Abul Monsur
Into the thirteenth year of the 21st century, we are inclined to think that the art of the current century is characterized by pluralism of every sort. There is no consensus, nor need there be, as to a representative style of the age. There has developed an attitude that believes in an anything goes idea and in reaction, a nothing going on. This has created a situation with no firm and clear direction and an air of confusion in the visual art scenario.
Despite the pandemonium, abstraction remains very much in view, its many variations being practiced by the exponents of 21st century abstract art. These are exemplified by the works of painters like Barnett Newman, John McLaughlin, and Agnes Martin as well as younger living artists. Art as Object, as seen in the Minimalist sculpture of Carl Andre and the paintings of Frank Stella are still seen today in newer permutations. Abstractions of the lyrical and the sensuous use of color are seen in the work of painters as diverse as Sam Francis, Cy Twombly, Richard Diebenkorn, Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell and other younger artists.
Modernist abstraction has been explained as precisely the result of the abstract nature of social existence. In recent times a resurgence of the figurative, as neo-Dada, fluxus, happening, conceptual art, installation, performance and video art have come to signify more the importance of consumerism. Thus the distinction between abstract and figurative art has, over the last twenty years, become less defined leaving a wider range of choices for all artists of all categories.
Abstraction has gained a firm footing in Bangladesh from the 1960s and remains a major form of expression till today. If independence from the British rule and an acquaintance with the contemporary art world could be defined as the reason for the widespread practice of abstractionist styles, the war of independence and freedom from Pakistan in 1971 could be held accountable for instigating a resurgence of figurative art in Bangladesh. However, abstraction in art persisted as a major school of art in the art-bazaar and artists in Bangladesh perhaps succeeded in creating a distinctive trend of their own. They found themselves more comfortable in an abstract form which is more or less flexibly expressionistic and allows free and lyrical use of line and form and sensuous use of colour and texture. It is less concerned with content, but more interested in the visual effect of the surface design. The foremost exponent of this abstractionist format was late Mohammad Kibria. His subtly formatted space arrangements with calculative designing of line and form and a very sensitive use of colour and texture earned him the reputation of a master abstractionist at home and abroad. Inevitably, there emerged a number of followers of Kibria, though most of them failed to comprehend his subtle and delicate sensitivity. Mahmudul Haque stands apart among them with his own distinctive characteristics as a leading advocate of the abstract genre in contemporary Bangladeshi art.
One cannot expect to look at abstractionist tendencies in Bangladeshi visual arts in identical terms of the western rationale of consumerism and the gradual abstraction of social relationships. Abstract art here is not a contemplative phenomenon, it is either a deliberate endeavour to express the existing actuality around in a non-figurative format or create a visually authentic surface design within a restricted space using the visual elements such as line, shape, colour and texture.
Mahmudul Haque was trained in Dhaka and Tokyo and emerged as a painter and printmaker in the 1970s. He learned techniques and aesthetics of printmaking in Japan (as did Kibria). The Japanese perception of space made a lasting impression on him and thus his paintings and prints display a keen sense of technical perfection as well as spatial discipline which has become over the years hallmark of his works. His paintings draw their underlying inspirations mostly from the natural bounty and seasonal variations of his native land, as is the case of majority of the Bangladeshi artists using the abstract style of painting, and display a comforting and harmonized feeling. However, Mahmudul Haque’s works, whether paintings in oil or in acrylic or prints in various mediums and techniques, demonstrate an intense sagacity of inspection and scrutiny of the surrounding elements in nature as well as in man-made articles. His works somehow or other refer to something existing in reality which is normally overlooked by our human perceptions, and this is what makes his works distinctively different from the artists of the same genre.
It seems that the principal exclusivity of Haque’s abstractions is his very deliberate and individual character of spatial arrangements. Not that all of his works display the same sort of devise, but most of them inherent a certain quality of compositional distinctiveness which indicate the artist’s personality. His forms float in a buoyant space and create a subtle but indistinct relationship between them and also with the backdrop of the space. The forms are not by and large smooth and well defined but rather corrugated and are normally done in heavy impasto and the bodies of them are also crisscrossed with scribbles and textures. Occasionally Haque’s backspaces also carry marks and doodles and the surface patterns take a bold textured look. However, these characteristics do not hamper the spacious quality of his works, and this specialty remains Mahmudul Haque’s personal imprint.
Perhaps the works of this artist could also be identified from as many artworks solely by his choice of colours. Not that Mahmudul Haque uses such colours which are not used by other painters, on the contrary, not one or two colour could be named as his favourite ones. What seems to be his distinctiveness in the use of colour is the combination of very unlikely two or three shades of colours in his paintings. Thus his paintings acquire a quality of unique visual look and provide the spectator with a mixed feeling, which at the same time appear indistinct but distantly familiar.
In this age of fragmentation and hybridization art perhaps will continue to flourish in diverse ways and directions. Abstraction seems to be one approach which will continue to survive and its progress will depend on its adaptation and transformation with the passing of time. Artists like Mahmudul Haque will hopefully pioneer this progress and the current exhibition of the artist’s contemporary works could well be a significant step towards that.