Nature seen in soft splashes
"In one of my paintings you see a half sunk boat in a canal, which the children later retrieve and use for fishing," Babu says about one of his works. The water is emerald and other shades of green, with leaves falling on it. Branches stick out from below the water level. There are trees in the background in shades of green while the sky is orange, beige, blue and black. On end a triangle of brown brings in a section of the land.
About another painting Babu explains that the dark shades stand for the muddy and dirty water flowing behind Sikdar Medical Hospitals. Next to this are houses on stilts. The water is in shades of gray and mauve while the tall grass is done in black and dark green. The huts are in shades of beige, orange and brown. There are some brick kilns included in the composition, while the sky is purple blue and white.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. " I saw some people living on a strip of land surrounded by water and I felt that this could be the subject of my painting," Babu says about another work. There is a row of huts made of bamboo and straw in burnt sienna, mauve and black. The water is brought in splashes of dark green at the back and paler jade, in front, mingling with white and gray. The strip of land which sits like an island is in shades of gray and green.
Anther idealistic depiction of slums brings in the area around Rairbazar, where one sees houses on stilts presented in geometrical shapes in blue and beige. There is tall grass and poles all around while people are brought in at one side in sketches of black and gray. The sky is pink and gray.
About another painting Babu says, "Lying down I once saw this scene by night." In this one sees the moonlight behind strands of grass depicted in brown, and gold. The moon is a disc of white while the background of the sky is a flat gold with tiny specs of brown.
A Rangamati scene brings in his memories of a few years back. "I did the sketches on small bits of paper which I transferred on to larger scales seen here," Babu says. At the back of a white road are thatched huts sitting on hills and on two sides cliffs where trees abound in shades of dark and lemon green, gray and beige. Light blue and green washes bring in the sky while the land is swirls of brown and pink.
Boats that are used for transferring bricks is the subject of another work. People are seen in the boats too, some standing on the deck and others sitting on the roof. The boats are done with quick sketched lines of black, orange and beige. The land is brought in with splashes of gray and brown while the water is brought in with wriggling ones of gray, green and blue.
The beauty of wild creepers is brought in the depiction of "sharnalata" covering a tree by the river. The creeper is brought in gold and pink while the tree on which it grows is black. The other trees in focus are either gray green or gray blue.
Hafizuddin Babu has taken part in ten group exhibits in Dhaka and has participated in two water colour workshops. His paintings are seen in private collections in Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Italy, France, Japan and Korea. He won a DUCSU award in 1990.