The decade of the fifties was, by all accounts. an eventful one in the history of Bangladesh art. not only was modernism established as a concept that engaged the artist's mind , a search for meaning was also begun that rejected common symbolism while interperting tradition in newer light. The search led artist to their individual destinations -- if any felt that destinatios had been arrived at that is. For Syed Jahangir, the search opened up interior spaces -- spaces that are vast, silent, primordial, but nevertheless inviting. Over the years, Jahangir has preoccupied himself with an exploration and a reconstruction of that space ; but just as the basically formless expanse of that space difies any attempts to formulate it in arecognizeable patterns , Jahangir's canvas also give evoling from shape to shape, from expresion to newer expresions, From cubist and surrealist composition of his post graguation days (1955-1957) to the subtly mystical, calligraphy - prone patterns of his most recent works, Jahangir has been making and remaking himself his constant urge to to experiment , to create something new his strenth -- this is what makes him the formidable artist that he is.
Syed Jahangir is one of the intiators of modernism in our country, an early ground-breaker, who has given the concept his own distinctive treatment. Merenism. for Jahangir , meant a questioning and exploring attiude , an awareness of time, place and history implies not so much rejection as transcendence , he is an artist whos roots are firmly spread in his comunity, but who feels the community's aesthetic identity needs an overhauling. Among Jahangir's favourite motifs are cubes and diamonds that cluster to dominate the canvas (he usually presents them in bright colors during the late fifitesand early sixties, For us, these shapes represents both the muti -dimentionality of our life (the community always has many dimentions ) as well as a search for perfection. Jahangir mordernism is a statement on time, place and history achieved throught form, space and colour, Syed jahangir has also been distinguieshed by his use of colour. He started with strong color, continued till the early seventies. But eventually, after the libaration of bangladesh, Jahangir began exploring a new theme, driven by the traumatic event that marked the nine month period of the libaration war. In 1974 -- if we can put a date to it -- he moved on to newer palette, choosing blue, green, yellow and some red, depicting the socio-economic as well as the emotional states of the country at the time. He has since work several serial expresstion of perticular themes, such as Rejuvention of a soul Estasy Vibaration, In the quest of the unknown , Nature in Rhythm , Inner Structues and finally the the mystical calligraphy -prone series of pattrens that constitute his most recent work he still keeps a swring space around the edges of his canvas, imparts intense dynamism of his forms. Sometimes they seem to interlock, or disintegrate into newer forms or simply keep swimming in the space, But what they accomplish is engagethe viewer's attention in the manner that recalls children's fascination with Kaleidoscopic images. Jahangir's Kaleidoscopic are image of our memory fantasy and desire. as well as our potentials that lie deep inside the locked up psysche. it can be said all fairness about Jahagir's work: we are never easy in front of them. They have a life that pulsates and vibrates the hidden string of our being. We get involved in their life -- intllectually and emotionally.
In a sense, Jahangirs Journey into the interior space took a recognizeable shape when he was confornted with reality's darked challenges, Jahangir has beena pioneer professional artist--for 22 yearrs,until he took up a positon as the director of fine Arts with Bangladesh Academy of Fine and performing Arts in1977 he lived on his work. He therefore became more involved with his work, spending his days and nights thinking about the execution of a thought, of ways to register the most fleeting of thoughts.Strangely, however, this involvement did not lead to any premeditated expression, in the sense that the individual canvas was not pre-conceived or sketched before paint was applied to it--as is the practice with some artists-- although the theme was very much in his mind. His premeditation was larrely reated to the ontolory and essencr of the work, and not its definite expressions. when jahangir paints, his mind gropes for ashape, then grapples with the nuances and the lineament, the essence, so to say , transforming into existence.
When Syed Jahangir went to USA in in 1958,he came across another kind of space-- the vast emptiness of new Mexico desert, or the Grand Canyon, for example . To this exprience was added his understanding of how other artists viewed space, and executed their ideas in line, from and color. Jahangir visited numerous art gallaries and museums in the USA to see exhibitions of mordern art. His watercolors of the time -- superb examples of versatility and control -- record visions of that unlimited space . Jahangir's watercolours were executed by the fast moving brush but their dustribution was always matter of an internal arrangement . their rich transparancy was ensured by this dynamic arrangement.
Perhaps this interrelationship of colour made Jahangir aware of other posibilities. For when he worked in oil, he often subsumed one colour under another. Thus they become not simply representations, but statements of a mood, or a thought or an emotion . His sixties treatment of Innocence , Love or Happiness has such power as to take care our imagination to an actual contemplation of these emotions and feelings. Towards 1968, Syed Jahangir found another means of executing his dynamic vision : he prefected a mosaic - like composition where an inner layer of paint was exposed in diffrent areas when he removed patches of the outer layer with a spatula. The result was an inner outer dialectic that expressed his ideas on time, or existence in dynamic manner.
