The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sheikh Arif Bulbon

Artist Gulshan Hossain has a remarkable ability to add a tactile touch to her canvas through richly textured layout. In her work, texture is not a simply an aspect of her style, but a part of her meaning as well. In most of her paintings in the 'composition series,' the use of rich texture unveils a new dimension to her painting. In paintings on the War of Liberation, or water logging or those that use a collage-like composition involving corrugated boards or small pieces of cotton netting.

Gulshan has never allowed her canvas to take a disoriented look. Her paintings have an aesthetically pleasing and visually rich appeal. These paintings invite the viewers to step inside their world of compulsive images and hinted and textured meaning. Therefore her paintings create a positive frame of mind that doesn't allow despair to win over the possibilities of joy and celebration. Her paintings achieve the fine balance between though and feeling, contemporary concerns and timeless contemplation.

Gulshan Hossain's solo exhibition titled 'Colours of Nature, Rhythm of Life' is being held at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts at Dhanmondi in the city.

The 12-day exhibition was inaugurated by the Spanish Ambassador Arturo Manuel Perez Martinez on October 30. Eminent artist Qayyum Chowdhury and Dean of the Fine Arts Faculty of Dhaka University Prof Rafiqun Nabi were present as special guests on the occasion. Meanwhile, Deputy Managing Director of BRAC Bank Ltd Syed Mahbubur Rahman was also present as guest of honour.

A total of 62 artworks of Gulshan are on display at the gallery in the exhibition. The exhibition displays more than 20 prints -photo-etchings, mono-prints, silkscreen and collographs. The prints were done in England during her academic studies there. The prints are meticulously done and are accomplished pieces of work.

Most of Gulshan's paintings in the exhibition have thus a reflective, even meditative core. They are set at night or in seasons of reflection and celebration (autumn and spring), which helps them attain a mood of tranquillity. Gulshan has a wonderful control on her colours, which she chooses carefully. The series titled 'Spring' is a case in point. Her colours are never loud or clashing, they rather have the appearance of being muted, even when they represent the colours of the most festive season.

Artist Gulshan Hossain completed her master in Political Science from Dhaka University in 1987.

Then she completed her bachelor degree in Drawing and Painting from the University of Development Alternative (UODA) in 2006 and MFA in Drawing and Painting from Winchester School of Art of the University of Southampton in UK.

The exhibition will end on November 10.