“Agony of Ecstasy,” the first solo exhibition of Anisuzzaman Sohel is on at the Dhaka Art Center till September 22, with Wakilur Rahman acting as the curator of the show. The substantial collection displayed is quite thought provoking and intriguing. The pieces lack the usual serene beauty of art, but some of the artworks have a rather grotesque and fascinating appeal to them.
The artist has focused on the materialistic aspects and the negative effects of globalisation. He demands the attention of the audience by representing the horrid reality of the uber consumerist society where people are exploited without being aware of it.
The exhibit has the power to extract the viewers from their comfort zone and wonder about the exploitation and reality behind the glitzy façades posed to attract the mass. It raises questions and prompts the viewers to delve deeper into Sohel’s artistic perspective.
The title of the exhibition “Agony of Ecstasy” is a literal interpretation and in many of the pieces displayed, the artist conveyed that human being are suffocated by the material reality and interpreted money as a pistol or bullet in the battle of social, political and economic field .
Sohel’s criticism of the concept of consumerism and avariciousness is dominant in his artworks, the entire showcasing is a bold representation of the distortions and extortions of the present day.
Sohel has explored the artist within himself and opted to take an “out of the box” step by not choosing his subject to be flower, landscape or abstract composition of sheer colours in his first major show.
The artist developed his language of art, by working for a long time in this series. Sohel worked with acrylic, water colour, pigment pen and computer graphics. His artworks of white human images in the black model board paper give a 3D effect.
About the exhibition, the artist says: “I have done my work in a simplistic manner, so that my message is clear to the mass. I feel blessed to be an artist and am grateful that I have my own language to communicate with the mass and take part in the development of the society.”
Sohel completed his BFA from Institute of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka in 1996 and participated in numerous group exhibitions, in both home and abroad.