Nusrat Jahan Nazlee is an ardent painter who likes to portray our glorious Liberation War, Language Movement, boat, heritage, still life, the eternal beauty of the motherland and flora and fauna thru her personal scrutiny and deep study. She provides enough time to produce a painting. It can be easily comprehended that her paintings are time-consuming, cerebrally sound and thought-provoking. Most of her works are collage based (Clothes, sticks in different categories, net, locking loops, pages of diaries, torn clothes etc). She has used varied materials and natural stuffs in her paintings.
Most of Nazlee's works have a great tendency towards experimentation of various themes and objects. Besides works produced by mixed media, Nazlee has also contributed several collage-based paintings for the exhibition. She is comfortable in acrylic medium as it gives her an opportunity to enjoy its liberty and suppleness. She spends enough time whenever she is to complete a piece of mixed media painting. Observing her works thoroughly, one can easily feel the apparently lucid tonalities running smooth before the eye. She tries to express her feelings through simple realistic articulation, though shades differ from time to time in her works. The exhibition discloses life's elation, thrill, vibration, depression, peace and other poetic aspects of both rural and urban life.
Nazlee takes a passion in meticulous curation of rural and cultural heritage with vibrant shades. Her paintings are revitalising and offer the viewers with a sense of bliss. Her depictions are jovial and have the right kind of resilience, that is to say, she knows where to bring things to an end. In her checquered career, she has developed a unique style where varied materials (collected from different sources) have been pasted over the paintings to bring a novel-cum-pure realistic appearance. The style's authenticity gives her a freedom to express her creativity properly. She draws pleasure from painting which moves her creative soul and enables her to translate language, colour and composition. In the process, the viewer gets to know about the artist's individuality and mental state at the time of painting.
Nazlee's show also includes paintings that have ancient doors-windows with locks, boat, Palki (palanquin), musical instruments, a bunch of books done in different shades like blue, gold, yellow, purple and brown. Her bold use of colours stirs up the spirit, encourages an inner dialogue, conjures up raw emotions and search for eternal truth and meaning of self. Some of her paintings have been done in golden, ochre, fuchsia, deep purple, blue and yellow. The artist has managed to give each of the artwork a distinct essence and character.
Nazlee portrays nature and its mysterious phases through her personal notion, experience and thought process. The articulation in her works comes naturally as she has adopted a unique language for her own way of expression. Her paintings are chronicles of her inner feelings and intense observation of life and reminiscence. Her manipulation of forms, lines and refined brush strokes create a language simultaneously natural and contrived. Her palette swings between mellow and bold, strokes between rugged and controlled conjuring up a visual playground for joy and ecstasy.
When Bangladesh hosted the Cricket World Cup, Nazlee felt the same stern pride and loyalty to her motherland that works within her apparently at the thought of the Liberation War. "It was amazing how a few scores and wickets by the young Bangladeshi cricketers had resulted in ecstasy amongst 16 crore people. The reason was simple; it was for the love of their motherland. These young cricketers who had not seen much in their lives were ones responsible for such joy for our country and its people. Similarly, on the eve of 25th March 1971, many young mothers left their mothers shelter to sacrifice their lives in the hopes of bringing freedom for their fellow brethren, " said Nazlee.
Along with the World Cup, the artist also got deep inspiration from the book "Ekattor er Chithi", which has been published from Prothoma, a sister concern of the national daily Prothom Alo. "Everyday through various media we get to learn about the war of independence and my heart always goes out to the families of those young freedom fighters. But this time during the World Cup, my love and feelings rose even more for my country. After reading the book "Ekattor er Chithi" (Letters from 1971), I couldn't hold my emotions," the artist noted.
Nazlee's earnest paintings illustrate the pain and heroism of the gallant freedom fighters with each of her canvases being attached with letters from "Ekattor er Chithi," to permit spectators a full, and honest glimpse into the stories behind each of the paintings. She wants to propagate the narrative of sacrifices made by brave fighters of our land while they were still young. Every one of us including the future generation, the children can get a sense of how we are enjoying liberation at the present time. "I have also portrayed my love for the Creator and the beauty of His creation in the form of art," she said.
Under the title "Creation, Peace and Wounders", the 7th solo exhibition of noted painter Nusrat Jahan Nazlee was inaugurated on April 20 at Gallery Chitrak in Dhanmondi. The exhibition ends tomorrow.
