Nazrul Islam

Kalidas Karmakar made his mark as an artist with a difference in his first ever major solo exhibition held at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Gallery in 1976. He has distinguished himself as an experimentalist then and remains one even today. His latest solo, his 64th, held recently at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts in Dhaka, also presented some very innovative works which may be identified as drawings, yet these are not simple drawings. His present exhibition, entitled ‘Soul-Soil-Symbols’, at the Alliance Francaise, Dhaka, is a retrospective of his graphic prints, a medium in which he has specialised.

A review of the transformation and development of Kalidas’s art convinces us firmly that he is a relentless experimentalist searching for the sublime.

I was impressed with his skill in drawing, his adventures with the use of unorthodox materials and media, as well as his philosophical attitude to art back in 1976. Stylistically he has chosen to remain somewhat diverse all through his career. He had a weakness for the surreal, combining familiar images with impossible forms and also for the purity of the abstract, even for white on white, or square within square within square. For sometime he was deeply engrossed in Tantric philosophy, putting the formal expression in painting based on Tantra principles. He was constantly searching for the Holy Symbol, through both Hindu and non-Hindu beliefs. Abstraction and symbolism helped him in such explorations.

A master in the art of drawing, Kalidas has been equally busy in mixed media and sculptural collages. He is one of the pioneers in installation art in Bangladesh, beginning in the `70s, and continuing to experiment with the medium. He has also dealt with environment art on a large scale. He is an accomplished graphic artist, especially in etching and mixed media. He specialises in the French multi-coloured etching (viscosity process), which he mastered during his apprenticeship in Paris in the early ’80s. In Dhaka, he trained many young graphic art enthusiasts at his Atelier- 71. He loves to create abstract forms in graphic prints with imposition of fine lines. He enjoys creating texture in oil or acrylic painting. His mixed media works on Washi (his own hand made paper) are very exciting. His approach is that of a minimalist.

But what do I like most in Kalidas, who is such a versatile artist? His drawings obviously, which are more than just lines. He has developed a style of his own in this medium by adding decorative designs and colour forms. The drawings are of single or multiple human faces, often of the artist himself. All along, Kalidas has been in love with himself and enjoys placing himself as the central character in his drawings. Kalidas, in his personal life, is as interesting as his art works. He is definitely an extrovert who is engaged in soul searching.

Kalidas is like a poet when it comes to giving titles to the exhibitions, such as : ‘Pain and Love’, ‘Harmony in Vision’, ‘Holy Symbol’, ‘Love and Nature’, ‘My Dream’ or ‘Vision of Life’, ‘Holy Image’, ‘Realisation of Soul’, ‘Mood, Metal and Wood’, ‘Liberation ’71-Homage to Blue’, ‘Alluvial Pain and Salvation’ , ‘Alluvial Dream and Reality’ and finally, ‘Soul Soil Symbols’.

Kalidas Karmakar is one of the most internationally acclaimed artists of Bangladesh. He was educated in Dhaka and Kolkata and had studio or atelier apprenticeship in Poland, USA and Japan. He has enjoyed senior art fellowships in India, Poland, Japan and USA. He is probably the most widely exhibited artist of Bangladesh having organised 65 solo shows in different countries in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and Latin America. He has also earned many international awards and received distinguished coverage in major publications. Kalidas Karmakar is indeed a very significant name in the world of modern art of Bangladesh. At 61, he is a very youthful and exuberant creative person. His family name, Karmakar, literally means the smith, or the artisan, in the broader sense. Kali is a very creative Karmakar, an artist par excellence.