Cultural Desk

Alliance Francaise de Dhaka will organise a solo painting exhibition titled ' Searching for Space by Iftikhar Uddin Ahmed'.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition will be held on Friday at 5:30 pm at its La Galerie.

Prof. Rafiqun Nabi, eminent artist, will attend the event as the chief guest.

Iftikhar Uddin Ahmed’s works are a dialogue between the past and the present, marked by an intelligent use of broken lines, doodles and textures. The element of time is manifest in the presence of wheels, broken pillars, clocks, and keys, in his semi-abstract compositions.

Iftikhar Udin Ahmed was born in Dhaka in 1960. After completing his master’s in Drawing and Painting from the Institute of Fine Arts in 1986, he availed a French government scholarship for higher study in modern painting at Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris, France (1993 – 1994). Ahmed’s awards include First prize in Painting, Artists of the World, Galerie Bennanos, Paris (1994), Honourable Mention Awards in the 9th Asian Art Biennale (1999), Bangladesh Charushilpi Sangsad Biennale (2000) and the National Art Exhibition (2001) and many more. Iftikhar Uddin Ahmed is a freelance artist who lives in Canada.

Artist Statement: “I am always searching for space in nature. To live in a dreamy and whimsical world and relate it to the real world is one of my traits. I think space is continuously moving and creates different dimensions on my canvas. I like to experiment with fresh and novel themes that impact on my works.

My paintings are marked by the use of, at times, almost conflicting colors, but my which nevertheless maintain a decorous juxtaposition as well as sensitivity of texture. I always indulge in portraying the aesthetic beauty in my mind.

My favorite subject is space moment is another, and one of the motifs that reappear in my paintings is the stairs, wheels, circle, ancient Egyptian symbolic and pyramid form something that symbolizes space, history, and time. I closely observed all kinds of changing in my surrounding atmosphere.

I try to capture my personal sufferings, aguish and despair. My lines are sometimes broken or appear as doodles, various familiar and unfamiliar forms are also scattered everywhere on the surface. Sometimes circle, triangle form, broken pillars, columns or unknown object appears in the middle of the and different composition. Adjacent columns,triangle form, broken pillars, subtle images, soft

and glowing colors also create a panoramic I'm pact in my creations. Hopes, aspirations, dreams and nightmares are feelings and experiences evoked with passion. I allow all these ingredients to frequent my canvases in various symbolic ways.”

The exhibition will be open to all till Friday, 30 September 2022.

Visiting Hours: Monday to Saturday from 3:00pm to 9:00pm. Closed on Sunday.