Beyond the Horizon at Alliance Française de Dhaka

Promising artist Pervaj Hasan Rigan's first solo exhibition titled “Beyond the Horizon” at Alliance Française de Dhaka predominantly upholds the pain of life and seeks emancipation from it through mingling his existence with the universe.

In his series work, “The Captive Soul-5”, Rigan displays a meditative sage facing pain while controlling his five senses in the quest of cosmic practice. “The Beautiful Curse” is another series where the artist has depicted a human being getting depleted with the infinite universe. It represents that the human soul is immortal, which craves for uniting with the eternal soul or the whole. Rigan thinks all living beings are moved towards the universe.

Taking snake as a symbol of immortality, he has portrayed the truth of the immortality of creation. In his self-portrait, “Freedom of Soul” (Charcoal on Canvas), he has exerted his academic deft of depicting realistic work.    

The artist has depicted rest of all his works on oil on canvas. His paintings contain a special game of light and shade like the masterpieces of Rembrandt. His figurative works are bold, kinetic and suggestive of the works of Baroque. “The Homosepiense” series by Rigan upholds denuded anatomy of the primitive human body afflicted with pain.

Rigan explains that he wants to relay the painful experiences of human beings through his artistic efforts. Solo oil painting exhibitions are on the wane in Bangladesh. Rigan, with his dedicated efforts and academic expertise, has progressively accomplished the works. The audience can get the illusion of fine oil colour together with fantastic figurative expressions at the show.

The exhibition is open from 3pm to 9pm and ends today.

The writer is an Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Oriental Art, Dhaka University.