To live openly, is to live everyday with complete surrender to the shifting light, the fleeting sensations, the fine weave of coincidence, and the timely breezes. Words are not flexible enough to describe the almost painful tenderness which comes with that surrender.
Words are clumsy, they are like bad dancers, stumbling all over the place while the dawn flows and the ground warms up to the day. And every moment of that day, is composed of a million details-phone calls, overheard conversations, rooms and streets, a cop of coffee- the cup, the strength of the coffee-the pre-dinner hustle and bustle as evening falls, the light in a familiar window as seen from the street.
Words are too exacting to describe that which is never still. And that is why art and music are absolutely necessary. To capture that which is permanently escaping. Howard Hodgkin does this with great skill. His works are like stills of the emotional intensity with which he lives. They almost provoke envy-How can he feel so strongly? How can he see so deeply?
The works are abstract, but they are very much grounded in reality. On the day-to day physical experience of life-for Howard Hodgkin the physical details become expressions of personality, situation, or feeling.
Look at Two to Go and imagine a small restaurant, maybe a deli, Something softy lit and semi-busy. Imagine the evening falling outside, as people are walking faster towards home. Perhaps it is November, or mid-February. Imagine the force, the gravitation that is pulling everyone, including the artist, towards home. Two to go.
Look at Nick’s Rom and imagine how the shutters regulate the flow of light in the room. Imagine it is dusk and he closes the windows, leaving one shutter half-open, and switches on the light. Imagine the ribbed shadow on the floor. Imagine the night filled with jazz, and the artist standing outside watching. And Nick, moving around, feels himself watched. Feels himself loved. Howard Hodgkin’s eyes do not see, they feel. The intimate magic of his works is their ambiguity. Perhaps the people who inspire them are the only ones that truly understand them. But that is of on consequence. What is important is to see them openly, with no expectation of understanding In fact trying to define them is a violence done on to them, This exhibition is to be seen, felt, experienced with complete surrender- and Howard Hodgkin makes it very easy.
We are grateful to the British Council for bringing Howard Hodgkin to Bangladesh. This exhibition is a wonderful way to welcome the spring, the most emotional of seasons. It is also a beautiful coincidence that the luscious work Mango is included is this exhibition as the mango season in Bangladesh kicks off.

Date: 12.04.2013 – 03.05.2013
Venue: Bengal Art Lounge