Leafing Through

Storytelling through Colours

Barnali Talukder

Art is an expression of thought and perception of an artist. Art and the artist ultimately merge into oneness representing each other. Sanjoy Dey Ripon portrays this amalgamation in his latest published book entitled 'Chitrokabyokotha'. In an informative way, Sanjoy lines up all the legendary artists of Bangladesh. A number of essays are included in the volume on the artists' lives and their works, starting from Zainul Abedin to contemporaries today.

Sanjoy Dey Ripon has adorned the entire book the way it is done in an art gallery, where portraits of Bangladeshi artists are seen mingling with one another. In the book, the author and artist, Sanjoy, has brilliantly captured the colours, which his projected artists intended to bloom in their paintings. The author also illuminates the concept that art is not for art's sake rather it is a language of lines and colours.

In the essay on the master of art, Zainul Abedin, Sanjoy sketches out his life and art incorporating substantial happenings in his life. The author, through the analysis of Abedin's art, brings out the fact that art is not only a sophistication or abstraction of imagination, but an extreme expression of reality. Zainul Abedin never took part in the Liberation War in 1971, but his paintings always speak for the oppressed. Using only black on white, Abedin depicted the multifarious struggles of human life.

Sanjoy wrote on life and art of another renowned artist, S M Sultan. To this extraordinary artist, art was a platform on which he could gradually transcend the boundaries of the world and mingle with spirituality. The philosophical stand of Sultan is exposed through the author's scrutiny over his paintings. Sanjoy opines that paintings of Sultan celebrate a vastness which rudimentarily arises from the assimilation of man, soil and dream. From Sanjoy's interpretation of Whore-paintings, it can be said that the paintings appear to be like microcosm erupting the essence of macrocosm.

Often reality pervasively engulfs the arena of imagination and becomes prominent. According to the author, Rafikun Nabi represents this aspect of art.

'Chitrakabyokotha' embodies the story of art transforming into a story. Thereupon, this volume of Sanjoy is a gift for readers and students, aiming at nourishing our knowledge of art.

(The writer is a student of English Department, Dhaka University)