Kazi Ghiyasuddin: Painting for peace and harmony

The music of nature, in its infinite majesty, is a continuous inspiration for internationally renowned artist Kazi Ghiyasuddin. He captures nature’s underlying harmony of beauty in his paintings, to project his desire for peace. Producing richly textured canvases, his unique style resonates with delicate, inwardly expanding applications of paint. Watercolour evokes the feelings of poetry while oil delineates the magnanimity of an epic or a vast novel. Kazi Ghiyasuddin adeptly works in both media. He would attach excerpts from the poems of Tagore, Jibanananda Das and others as calligraphy in his works. 

Norwegian ambassador at Bengal Shilpalay.

“If you cannot feel nature and hold its magnanimous beauty, you can never become an artist. Present day artists have deviated from this spirit. When I was a first year (Honours) student, I would frequently go for outdoor works with artist Monirul Islam, Mahbub and our teachers Rafiqun Nabi and Mustafa Monwar,” said Kazi Ghiyasuddin.

Swiss ambassador at Bengal Shilpalay.

He creates masterful compositions observing the beauty of landscapes and forms of nature. Exquisite textures with precise light and shades, centring on the vivid reflections that colours depict with the adjustment of sharpness and tone are evocative of his watercolours. They simultaneously suggest a blend of Eastern and Western taste. He takes forms from nature, but, creates his own. What is distinctive in his work is the technique and treatment of colour. He deconstructs forms and spreads minimal colours on life-sized canvas for his ongoing solo exhibition at Bengal Shilpalay in Dhanmondi.

Photo: Courtesy

Apart from realistic works, his art containing geometric forms, painting within painting, subtle game of light and shade, polar view of the earth, surrealism and absolute abstraction, are on display at the museum-like gallery.

“I paint for my own delight. I want to put together image after image to create an orchestra. Sometimes a cloudy sky looks up with a flash of bright sunlight,” explains the master, “The midday sunshine makes the woods on the riverbank look greener. At dusk that turns more violet or dark green. If these images are deemed surrealistic, then my paintings can also be said to be on the verge of surrealism.”

An individual, gradually getting used to grasping the beauty after careful scrutiny, can realise the hidden beauty that Kazi Ghiyasuddin intends to share with others through his paintings. Here lies the exclusivity and uniqueness of the whole range of works.

“Merely copying nature is not creation. I am inspired by the words of Paul Klee. Turner’s realistic watercolours are fabulous, but, I am moved by the abstract works of Paul Klee. Artist Monirul Islam has a vast volume of watercolour. An exhibition of his works would reveal the secret of watercolour and young artists would benefit,” he added.

The first Monbusho scholar from Bangladesh is also the first recipient of his Ph D from the Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music, Japan. The true professional artist, who has an illustrious career of over five decades, still works eight hours a day. He has four art book publications to his credit. His fifth book is in the offing.

It seems that the long soul searching has eventually landed him to a desired destination, as the current show proves beyond any doubt not only of a convincing signature, but also of the maturity that someone gains only after long years of repeated trials. His exhibition, The Work of Creation, concludes on May 18.