monirul islam, “in between” the maestro at work
Jamini is proud to introduce “In Between” with the works of internationally renowned artist Monirul Islam. As a companion piece to our new feature, this article examines the veteran artist’s career, his techniques and creative influences. Also included is a previously unpublished interview with Monir, taken shortly after his inaugural exhibition at the Bengal Art Lounge.
Monirul Islam is our “In Between” artist. A celebrated artist in both foreign and domestic art spheres, his unique style and extraordinary skill has garnered worldwide critical acclaim. We are pleased to feature his original works, Journey Without End (2012), to inaugurate this new feature in Jamini.
Born in 1943 in Chandpur, Monir spent his childhood years surrounded by nature. His love for rural life can be seen in many of his works, both during his formative years as an artist in Bangladesh and later in his career as an expatriate remembering his homeland.
After studying at the Faculty of Fine Arts, at the University of Dhaka, Monir left Bangladesh in 1969 for Spain under an exchange programme with a scholarship provided by the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He spent nine months as a student there, working on murals and frescos and studying the works of masters Goya, Velazquez and Michelangelo.
Monir won an international award in 1972 at the 5th International Exhibition of Prints in Ibizo, Spain. It was the first of many honours the artist would receive in his career. Today, he travels back and forth between his homes and studios in Dhaka and Madrid.
His work has evolved from his early days as a landscape painter and now bears his own signature style. Monir’s erratic use of colours, that both conflict and subtly blend together to create a visually arresting and emotionally charged discourse on canvas, is a key characteristic of his work. He loses himself in his art, letting the demands of his work dictate his method and giving each image an individual appearance.
Monir enjoys working in different mediums but considers print his favourite. “An able artist can work in several mediums,” he says in an interview with the Dhaka Courier, published on August 18, 2012, “There shouldn’t be a set medium for an artist, and the method to articulate an artistic vision should depend on his or her mood and temperament.”
To supplement our “In Between” feature, we have included an unpublished interview, taken following his show, “Of Rupture and Continuity”, at the Bengal Art Lounge’s first exhibition in 2011. Here the artist illuminates the reader on his creative process, reflects on his success and muses on the spirit of his artwork.
Jamini Your show at the Bengal Art Lounge was met with acclaim from critics and art lovers in Dhaka. What are your plans for the future?
Monirul Islam I am in an in between state at the moment. You can say that I am a little lost. I had gone into a creative hibernation as it were, but now the surge of energy for a new awakening is coursing through me. I’m shaking the cobwebs out of my head and going off in a new direction. I am very grateful to the Bengal Art Lounge for providing the space to showcase this kind of experimental work. I pushed back the date quite a few times, and they patiently waited till I was finished and satisfied with what I was doing.
The Bengal Art Lounge opened to the public with your exhibition. How does it feel to be the first artist featured there?
Yes, they inaugurated their new gallery with my exhibition, which is special because people always remember the first show at a gallery. Bengal Gallery’s journey was initiated with Mohammad Kibria’s exhibition and people still talk about that. As for the success of the show that you hinted at, I try not to think about it too much. It may sound glib, but if one is doing something really innovative, it simply cannot be too popular. I can reflect on my work a little better once it’s in the gallery – and then I can clearly detect my problems with line and space, my limited parameter of concerns and subject matter. Personally, I prefer less colour. I’d like to use just black and white, which is perhaps more suitable for a European cosmology and climate. I always say, we are spice-loving people; we are too ornamental. Here, the daily life, at its most basic level, is so hard that we have to colour things up with yellow, green, etc. We need to beautify. It’s part of our cultural identity! Given a choice, we will always go for sugar and not salt, more and not less, polychrome and not dia– or monochrome.
Do you still enjoy painting?
Today, I feel that my biggest success is that despite [considering myself to be] a mediocre artist, I have been making a living from my artwork for the last 40 years! I am just thankful that I could return to painting.
Is it difficult to change mediums?
I have been a printmaker for the last thirty to thirty-five years and it seemed to feel like a trap at some point. There is so much to do in print and so much is happening in that area with rapid technological changes. It’s very hard to take a break or deviate. But changing mediums can bring fecundity and richness to your medium of choice as well. Besides, all great artists work with many different mediums for greater freedom and for a larger range of expressions. Think about Picasso, Miro or Klee – what mediums haven’t they worked in! Getting into a new medium takes just a little longer sometimes. If you want to write something, you have to tame the language first and the language has to come to you slowly, willingly. The paintings I was working on would not flourish or flow freely sometimes. I leaned them against the wall and looked at them intently, and I tried to puzzle it out; and when the answer came, the solution was very simple. The picture started to grow from that point. My personality grew, in a new way, through this batch of works. Of course, not all of those problematic pictures worked out. I had to destroy a lot of those works as well. Destruction is such a normal part of the creative process. But I learned to destroy my own work a little late in life. And now I ritualistically destroy whenever I feel the need to clear the mental clutter or make a little space for serendipity. Sometimes, I make room for an accidental composition by stacking wet pictures on top of each other or dripping colour on them. In short, I employ the whole creative ecology in order to make art.
Before your show at the Bengal Art Lounge opened, word had already gotten out that you had reinvented yourself at this exhibition. Do you feel that’s true about this show?
I am a little weary about empty repetitions. Don’t forget that I am also a printmaker. In order to make prints, I have to consciously replicate the same work again and again. However, I do not want to repeat myself in my paintings. I don’t want to make logo-like paintings with the same elements, the same styles or the same patterns. I have learnt to infuse my personality into my work. You take on influences from the masters: Goya, Velazquez, Picasso, Miro, Klee, etc. But, you work it through the filter of your own personality. Antonio Saura used to take paintings of Goya, and he reworked and recreated them. Soura’s works became masterpieces as well. If there isn’t a layer of ideas on a painting, it’s not going to be art. Each painting is a different world.
Does this view influence and shape your art?
What we do is paint time. Each moment brings new vibrations, a glimpse of the primal reality. Every vision is unique to that moment. You need tremendous powers of concentration to hold onto one of these vibrations, which might manifest itself in an image or a feeling. I always say that art is more powerful than the artist. If the moment doesn’t open up new visions to you anymore, if the art has left you, you can still work but you cannot make art.
Jamini is proud to introduce “In Between” with the works of internationally renowned artist Monirul Islam. As a companion piece to our new feature, this article examines the veteran artist’s career, his techniques and creative influences. Also included is a previously unpublished interview with Monir, taken shortly after his inaugural exhibition at the Bengal Art…