– Syed Manzoorul Islam

In a career spanning nearly thirty years, Alak Roy has had only four solo exhibitions, a fact that speaks of his reluctance to exhibit without extensively covering the artistic and philosophical grounds on which his work would stand and fully articulate his intended meaning. That meaning often has to do with the way we relate to each other, to time and history, and to nature. As a thinking artist, Alak’s challenge lies in making eloquent our daily discourses with nature, which are increasingly becoming fragmented and discontinuous, as technological and industrial interventions degrade the environment, destroy the fine balance among the various life forms and threaten to turn the world into a wasteland. From his first solo exhibition in the early 1980s—which was titled The Cry of the Earth—Alak has tried to take his art to the rich life that enervates the earth in search of enduring solutions to contemporary social and political problems. In his latest exhibition, Ecology of Mind, which is an extension of the 2007 solo exhibition in the DC Hill Park in Chittagong titled Steps to Ecology of Mind, Alak explores the relationship between man and nature which, in our time, has turned antagonistic. The exhibition puts together some large sized sculptures which both exploit the potentials of the medium and adequately express his philosophical concerns.

Alak’s first exhibition involved some finely done terracotta works, which had a feel of the earth—its rawness, its strength as well as its softness, which the viewers were invited to celebrate. The second exhibition concentrated on a stylistic variation—for, Alak burnt his pieces black to show their power to change, mutate and assume a richer and stronger existence. Gradually, Alak extended the dimensions of his work, until they became much larger than life. His intention was now epical, as he began to see nature as a force that can come to our rescue and make our lives meaningful. In some of his recent works, the world is seen to possess eyes and ears—an anthropomorphic projection of sorts, but one that also accommodates a muted spirituality as well. The world, which for Alak translates as nature, also has an inner eye with which it can clearly see the shape of things to come. If the spread of technology-driven, engineering based urban civilization confines nature only to reserved forests and national parks, lying waste all its other vestiges, then humanity will have to pay a huge price. Alak however, believes in the power of nature to protect itself. It is after all, a living entity, and has been there longer than the homo sapiens.

If we look for the distinguishing marks of Alak Roy’s sculptures, the list won’t be too long, but each will certainly stand out for its uniqueness. Alak’s early terracotta work shows both his predilection for installation-like arrangements (his work, indeed, is a precursor to that recent art form in this country) and his sharp eye for detail; his site-specific sculptures reveal an intimate understanding of what the Chinese call feng shui, or the spirit of the place; and instead of working solely on the outside of a sculpted object, he often starts with its interior spaces, slowly reaching outwards. This necessarily invites the viewer’s gaze both to the exterior and interior of an art object, thus eliminating restrictions of mass, volume and dimensionality.

Ecology of Mind takes Alak Roy’s thoughts about nature a step forward. Here he not only highlights the fractured state of our existence which can heal once we restore our connection with nature, but also makes us think of our role in the entire process of alienation that is taking us away from our roots. And, most importantly, he asks his viewers to interiorize the whole spectacle of nature’s endowing man’s life with gifts of sights and sounds. Alak himself feels the beauty and bounty of nature and the balance that holds together the elemental nexus inside his head. The exhibition tells us in so many words that nature has given us a wonderful legacy which we must protect with all the strength we are capable of.