Florance Revisited 05 is a 2004 surrealistic painting by Aminul Islam. The landscape painting is facing towards Ponte Vecchio over Ponte Vecchio over Arno River. While revisiting Florence through history, the birthplace of many renaissance arts, he pays tribute to all the artists who made it the pilgrimage for artists and art lovers. In this reimagination of Florance, he paints the master artists together in one frame sitting on the bank of Arno and working on their famous pieces. He paints Leonardo Da Vinci with his Monalisa and right beside him paints Michaelangelo with his David. He paints the Birth of Venus right there and also brings the crucifixion to life in the world of art. This is his love letter to the artists who inspired him to be the artist he is and a tribute to the land where he bloomed as an artist.
Aminul Islam
Aminul Islam is one of the pathfinders of the Bangladesh modernist movement in 1951. Being born on 7 November 1932, he was among the first graduates of the newly established Dhaka Art School (now Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka).
His introduction to art happened long before that. During his days at Armanitola High School, he started copying Japanese and Chinese art and that was just the start. After passing his matriculation in 1947, he enrolled in Dhaka Art School. He graduated in 1953 and then, with an Italian government scholarship, he completed advanced studies in Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Florence during 1953–1956. He moved backed to Dhaka in 1956 and joined as a faculty member in the Institute of Fine Arts in Dhaka. He became the principal of the institute in 1978 and retired in 1983. He was awarded Ekushey Padak in 1981 and Independence Day Award in 1988 by the Government of Bangladesh.
On 8 July 2011, he died after living eventful life.
Florance Revisited 05
Peeping through Darkness
Peeping Through Darkness is a 1983 surrealistic painting. In this one, Aminul Islam looked into the deeper and darker side of life. Adopting the route of imagination and rethinking he reflected on the everyday life of people of our country. He used contrasting colors and let his subject do the talking. He took us into the depth of misery and held a mirror to see our own reflection in it. Instead of painting whatever is seen, he paints the unseen parts with great care and conviction.
Artist Art Style
Aminul Islam is one of the pioneers who initiated the Bangladesh Modern Art Movement in the 1950s. Throughout his career, his style went through a lot of changes. In his early years, he emphasizes geometric forms of different styles. Later in the 50s, he develops a tactful use of textures and arranges forms on the canvas in an intersecting manner. Whereas in the ’60s, he shifts again to abstract ideas, a choice he explained as an affiliation to Rabindranath Tagore’s discourse on modernity. His style took another sharp turn when he inclines towards a collage consisting of oil, shards of glass, and hard boards.
