Simple but stylized
Hossain has worked with black and white as well as colour, saying that both the styles appeal to him, although he has done most of his paintings in colour, as he felt that it best suited his mood and range of painting, and that he could best represent feelings and emotions. In one of his paintings he has brought in a woman bending down and collecting water. On another end you saw the same figure in movement brought with splashes of pink and beige. The clothes were depicted by blue, red and purple neat swirls of strokes. The backdrop brought in more splashes of muted range of colours depicting roofs of houses. Black outlines went to complete the forms. Flowers had been scattered over the idyllic images. Translucent pearly white covered the spaces in between the images adding space to the composition.
A similar rural theme was brought into another frame but there the subject appeared younger as she had a pony-tail. Large splashes of russets and reds included water lilies in front. Another female form, bending over to collect water, had been included at the side, with more bold and free swirls and splashes. Geometrical patterns of beige and white formed a stained glass like background. A farmer, wearing a singlette and "lungi" had been brought in the next painting. Next to him were two heads of cattle whose bodies had been represented in minimised lines and colours. A portion of an earthenware vessel had been included within the frame. The play of light and shade was remarkable -- with overwhelming midnight blue and startling red disappearing into masses of white.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Women were again the subjects where three silhouettes had been brought in grey swirls and lines. Vermilion swigs brought in a part of the blouses, "anchals" and waistline. Bits of ruby red divided the three panels bearing the three figures. Asked why he had brought in the woman's forms repeatedly, Hossain said, "I believe that there is a lot of graceful poetry and rhythm in the manner in which women work in the villages, which I visit often to see my family and friends in Barisal, Khulna and Narsingdi.
They were highlighted by artists like S M Sultan, Zainul Abedin and Quamrul Hassan and I'd like to follow in their footsteps. I want to combine the traditional concepts with a nouveau concepts."
Hossain had also brought in the harsh aspects of life and living as when he brought in the countryside cart-puller. With sweat and toil as his theme, Hossain had brought in the poles and wheels of the cart along with selected details of the struggling man, set on circling roads with trees and sky, with simple, confident and dramatic strokes. The head of a buffalo confronted the viewer on one end of the gallery. Here too Hossain has combined realism with abstraction. The horns were touched with red and black while the glaring eyes were red. It was set on a backdrop of cascading pale shades of beige, ochre and umber. Hossain had brought in three doves in another painting, and there he had included a falling feather, which lent an unusual angle to the presentation. It had been offset by a background of gold and white. A simple gladioli had been brought on another canvas and this had been placed carefully on a background of a shape of a lily. The twirling leaves had been carefully added with merging blues and greens.
Hossain, who is forty, is confident of his work, and does not find it difficult to make a living as a freelance artist, with an MFA from UODA. He has taken part in 26 group paintings at home and overseas.