KMA Quayyum is a romantic and naturist painter. His works bring to life greenery, flora and other wonders of nature. He is known for his subtle, alluring works. Quayyum had his breakthrough in the '70s.
His solo art exhibition, titled "Line & Life" opens today at Galleri Kaya, Uttara, in the city.
Vivid colour and delicate tonal effects is the main feature of his paintings. Quayyum's works are rich with varied lines, tree trunks, wrinkly bark, wild flowers, fish, leaves, ropes, papers, stones, boats, snails and much more. The images come across as parts of waves, at times.
Quayyum's works are seemingly time consuming and the artist goes great lengths to detail his subjects. His themes are associated with human emotions and imagination. The images soothe the viewer's soul for their enchanting compositions and sensual forms.
Quayyum is inclined to use a canvas for depicting untamed nature and various aspects of nature. Losing himself in the natural world, the artist frequently takes themes from this affluent source and plays with shades and textures on canvas. He occasionally likes to experiment with diverse vague and plain forms, and enjoys breaking and constructing them in many ways. Budding flowers as well as dense forests are recurring features in his paintings.
In many of Quayyum's works, one finds a great interchange between abstract and realistic forms.His very picturesque and appealing natural observation is profoundly embedded in Quayyum's psyche and his acrylic and mixed media based paintings are created spontaneously by his skilled hands brushed with colours in the easels.
The painter uses close-up views of the branches of trees containing patches of florets of different colours and then interferes with the work by splashing colour pigments.
Quayyum's continuous experimentation gives a novel look to his works. The paintings are done in mixed media on paper and board, watercolour on paper, pen and ink on paper and acrylic on canvas. His works are decorative and engrossed with many inflexible and rigid compositions.
The artist, however, should be more judicious in using space and avoid unnecessary ornamentation. The artist's works appear more patterned, which is why space is very limited in them. Quayyum's paintings need more freedom.
Quayyum's works are often regarded as pure abstract and occasionally semi-realistic. His lines are occasionally straight, and frequently curved and scribbled. It seems that lines denote triumph and agony from his gathered experiences.
As an abstract expressionist and semi-realist, the painter's focus is on colour and its various facets. He also experiments with unstructured forms and vague compositions, which are scrupulously used in his works. The artist has applied colours softly; piling up thick and at times thin layers on the canvas, and has created images that are bold and dynamic.
Strong brush strokes make a textural state in his works which have not been intentionally done. At times, he deliberately creates a texture according to the paintings' distinctive requirements. He concentrates more on the application aspect and this trait creates a personal hallmark for his creations. The exhibition ends on November 19.
The writer is an art critic
and cultural curator.
