistan days, when she was still a student, obtained a catalogue, which revealed the portrait of Novera Ahmed . She thought that it was some glamorous overseas actress from another era. Novera's works too left an indelible mark on her young mind.

The fact that she had created over 100 sculpture pieces within a short space of time affected her enormously. 'I found it mind-boggling that a woman sculptor of that time could be so prolific,' Lala Rukh comments. As a student at Dhaka, she had found Henry Moore motivating too-- but she did not care to emulate him: she wanted to something of her own, with her lust for adventure and her daring for self-expression. Her quarterly, Art, a superb magazine by all standards, is not only edited by her, but partly funded too, since 1993.

'I only do work when it's conducive for me: I don't believe I must have regular exhibits. I'm not very prolific in terms of my creative output. I was, at first, part of the 'Shomaey group', when I exhibited with them in 1990 and 1995; I've taken part in numerous national and other group shows. I have been teaching since 1994 and I enjoy that too along with my editing work,' Lala Rukh concludes.