This solo exhibition, Realm of Perception, spans 12 years of explorative creativity with bursts of virtuosity for the artist, Kaiser Kamal. The artist’s paintings have been submerged below the surface in relative silence during his residency in New York City, and now his large body of work emerges to the light in the return home to his native Bangladeshi city of Dhaka with a show at Gallery 21. An oeuvre consisting of 40 plus paintings is ready to break out of its silence at this exhibition. The works speak eloquently in a contemporary visual language and transmit significant perceptual meaning to the global audience. The artist’s clear purpose begins to rise from obscurity and come into view in this exhibition after a long period of creativity and search for identity. The art viewer will be engaged in a stimulating interaction with these works and be immersed in a luxuriant and lush landscape of contemporary abstract paintings of mixed media. As a conceptual and experimental artist, Mr. Kamal reacts to subject matter in the socio-human and natural environments. The artist’s contemporary abstract paintings interact with the art viewer and communicate information through direct observation. The multiple layers of the artist’s paintings are embedded with many encoded forms of information, meaning and understanding. It challenges the art viewer to take a deeper look and capture a unique perception of the artist’s contemporary abstract landscape. The art viewer will observe this large body of work and utilize the same creative and mental processes of the artist like perceiving, imagining, conceptual thinking, remembering and problem solving. The viewer will sharpen all of these cognitive processes of the mind in the course of interacting directly with the artist’s work in this exhibition. This comprehensive show of Mr. Kamal’s works will alter and reshape one’s perception. Perception is so fundamental. It may determine how we often arrive at our decisions and act in the social environment. The exhibition succeeds to reshape how we may see the immediate world. Contemporary abstract art can reset the mind to perceive the world in uniquely, new ways. In an automated world today, our perceptions may blind us and impair the vision. The art viewer has a unique opportunity at this exhibition to expand one’s vision and enhance the keenness and acuity of perception. The palette of colors alone in the artist’s recent paintings will alter the viewer’s perception of the world, particularly, if the world appears bleak or gray. The rich hues intermingle on the canvas to form a multi-layered, plush landscape with luminescent qualities of color. The brushstrokes can be broad or delicate as fine lines and flecks of paint. The mixed media works are highly imaginative and stimulate the viewer to perceive the world outside of the normal range or parameters of conceptual thinking. Mr. Kamal’s Mixed media painting, Waiting to be Considered, definitely takes the art viewer out of the comfort zone and beyond the normal realm of perception. The interesting work reflects the artist’s self-image of waiting to be recognized as an artist. It is quite ironic that the painting’s landscape is so indistinguishable that you would wonder how the artist could possibly be identified and be recognized. The self-representation of the artist seems to be hidden in the landscape of the painting. Many of us can empathize with the artist’s conception because often we too are concealed under some cloak and unrecognizable by any standards in today’s world. The exhibition features a 6 foot square mixed media work, Player, accompanied by an assemblage of 20 small-scale paintings to enhance and round out the major work. This impressive 21 painting composition reflects the artist’s keen ability to think conceptually and perceive subjectively outside the normal realm. The Player may seem like an unreality to most observers. Nevertheless, this work boldly goes beyond the perception of the everyday objective or material world. Exceptional tonality, color and harmonic resonance emanate from this 21 painting composition. A dark palette of colors can be observed in a considerable number of the artist’s works, whereas, a light palette of colors exist in many other works. In a duo of paintings, Inexpressible I & II, dark hues of blue and purple interact to create an airy atmosphere or upper air. There is majesty and beauty in the atmospheric space of this landscape. The Escape series has a bright palette of colors. Besides the cheerful and complementary colors, there is much movement and kinetic motion in the works. The artist exhibits the versatility to paint in both a light or dark palette. The choice of color palette seems to be determined by the design of the artist’s conception and subject matter. This art exhibition marks the return of Mr. Kamal to Gallery 21 with a large body of his work. The large collection of mixed media works succeeds to break out of silence and arouse feelings of awe and admiration. Both large-scale and small-scale works combine together to portray an extravagant contemporary abstract landscape with a varied and broad assortment of mixed media works. This monumental effort will give rise to the artist’s vision and capture the astonishment of the viewer

Alan Freshman