Composition is a 2008 painting by Syed Abul Barq Alvi. Against melancholic earthy tones, he used his line drawings to bring out the tortured soul in us. His quiet personality becomes alive in his nuanced palate and leaves us with a hollow in our chest. The relation between space and void unsettles viewers and takes us in a space within space. It’s a song of bruised soul and a confession of a tranquil strength. .
Syed Abul Barq Alvi
Syed Abul Barq Alvi was born in 1949 in Pabna, Bangladesh. He discovered his skill in drawing at an early age after getting enrolled with the children’s organization Kochi Kanchar Mela. He later went on to graduate from the Government College of Arts and Crafts in Dhaka, in 1967. In a cultural exchange program, Alvi studied printmaking under Michael Ponce-de-Leon. In 1983-84, he did post-graduate research under Naomi Asakur at the Tsukuba University in Japan. Alvi is twice the recipient of the National Book Center Award. He received the Megothi award (1981), the Agrani Bank Award (1996), and the S M Sultan Padak (2008). Abul Barq Alvi is a retired professor in the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka.
Composition
Artist Art Style
Syed Abul Barq Alvi received his degree in printmaking and went on to explore the vast sea of art and paintings. The trauma of the liberation war of Bangladesh impacted his artistic style and expression deeply. Jumping between abstraction and organized chaos he revealed his excellency in carefully crafted geometry of landscapes with loosely juxtaposed organic shapes.