Syed Jahangir's art displays a consistency that escape a casual viewer . A long exposure to his work only can reveal the inner bonds that tie his diffrent phases, the various shreds of his apprently unrelated themes. The outbrust of vibrant energy that charecteries his early canvas has become mellowed and more organized into rhythmic expositions of the inner life of nature , for example, in his 1994 pieces Inner Structure - I and Inner Structure - ii Some traits remain constant, however , like bold outlines; sharply painted areas that stand out a bearers of some important meaning despite overlappings; the bold colours --swirling and dancing the dynamic interlocking partners ; the poigant empty areas around the edges -- wherever they occur, for example . The artist in Jahangir has accomplished a lot but it is never satisfied ; may be the man inside keeps driving the artist to ever new areas.
Syed Jahangir's latest phase is indicative of an intense involvenment with form and design ; colour and line particularly in the use of pagment -- from plain tonal surface to broken lines, reminiscent of Van Gogh's brush strokes, essance and experience, as before ; but this time he has bought his search to a newer region where possibilities are infinite . To describe this area only as mystical or transcendental will be seriously delimiting his creativity. Let us call this a region of the infinite , where finite man discovers all the elements of transcendance . But the evolving chemistry of this transcendence is someting only the artist knows, since
he is both at the centre of this encounter and at its periphery at the same time.
The Present Collection titled Syed Jahangir brings together a number of paintings that represents his entire opus . They reveal his life's work and also point to a recent shift towards a more mystical understanding of life, and experince. As the finite man's attempt to relate to the infinite and the enternal begins to take shape , the emotions that well up inside him grope for symbolism . for a tragible support that would work as a bulwark against dissolutions or erasure. The calligraphic images are both symbols of khowledge that man has been handed over through generations , As well as personal revelations that convey his epiphany and wonder. Jahangir has used luminous colours and vibrant lines to suggest the epiphanic nature of the revelations, and strong lines and interlocking patterns to root that experience in tradition. The paintings consequently have profound depth and movement, and are almost cosmic in their dimention. They prove that the artist in Jahangir finds his release in continual search into unknown.
Syed Jahangir And:
His Work His Vision
The decade of the fifties was, by all accounts. an eventful one in the history of Bangladesh art. not only was modernism established as a concept that engaged the artist's mind , a search for meaning was also begun that rejected common symbolism while interperting tradition in newer light. The search led artist to their individual destinations -- if any felt that destinatios had been arrived at that is. For Syed Jahangir, the search opened up interior spaces -- spaces that are vast, silent, primordial, but nevertheless inviting. Over the years, Jahangir has preoccupied himself with an exploration and a reconstruction of that space ; but just as the basically formless expanse of that space difies any attempts to formulate it in arecognizeable patterns , Jahangir's canvas also give evoling from shape to shape, from expresion to newer expresions, From cubist and surrealist composition of his post graguation days (1955-1957) to the subtly mystical, calligraphy - prone patterns of his most recent works, Jahangir has been making and remaking himself his constant urge to to experiment , to create something new his strenth -- this is what makes him the formidable artist that he is.
Syed Jahangir is one of the intiators of modernism in our country, an early ground-breaker, who has given the concept his own distinctive treatment. Merenism. for Jahangir , meant a questioning and exploring attiude , an awareness of time, place and history implies not so much rejection as transcendence , he is an artist whos roots are firmly spread in his comunity, but who feels the community's aesthetic identity needs an overhauling. Among Jahangir's favourite motifs are cubes and diamonds that cluster to dominate the canvas (he usually presents them in bright colors during the late fifitesand early sixties, For us, these shapes represents both the muti -dimentionality of our life (the community always has many dimentions ) as well as a search for perfection. Jahangir mordernism is a statement on time, place and history achieved throught form, space and colour, Syed jahangir has also been distinguieshed by his use of colour. He started with strong color, continued till the early seventies. But eventually, after the libaration of bangladesh, Jahangir began exploring a new theme, driven by the traumatic event that marked the nine month period of the libaration war. In 1974 -- if we can put a date to it -- he moved on to newer palette, choosing blue, green, yellow and some red, depicting the socio-economic as well as the emotional states of the country at the time. He has since work several serial expresstion of perticular themes, such as Rejuvention of a soul Estasy Vibaration, In the quest of the unknown , Nature in Rhythm , Inner Structues and finally the the mystical calligraphy -prone series of pattrens that constitute his most recent work he still keeps a swring space around the edges of his canvas, imparts intense dynamism of his forms. Sometimes they seem to interlock, or disintegrate into newer forms or simply keep swimming in the space, But what they accomplish is engagethe viewer's attention in the manner that recalls children's fascination with Kaleidoscopic images. Jahangir's Kaleidoscopic are image of our memory fantasy and desire. as well as our potentials that lie deep inside the locked up psysche. it can be said all fairness about Jahagir's work: we are never easy in front of them. They have a life that pulsates and vibrates the hidden string of our being. We get involved in their life -- intllectually and emotionally.
