East and West Meet

Group art exhibition in Papermill Gallery in Toronto

Artworks by Ifftikhar Uddin Ahmed (left) and Babul Mahmood. Staff Correspondent

As part of the annual juried exhibition, Papermill Gallery in Toronto has organized a group art exhibition featuring the works of several Bangladeshi expatriate painters. The exhibition was inaugurated on August 1 and will continue till August 12. Curators, critics and artists were present at the opening ceremony.

The featured artists are Iftikhar Uddin Ahmed (Bangladesh), Babul Mahmood (Bangladesh), Syed Nazmul Alam (Bangladesh), Shahadat Hossain (Bangladesh), Maria Lucia Amaral, Janice Arnott, Penny Barr, Sylvia Chan, Nadra Chapman, Margaret Chown, Molly Crealock, Tiffany Dawe, Susan Eck, Karen Evans, Myra Evans, David French, Donna Gordon, Jeanne Isley, Jamil Kalim, J.J. Kirolos, Drew Klassen, Bernadette Leno, Kimberley Lily White, Michelle Mackinnon, Susan R Makin, Quin Mccolgan, Liz Menard, Michael Monize, Liane Odze-Silver, Jane Orr Novotny, Leslie Pearson, Rita Ridaz Lepsi, Ranjit Sidhu, Patricia Stamp, Nicholas Stirling, Shelby Taylor, Swapnali Thakar and others.

Among the Bangladeshi expatriate painters, Iftikhar Uddin Ahmed and Babul Mahmood are well recognised in the Bangladeshi art scene.

Iftikhar Uddin Ahmed began his artistic career as a semi-abstract painter after the completion of his MFA in 1986, from the Institute of Fine Arts (now Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka). He believes in symbolism. His forms and motifs have a specific explanation. From the commencement of his career, wheels, horses and watches have appeared in his works. These elements symbolise time, history and power. His works also denote progress and prosperity of a time.

Babul Mahmood has concentrated on the theme of childhood and has tried to capture the theme in different forms, colours and shapes. Spinning tops and flying kites are recurrent features in his acrylic paintings. Clever application of light and shade are apparent accomplishments. Also visible are restless curves, round and square forms, and broken lines.

Swapnali Thakar has gone with figurative expressionism. The artist likes to experiment with figures. Most of her works are drawing based and lines are a prominent aspect in her works.

Jamil Kalim is a figurative painter. Most of his works focus on human faces with diverse dimensions. His paintings are engrossed with scribbles and shapes. Some of his works are immersed with rich textured patterns. The painter has used crimson, azure, black and yellow.