By Aminul Islam Mirja
NEW DELHI, Jan 25, 2020 (BSS) – The India-Bangladesh arts exhibition have
attracted huge visitors at the India Habitat Centre as the art lovers of all
ages gathered at the venue to have a glimpse of the art works of the
prominent artists of the two countries.
The nine-day exhibition styled “Confluence: Celebrating India-Bangladesh
Printmaking” began at the Visual Art Gallery of India Habitat Centre on
Thursday “with an aim to facilitate an engaging experience creating multiple
exposure to various facets of the art of printmaking”.
Printmaking is an art form consisting of the production of images, usually
on paper but occasionally on fabric, parchment, plastic, or other support, by
various techniques of multiplication.
Art works of 24 eminent contemporary printmaking artists from Bangladesh
and India along with two great modern masters — late Somenath Hore from
India and late Safiuddin Ahmed from Bangladesh — is being displayed in the
exhibition.
On the sidelines of the exhibition, talks, on-loop videos on printmaking
and its techniques and sections on history of printmaking are being organized
to boost the awareness about this often-misconstrued medium of fine arts.
Talking to BSS, Lubna Sen, founder of The Art Route and Curator of the
Exhibition said the theme has been selected to complement this endeavor of
increasing the awareness regarding printmaking in Indian sub-continent.
She said that art and culture of India and Bangladesh have always been
inextricably linked to each other in aesthetics, historical toots and
chronological growth. “This shared history also plays an important role in
development of the art and printmaking”.
Lubna said the event ‘Confluence’, which literally suggests a place where
two rivers meet, will explore the dialogue which still continues amongst the
printmakers of the two nations, creating overlaps in their individual
evolutionary journeys.
Prof Nasir Hossain, another curator from Bangladesh however, said that such
type of exhibition will increase people-to-people contact and help boost
technical know-how of the young artists about the contemporary arts of the
sub-continent.
He emphasized on frequently organizing such event in other countries of the
region to let the people know about the history of art and its techniques in
the region.
The Bangladeshi artists whose art works are being displayed in the
exhibition are- Abul Barq Alvi, Anisuzzaman, Mahmudul Haque, Monirul Islam,
Nagarbasi Barman, Rafiqun Nabi, Rashid Amin, Rokeya Sultana, S.M
Rokonuzzaman, Saidul Haque Juisi, Shahid Kabir and Wakilur Rahman.
However, art works of the Indian artists — Ajit Seal, Ananda Moy Banerji,
Anant Nikam, Dattatreya Apte, Kavita Nayar, Moti Zharotia, Salil Sahni,
Sukhvinder Singh, Surender K Mishra, Sushanta Guha, Vijay Bagodi and Walter
D’Souza — are being displayed there.
The visitors mainly included teachers and students of various art
institutions and art lovers in the country.