Dwelling on space and emptiness
Works by Wakilur Rahman
Fayza Haq
Wakilur Rahman, a visiting artist from Berlin, talks about his ongoing exhibit at Shilpangan: "This is a perception of space, emptiness, silence, motionlessness, meditation, flatness and minimalism in the context of Eastern philosophy. If we look at the simplicity taught in Buddhism and by Bauls, they emphasise on sacrifices. In Islam's Sufism we see this too. In the life of Bengalis there is a traditional mark of simplicity. As a painter I feel that work should be simple but deep."Most of the works in Rearrangement, his exhibition, Wakil brings in pieces that he has worked over. Thus the works have both old and new elements. He has left out many forms and colours. Many of the works were monotypes over which he has painted. Others are acrylics. "Reason behind the crisis in the modern world is, we consume thoughtlessly in context of our environment. In order to survive in this world we must move towards simplicity. Thus my works have simple lines, forms and space. In my earlier works I used a lot of forms and lines. Now my attitude is to reduce." This time the images, as compared to last year's work, are more reduced and might just bring in a line from the alphabet. Will the viewer understand this? Wakil believes that those viewers who come to see his work will realise that the work makes no direct socio-political comment. He deals basically with space and colours. As an abstract painter his message to the world is "simplify". There are chronological causes for Wakil's works to be abstract. He used to do a lot of figurative work before with socio-political comments. Now he deals with the emptiness in life. In western painting there is a lot of preoccupation with the suffering Christ. The calm and quiet presentation of Buddha, in the east, is more serene. He has studied in China, which has 3000 years of abstraction in the history of its calligraphy, and this has a lot of influence in his work. Wakil's works have been displayed in Germany, France, Norway, Greece, Bulgaria, Japan and Cuba. He has had 14 solo exhibitions so far. He has four awards to his credit.
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Artworks by Wakilur Rahman |