Blending of surrealistic metaphors and complexity of human life

Renowned Bangladeshi printmaker Kamruzzaman Sagar has recently bagged Bangkok Print Triennial Award for his thought- provoking lithograph "Restoration" at the 5th Bangkok Triennial International Print and Drawing Exhibition 2019. He received the award from Princess Siribhachudabhorn, commonly known as Princess Ribha. She is the eldest daughter of Princess Chulabhorn Walailak and Virayudh Tishyasarin. The exhibition and the award giving ceremony was held at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Kamruzzaman Sagar is now an Assistant Professor of Printmaking Department at the Faculty of Fine Arts (FFA), University of Dhaka (DU). This year Sagar has also received the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award 2019 at the 23rd National Art Exhibition for his work Global Warming (Lithograph).
Isolation and tranquility are two vital apparatus in the works of Kamruzzaman Sagar, one of the noted contemporary Bangladeshi printmakers. His works delve deep into complexity of human life and he has made a great attempt to blend surrealistic metaphors in his prints. All of his single prints can be divided into several segments and each section denotes a story which is dissimilar to other. His prints explore different avenues of humankind. Aves and human motions are very recurrent features in his prints and his prints are laborious, exhilarating and thought-provoking. The subjects of his works are sometimes in solemn mood and their characteristics are highlighted.

Kamruzzaman's prints appear neat and clean, and always keep away from any over ornamentation. His prints are fresh, unusual and offer the viewers a sense of pure ecstasy and pleasure. His compositions are lively and have the right kind of restraint. He knows where to stop. Lighting is a prominent feature in the prints and the artist generally prefers incandescent light and mystifying setting. His figures look emotive and poignant. His earlier works were more quiet and inexpressive. Then he used to concentrate on mainly the figure. Expressions of the subjects are not quite noticeable in the works. During that time, the painter was concerned with the connection between human isolation and logical explanation. His themes and approaches were closely connected to physiological experiments. He also added illusion and emotion to his works.
However, 'Global Warming' has won him the prestigious award (Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Award 2019) for this year not just because it resonates with the weal and woes surrounding this modern menace. Kamruzzaman has curiously presented the harrowing scenario of loss and isolation in a rather serene and strangely solemn mood keeping up with his typical style. In the print the land appears barren and the landscape desolate. There are but two birds discernible as only breathing beings. Towards the latter half of the land there stands a wooden table with a basket made of straw underneath while one of the only two birds in the picture flies closely over. This portion seems in an altogether different segment and as a mockery to human habitation that has brought about this dire predicament to lives on earth. A glass of drink towards the bottom of the land adds to this fiasco.
In the background there is predominance of a peculiar blue in two even more peculiar phases. The first one probably hints at sea levels covering all kinds of living beings and the latter overarching one at an ominous looming future.
Kamruzzaman Sagar always chooses a certain language in order to explain the stories of his prints lively. He has been enthusiastically studying movements of figures, different birds' forms, and arrangements of compositions for a long time. In this sense, the artist is very cautious about his composition and arrangement of movements. The painter is recognised for his intrepid approach and he crosses great lengths to describe his topics.