When striking a balance becomes a interventional strategy
Amitab Sarker orchestrates atemporal, spatial configurations that align with aesthetics of the abstract. His approach is methodical and deliberate, reflecting a strong academic influence. His canvases embody a commitment to proportion, balance, and restraint, where his vision comes alive through the medium of colour and texture.
Amitab is a soft-spoken individual, and this measured demeanour is evident in his work. His artistic imagination is deeply rooted in the social fabric of his upbringing. Raised in the Sundarbans, his deep connection to nature is transformed into a visual topography on his canvases, illustrating the interplay between human intellect/emotion and the whims of nature. His body of work reflects a natural inclination towards harmony and balance, while a subtle gesture of spontaneity occasionally emerges, mostly with a hint of unease.
Amitab often resorts to geometric shapes and repetitive patterns to bring order to the chaos, both internal and external. These barely discernible ruptures, conveyed through rough strokes and seemingly accidental drips, are carefully controlled. His overriding sense of balance reconciles potential turbulence into a calm, though sometimes restrained resolution.
With regard to texture, his canvases reveal the disciplined control of a thoughtful, perhaps anxious, mind, consciously suppressing any volatility of desire. Though his compositions are contained and constrained, they are imbued with an inherent poetry, evident in the lyrical interplay of shapes, forms, and colours.
Amitab’s past seamlessly merges with his present, evident in the fluid shapes inspired by rural Khulna that adapt to the rigidity of urban architecture without losing their underlying sensitivity. This sensibility consistently manifests in the steady rhythm and meter observed in the interaction between forms and colors.
His experiments with clay reflect his lived experience, serving as a culturally rooted medium of expression. The influence of living in mud houses and later working with urban construction is apparent in his forms. His deliberate yet unrefined physical gestures on three-dimensional surfaces suggest a realist approach, where the finesse of his work redeems itself as a testament to his love of labour.
In his first solo exhibition, Amitab exposes himself in all his naivety. We wait in eager anticipation to see which path he will choose to further develop his art practice.
Sharmillie Rahman