Artist Ashif Hossein believes in staying true to one's roots. Completely in love with colours, his culture and the idea of secularism, Hossein, a graduate of the Government College of Arts, Kolkata, has come up with a set of paintings — “Rhythm of Colours”. His first solo exhibition which recently concluded at Delhi's Studio Vasant portrayed his thoughts on life and the past. Hossein uses frames in his paintings to show two lives, the past is delineated through people/objects inside the frame and the present outside it . These frames lend an inventive feel to his sepia tinted works.
Hossein employs three colours primarily — black, brown and white with dashes of blue and red. He dabbles with water colours and makes some unique shades.
Kolkata-based Hossein is a born painter. He started to draw and paint much before he learnt to read and write. The 25-year-old artist believes, “to be a true artist one has to go through a lot of struggle, and it is this struggle, which polishes an artist.”
He also reveals the secret of the magic on his canvas. “I fuse brown and black together for an antique look, white adds space whereas blue gives depth and red brings life to the painting.”
Hossein paints with his imagination. In one of his most attractive paintings, he portrays “two hearts of India, Mahatma Gandhi and India Gate”. Beautifully drawing the relation between the two, he shows Gandhi, all smiles, walking with a newspaper in his hand, while India Gate forms the backdrop. The newspaper carries the news of India's Independence!
In his favourite painting “Depth of Temple”, he depicts that there is no religion whose depth can be measured, and God does not allow His people to interfere with other's religion and judge them by their limited knowledge.
A few works in this show also focussed on the three metros of India — Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. He also ‘frames' the arrival of sleek, stylish metro in his works, contrasting the modern with the past.
There is a sense of completenessand tranquillity in his paintings. , Hossein paints for the love of painting and does not care about monetary benefits. Inspired by his mother' words, “to be the best and not ordinary,” Hossein hopes to create a niche for himself “one day”.
