Nature at its simplest
He said he went to study printmaking at New York University in 1987, under Professor Krishna Reddy, and then stayed on for better opportunities. Earlier, in Dhaka, his teachers included Aminul Islam and Abul Baset. He moved away to his original painting from print-making, as he could best express himself in that medium. He comes home from time to time, to keep in touch with the art world and his home in Mymensingh. "The designs and colours in nature are the source of my inspiration. Buyers today, especially in a place like NY, are aware of this. If one wanted realism there is photography and other genres of paintings. Today I use acrylic as I find it easy to manoeuvre," Saleem explained.
He added that he played with form, texture and colours. In 2000 he had held an exhibit in Dhaka called Water waves, in which he had showed just the elements of water. Today his arena is more vast, as he brings in vertical and horizontal bars of pinks, blues and grays set off by whites. The browns and grays suggest waterfalls and mist. In the ones that have brighter hues, he has used water wave images again. In most of his creations one finds a play of colours and lines. He leaves it to the viewer to think and feel freely, and come to a conclusion on his own, without suggesting specific subjects of his own. In order to bring in variation he has added bright colours in some of his work. He said that he had no problem in rolling his large works, and then framing them at Chitrak, when he arrived in Dhaka.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Saleem does airbrush painting for his main living in NY, and does custom design painting for leather jackets, jeans and motorbikes. This he does for four days a week. The rest of the time he does his creative work.
He has had solo exhibits in Gallery O in Tokyo, Japan; Soho, in New York, and UN Plaza, New York. He has taken part in group shows in many US museums.