artist writes
Kazi Hasan Habib
An artist's quest is for unravelling the truth which usually remains un-manifested, as it lies beyond what is visible in every-day life. What we fail to notice through our biological vision are exactly these elements that bestow the visible with significance and meaning. And this 'essential reality' is what none but the artists are capable of discovering.
By exploring myriad mediums artists bring into view what is 'real'. The work of every artist reaches a stage where they loose all external differences by excavating sometimes what is concrete, or even what is abstract; sometimes what is generally meaningful, or at times what is simply meaningless. Thus art becomes entwined with 'intention' – what the men of literature prefer to dub as 'purpose', and the artists call 'motive'. The philosophy of art lies at the core of the motive.
Great artists are all skilled in the process of 'internalization', which, in turn, reveals the basic similarity among all forms of art. We discover an impassioned humanity in Rembrandt's work; the same can be detected in the works of Rabindranath and Goethe; similarly Beethoven's symphonies or Zainul's paintings express the very same attitude.
Artists perceive the pictorial and the linguistic expressions as equal. The difference lies only in appearance, not in emotion. Picasso's imagery emerges in concrete form in Apolloniar's poems, or in the words and meters of Amee Cessiar. Put another way, Neruda and Appolllonair's poems have been given a decisive shape through colours and contours in Picasso's paintings.
As an artist I have come to this realization that, every artist's true calling is to contemplate both the known and the unknown while making an effort to unearth the deeper truth and meaning, whether that is by way of composing a poem, or music, or a painting, is immaterial.
– KAZI HASAN HABIB (1949-1988)
(Expurgated) preface to the catalogue published on the occasion of the 2nd solo exhibition, 1985.
Translated from Bangla by DEPART DESK