Sound and aroma of nature : The saga of an artistic individual

Renowned Bangladeshi expatriate painter Khurshid Alam Saleem draws inspiration from nature and its various manifestations. He began his career as a pure abstract painter. With the passage of time, the painter has refined himself. Consequently, new lines, techniques, forms and different types of objects have been added to his paintings. The painter left the country for New York in 1987. Prior to his departure for USA, he engaged himself as an abstract expressionist and his themes range from nature to the surrounding ambiance, political turmoil as well as weal and woe of masses. He has also been occupied with several themes in his career. However, his stay in New York triggered his inclination towards nature. Air, water and soil -- all natural elements -- in his view have no dissimilarity no matter where one goes. It can be said that he has not portrayed the nature of any particular region. He has tried to depict universal nature in his works.
Now, Saleem has appeared with collage, a medium which provides him a refreshing mood. Besides painting, he has also been engaging himself with this medium for the last ten years. His collages have carried technical excellence. The painter cannot continue to work with the same medium for a long time. He takes pause and then delves deep into different medium. But this time, he appears with a novel vision. When he muses on a particular medium, he continuously works on this to explore the pros and cons of the medium. Last several years, Saleem has been experimenting with varied kinds of pieces of clothes, papers and materials in his collages. He has used fragments of clothes, rag paper, varied handmade papers, decorative papers, linen cloth and more. He has used acrylic gel when he needed a paste. It is easily discernable that his collages are technically phenomenal, time consuming and cerebrally sound.
In our country, a number of artists have also plunged deep into the laborious medium. Veteran artists Aminul Islam and Murtaja Baseer extensively worked with the medium. The painters created a buzz during the late 60s and the commencing of the 90s of the last century. Artists Monirul Islam, Chandra Shekhor Dey and Mohammad Eunus also demonstrated their creativity with the medium at any one stage of their careers. The medium provides an opportunity to assemble many materials and to observe their effects on paper. Collage in the modernist sense began with cubist painters Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso. Picasso was the first to use the collage technique in oil painting. Braque took up the concept of collage itself before Picasso, applying it to charcoal drawings.  Picasso immediately began to conduct his own experiments in the new medium. Surrealist artists have also made extensive use of collage.
Saleem's collages are meticulously done and have opened a new window for the viewer. He is very much precise and balanced in his use of acrylic shades on the canvas.  Acrylic provides more flexibility and creative freedom than any other type of paint. The pasted collages have added textured relief to many of his collages and have created thick impasto layers (sometimes), when the materials intertwine with other stuffs. Many of his collages provide a translucent look.  
Besides being a good painter, Saleem is also a good technician. He has experimented with techniques and materials to observe their keen effects on canvas. Sometimes it seems he is more conscious about space and forms. The forms give a cerebral and contemplative look into his works. His collages are very expressive due to the effective use of space. Various fragmented forms and scattered collages are visible in his works. His works look very distinctive and imaginative because of his meticulous use of varied forms and deliberate composition. Presently his works can be regarded as abstract- expressionism where forms synchronise deeply with colours, spaces and compositions. His distinctive techniques and compositions allow him to stand apart from his contemporaries.
Saleem is not a figurative painter. He portrays nature and its mysterious phases through his personal notion, experience and thought process. The abstraction in his works is not unpredictable. It comes naturally and he has adopted the language for his unique way of expression. It can be easily said his collages have been recorded through his inner feelings and intense observation of his living place, life and reminiscence. He uses forms, which bring an animated hallmark to his works. His uses of soft colours and polished brush strokes are simultaneously natural and create a language which is alien to us. His colour is mellow and sometimes bold and appears rich and smooth. His soul is always on the lookout for space where the green, azure, red, crimson, off-white and yellow are filled with great joy and ecstasy.
Many of his pieces of clothes and papers, which have been used in his collage, are in different sizes like rectangular, vertical, horizontal, oval, half-curved and oval -curved. The artist has brought many symbols into his collages. Space division in his compositions is dramatic; with big spaces kept flat while smaller areas have several tiny patterns. It is obvious that the artist has spent a considerable time to create the illusion of space.
Saleem's solo collage show is now on at Gallery Twenty One. The exhibition will continue till March 31.