Ranjit Das, who belongs to the late 70s, has his gaze fixed on the course of social life and time as a vehicle for setting in motion the socio-cultural and political drift of the day. The artist has been playing an imperative role to develop the contemporary and cerebral approach to modern Bangladeshi art for a long time. It can be indisputably stated that he is one of the most versatile Bangladeshi painters, equally adept in portraits, landscapes, visual rendering of socio-political and economic issues and other topics of the society.
Ranjit always presents himself in front of us with a novel look. For his unique characteristic, the painter has gone through various phases of experimentation and each process visualises an idiosyncratic artistic view. He is constantly looking for new theme but the produced works also have superb correlations with one another as they appear to be very much obvious in his works.
Ranjit has used charcoal at the current exhibition. It has also been seen that the charcoal based drawings are results of constant experimentations which are part and parcel of his creations. It is very true that the painter takes his paper as the space for articulating his personal observations and experiences. The simple people in rural setting, their daily chores, dreams, torments and ecstasies come to his paintings lively and intimately. The figures which he has drawn at the exhibition have a correlation between each and other. The painter also intimately scrutinised the transforming socio-political and economic conditions of the pastoral people.
Ranjit's work is illuminated by a powerful interplay of figures and space, helped by meticulous lines and contours. At the exhibition, his hallmark style is distinguished by concentration on a particular limb or fraction of the human form and the attached objects. The figures usually in the middle of the paper, sometimes on the side-always come into view in front of a backdrop which is completely realistic. The tension between the two parts is immensely difficult to be obtained and maintained.
It has been deeply detected that Ranjit's figures articulate many moods where melancholy, bliss, rage, sympathetic and unstable emotional states are frequently immersed. He has always had an attempt to provide an emotional delineation in his drawings and he wants to produce drawings that not only describe how we look physically but also capture mental and emotional states. The painter has also projected many animal forms with figural expressions that convey many mind-boggling expressions. Some of his drawings carry a number of figures simultaneously which engage in diverse moods. Distinct figures, noticeable visages and many realistically drawn objects also have been placed in different parts of the paper. Skilled applications of light and shades are apparent in many of his drawings. At the exhibition, the treatment of lines is varied in his works and he has also used blurred lines (sometimes) and tiny objects for adding new dimensions to his creations.
As an exponent of modernism, Ranjit articulates a position of a critique of the social order, first by highlighting the rural masses and their struggle for emancipation and afterwards by expressing discontentment in the social atmosphere as well as revealing the human dilemma in our rustic society.
From the beginning of his career, Ranjit's creative process has been spontaneous, touching, scrupulous and detailed. It should be mentioned that the artist firstly concentrates on his theme then, he pours his labour into other technical aspects. In his professional life, the painter is very much wary of his grist of the mill and its philosophical and cerebral aspects.
