Lines that linger on in the mind

Yearning

Asked if he went into painting straight away, Javed says, "I began doing drawings and studying art formally at Los Angeles School of Design for 18 months in 1993, and from there I went to meet different artists in the vicinity like David Hockney, and attended his workshop for three weeks. I started venturing myself more into my own thoughts and perceptions. Looking for my own means of expression, I wanted to study my own temperament, my mood and also the connection between mediums and techniques, exploring with mediums."

Talking about the artists who had inspired him most of all, Javed says, "The Renaissance painters like Michelangelo and Raphael, later Valesquez and Goya, and modern artists like Picasso impressed me greatly. Goya's demons and nightmares, destruction of life and turmoil in the inner world in his direct way influenced me greatly. I liked the way he expressed his life in his works going about his paintings with bold honesty and inimitable power of expression."

Touching on his present exhibition, Javed says, "There are a dozen paintings which are in mixed media, some having colours. They are mainly done with the traditional Chinese brush. I did the rendering with ink on paper. The figures here are based on impulse and my obsession for the Renaissance art which I love and I try to use the lines according to my own temperament and mood, expressing them with my own personal emotions. I mainly work with male and female figures along with horses. The reason why I bring in horses is because I like their shapes. When I draw a horse it gives me a link with some element of power, grace and strength. To me horses are something mystical and they come from memory and references to what I've seen before. The human forms are based on models and my understanding of them as my study of art began with drawing classical figures. I believe I have my own way of perceiving them."

Talking about his some of his works, Javed says, "There is 'Conflict' with a woman between two horses, one being larger than the other. The taller horse has compassion for the woman and I used it symbolically. The other one is something like a demon. The painting is a conflict between good and bad, an experience which I sometimes face myself. The next one is 'Spirit' which again has a woman and there is a dark moon at the back. If you concentrate on the woman's face you will see a horse almost coming out from within her. This represents her inner spirit, or rage, or the memory of someone she had loved.

"Another work presents a woman holding the sun, which is powerful. This is not literally possible but she can hold on to something, which radiates with strength. The work represents someone I might have met and who is special to me. At the back of the sun is the merging of two faces of a man and a woman, as if they are caressing each other. This deals with love and caring -- more like a romantic journey. There are then two studies of figures. They portray the beauty and grace of the female form and it has a touch of Japanese calligraphy. It is wrapped with lines as if it is her clothing or skin. It deals with harmony. The other one has the same concept only it has the addition of coloured wax crayons to add to the drawing to bring in brightness and give a contrast of colours. The emotional and psychological elements are the same."

Asked why he had moved from the canvas of his earlier works seen before in two exhibitions at "Shilpangan" and "Alliance Francaise", Javed says, " I find the paper easier to preserve at my own place. Here I've used crayon and ink using Chinese brush. I've used the brush because in one stroke I get so many lines which is fascinating to control, while I try to capture the essence of the spirit of my work."

Javed Jalil has held three exhibitions at Los Angeles and two earlier ones at Dhaka. He teaches art at a local school.