Journey of a painter and writer

Syed Iqbal is a renowned painter based in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Toronto, Canada. He is also a popular writer, who has 35 books to his credit in an illustrious four-decade career of writing novels, short stories and fiction. The writer's four books were published in this year's Amar Ekushey Book Fair.

On the other hand, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Canada organised a Benefit Art Auction at its space on April 26, 2018. Bangladeshi artists Syed Iqbal and Tajuddin Ahmed's multiple artworks were selected for the auction. The gallery also selected artworks by 36 renowned expatriate Canadian artists from across the world including Indian master artist Syed Haider Raza. This is a matter of pride for Bangladeshis that the Art Gallery of Mississauga, Canada, has nominated our artworks for the auction, according to the writer- painter.     

“For the last six years, I have been writing books on the settings of Toronto, Montreal and New York,” says Syed Iqbal. “Bengali people have now scattered all around the world and I try to depict their stories in my writings.” Containing selected short stories for the juvenile, a book titled Notun Muktijoddha Rodoshi was published recently in Bangladesh Shishu Academy Anthology.

Another novel named Cynthia Brittanto is a triangular love story, and reflects on Cynthia's personal likings, pains, love and self understanding.

“I regularly write on diverse themes of fiction for a weekly magazine. The book titled Kaler Kheyaye Syed Iqbal is a compilation of my works published by The Royal Publishers,” says the artist.

Syed Iqbal believes that the number of quality galleries has become scarce in Dhaka. “I exhibited my works at Bengal Gallery, Dhanmondi in 2001 and 2013. The galleries of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Bangladesh National Museum are standard, but soon after the opening of the shows, visitors hardly come and sale of artworks is abysmally poor,” complains Iqbal. 

The veteran has been working on the series Mindscape for a long time. “It is like my personal diary of life,” says Iqbal. In protest of Global Warming, he has been working on another series, Tears of Nature for the last 15 years. Depicting life sketches and philosophies of Lord Buddha, another series called Gautama was also a project by Syed Iqbal. “Hindu mythical characters like Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesh and others are recurrent subjects of my paintings. Indian and Pakistani buyers in Toronto have taken a great liking to my artworks,” says Iqbal fondly. He recalls designing covers for 200 books for the Amar Ekushey Book Fair this year itself. Even though the artist now resides in Canada, his heart remains in his motherland, Bangladesh.