Waves of colour

Front in veil.

"This exhibit is like a presentation of my travels such as when I was in Bulgaria, five years back, I enjoyed the hills and trees and this I transferred on to paper. Similarly the change of the mellow autumn leaves from red to yellow was something I portrayed as it moved me enormously. I'd just been to Korea and there captured scenes from a sculpture garden. The river and the hills there, at Jinjo, were beautiful so that I couldn't resist capturing them in small sketches and water colour pieces. I also made sketches of portraits that I came across as I travelled in Korea to capture the different characters that I saw. I went to Banderban too recently and the purpose was to do some paintings to present the Hill tribe people who travel great distances with laden baskets on their backs."

Talking about the paintings of Banderban Hamiduzzaman said, "When there are many clouds the hills become like the rivers and that is how I've portrayed them in one of my pictures. The fog too prevents you sometimes from seeing any colours. With black, white and gray, I've depicted my feelings and sensations. In another painting I've left the water area blank while the blue, black, gray and brown hills gave you the feeling of loneliness. The up and down wave of these hills was something I tried to capture. The time was evening and the dark hills appeared to me like sculpted scenes of nature.

"In another painting I've tried to show the quick movements of the hilly people having simplified their bending gestures. On the backs one can see the collected fruit while the other lines and forms depicted the minimum of clothes that the people there wear and yet look so picturesque. These have been mostly in sketches of black, gray, blue and touches of red. In another painting one can visualize a woman in a blouse and sarong carrying a weight on her back. With the brown and blue washes I had used some pen strokes too."

"In the Korean paintings, in a set of three paintings, the same subject of hills, skies and pathways have been shown with different selection of colours. In some one sees more of brown in another blue while the third has more of black so that they appear like different scenes unless one concentrates on what is before them. In another scene one sees the approach of darkness after evening with few streaks of light. The top is pale blue while the white at the sides is to provide contrast. Then you come across four portraits based on some Korean youth and women that I sketched in which I've tried to depict their characteristics of cute features and easy smiles. A few lines and washes have brought in all the details."

Talking about the Sunderban scenes, Hamiduzzaman said, "In these we see our own local scenario with the shore of the rivers, boats, people, tree and sky with simple splashes of colours. In one we see figures seen against the sky in shades of gray. In another we see once again the water and sky with boats along with tall poles and houses done in splashes of blue and black, with touches of gray and beige. In a scene of Sunderbans a lot of the page space is left blank while the trees, houses and boats have been sketched in yellow ochre, brown and black. In another one can see a swinging bridge spotted through the fog. This is a morning scene just before the sun rose. Here too quietness and loneliness pervades. Beyond is the jungle in blue, black and green horizontal splashes while the sky is in shades of mauve."

About some of the experimental work that has been included in the display, Hamiduzzaman said "In one of them is a contrast of colours so that one sees a dark wall in a moonlit night. Thus between two strips of black is the wall in gray, green and mauve, with texture work in it. Then there are portraits which are the breaking of triangular forms to suggest details of faces in plastic quality."

Hamiduzzaman Khan, who has travelled extensively, heads the Sculpture Department in the Institute of Fine Arts, DU.