Dhaka as the city of dreams and of nightmares has been presented in a series of 77 mixed media works in artist Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed’s ongoing solo at Shilpangan Gallery at Dhanmondi. The changing city has been an inexhaustible theme in Salauddin’s works for well over the last two decades. The artist has focused on the evolution and the degeneration of the city. Born and bred in Dhaka, Kazi Salauddin Ahmed feels himself to be placed between the ‘perverted present and nostalgic past’ of the city he has lived in and felt acutely.
The paintings give the impression of an artist’s regrets over what have been lost in his city- the greenery, the old, intimate and free living styles of people. At the same time the paintings also include the present chaotic city that Dhaka has become.
One of the works depicts an old wall that seems to have lost a few bricks here and there. The artist, however, makes the wall look very enticing by using the hues of yellow; the work invites the viewers to take a mental trip on nostalgic lanes.
Another work depicts a hut that has a roof made with straw. The golden hues of the roof can make one reminisce the ‘golden’ lost days that seem to be fading fast.
All the paintings are 4X6 inch in size and invite the viewers to have looks from a close distance. Structures, geometric forms and shapes are predominantly present in the paintings.
The colours also seem to have distinct meanings in the paintings. For example, colours like yellow and beige black represent the present chaos and green represents the fast fading greenery.
‘So far, in my career I have explored the theme of the changing Dhaka, impact of urbanity in my works. The present exhibition is another phase of that exploration’, Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed said.
The artist also conveyed that all of the 77 paintings on display are new works and have not been showed to public before. Ahmed has experimented mixing sand and powdered colours and used them on his canvasses. The artist intends to use the same method for some of his future works as well.
Inaugurated on November 29, the exhibition will be open to all from 12pm to 8pm till December 10.
-With New Age input