In a sense, Jahangirs Journey into the interior space took a recognizeable shape when he was confornted with reality's darked challenges, Jahangir has beena pioneer professional artist--for 22 yearrs,until he took up a positon as the director of fine Arts with Bangladesh Academy of Fine and performing Arts in1977 he lived on his work. He therefore became more involved with his work, spending his days and nights thinking about the execution of a thought, of ways to register the most fleeting of thoughts.Strangely, however, this involvement did not lead to any premeditated expression, in the sense that the individual canvas was not pre-conceived or sketched before paint was applied to it--as is the practice with some artists-- although the theme was very much in his mind. His premeditation was larrely reated to the ontolory and essencr of the work, and not its definite expressions. when jahangir paints, his mind gropes for ashape, then grapples with the nuances and the lineament, the essence, so to say , transforming into existence.
When Syed Jahangir went to USA in in 1958,he came across another kind of space-- the vast emptiness of new Mexico desert, or the Grand Canyon, for example . To this exprience was added his understanding of how other artists viewed space, and executed their ideas in line, from and color. Jahangir visited numerous art gallaries and museums in the USA to see exhibitions of mordern art. His watercolors of the time -- superb examples of versatility and control -- record visions of that unlimited space . Jahangir's watercolours were executed by the fast moving brush but their dustribution was always matter of an internal arrangement . their rich transparancy was ensured by this dynamic arrangement.
Perhaps this interrelationship of colour made Jahangir aware of other posibilities. For when he worked in oil, he often subsumed one colour under another. Thus they become not simply representations, but statements of a mood, or a thought or an emotion . His sixties treatment of Innocence , Love or Happiness has such power as to take care our imagination to an actual contemplation of these emotions and feelings. Towards 1968, Syed Jahangir found another means of executing his dynamic vision : he prefected a mosaic - like composition where an inner layer of paint was exposed in diffrent areas when he removed patches of the outer layer with a spatula. The result was an inner outer dialectic that expressed his ideas on time, or existence in dynamic manner.
Syed Jahangir's art displays a consistency that escape a casual viewer . A long exposure to his work only can reveal the inner bonds that tie his diffrent phases, the various shreds of his apprently unrelated themes. The outbrust of vibrant energy that charecteries his early canvas has become mellowed and more organized into rhythmic expositions of the inner life of nature , for example, in his 1994 pieces Inner Structure - I and Inner Structure - ii Some traits remain constant, however , like bold outlines; sharply painted areas that stand out a bearers of some important meaning despite overlappings; the bold colours --swirling and dancing the dynamic interlocking partners ; the poigant empty areas around the edges -- wherever they occur, for example . The artist in Jahangir has accomplished a lot but it is never satisfied ; may be the man inside keeps driving the artist to ever new areas.
Syed Jahangir's latest phase is indicative of an intense involvenment with form and design ; colour and line particularly in the use of pagment -- from plain tonal surface to broken lines, reminiscent of Van Gogh's brush strokes, essance and experience, as before ; but this time he has bought his search to a newer region where possibilities are infinite . To describe this area only as mystical or transcendental will be seriously delimiting his creativity. Let us call this a region of the infinite , where finite man discovers all the elements of transcendance . But the evolving chemistry of this transcendence is someting only the artist knows, since
he is both at the centre of this encounter and at its periphery at the same time.
The Present Collection titled Syed Jahangir brings together a number of paintings that represents his entire opus . They reveal his life's work and also point to a recent shift towards a more mystical understanding of life, and experince. As the finite man's attempt to relate to the infinite and the enternal begins to take shape , the emotions that well up inside him grope for symbolism . for a tragible support that would work as a bulwark against dissolutions or erasure. The calligraphic images are both symbols of khowledge that man has been handed over through generations , As well as personal revelations that convey his epiphany and wonder. Jahangir has used luminous colours and vibrant lines to suggest the epiphanic nature of the revelations, and strong lines and interlocking patterns to root that experience in tradition. The paintings consequently have profound depth and movement, and are almost cosmic in their dimention. They prove that the artist in Jahangir finds his release in continual search into unknown.
S.Manzoorul Islam
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