In search of the illusive
"I've been influenced mostly by Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, Francis Bacon and William de Koning. My teachers at the university were Rafiqun Nabi, Nisar Hossain and Jamal Ahmed. My brother, Maqsud, an artist, helped create a positive atmosphere at home. I work in acrylic on canvas and paper. In oil you need a layout. In acrylic I can work quickly, as my images come to my mind. I use brush, spatula and even my fingers. I want my viewers to be curious about my work. The expression on the faces of my figures bring in confusion, sorrow, loneliness and frustration, which I think are an inevitable part of modern existence," says Nazmul.
He is often not satisfied with his paintings and this lack of satisfaction eggs him on in his work. He is able to reflect some of his thoughts on to his 27 pieces on show in the gallery. In Nostalgia he brings in a seated human figure, pondering over his happy childhood. The forms are not clear: they are illusions. Reverie has large expanses of blue and in it the artists brings in dreams of the past and present. The artist wishes his viewers to think about the forms and figures before him:
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. he doesn't want them to be obvious. The composition in orange too has hazy figures, parts of which can be seen easily, while the rest are left to the imagination. The human forms, in all the paintings appear to be resting and thinking. Our urban existence is becoming increasingly mechanical, Nazmul feels, so that the only escape from this is dwelling on the happier days of the past.
"I have deliberately broken forms; sometimes the simplification of forms are done with an aesthetic purpose. Symbolic representation too is present. In the paintings is also an interplay between man and nature. Although abstraction and semi-abstraction dominate my work yet they are not totally devoid of figurative forms. I've tried to maintain a balance in my compositions," Nazmul adds.
Nazmul has won the Nona Mia Memorial Award in pencil sketch, Institute of Fine Arts, Dhaka University (DU) in 1994. He also won a gold medal for best performance in Master's in Fine Arts from DU in 1998.