Wakilur Rahman

Wakilur Rahman (; born 15 December 1961) is a Bangladeshi painter, printmaker, sculptor and installation artist. He has been dividing his time between Dhaka and Berlin since 1988. He is a founding member of the art group 'Shomoy' (Samay), which initiated a discourse on contemporary art in Bangladesh. He is also the founder and director of Kalakendra, a non-profit art gallery in Dhaka.

Early life and education

Wakilur Rahman was born on 15 December 1961 in Bangladesh. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Dhaka Art College (now the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka) in 1981. He went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, China, in 1986.

Career

Rahman has been dividing his time between Dhaka and Berlin since 1988. He moved to East Germany in 1988 and experienced the initial years of German unification. He worked as a guest student at the West Berlin Art School's Visual Communication Department from 1993.

He is one of the founding members of the art group 'Shomoy' (also spelled 'Samay'), which was formed in the mid-1980s and documented social, cultural and economic crises through artworks.

In 2015, Rahman established Kalakendra, a non-profit art gallery in Dhaka, and has served as its director since its inception. He has also served as the curator of Kalakendra. He has taught part-time at the University of Asia Pacific's Architecture Department since 2012.

Artistic practice

Rahman works across various mediums, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, and installation. His work has been described as minimalist, drawing on Eastern philosophy, Buddhism, Baul traditions, and Sufism. He has stated that his work deals with space, emptiness, silence, motionlessness, meditation, flatness and minimalism. His fascination with calligraphy, particularly Bengali calligraphy and the relationship between spoken words and visual connotation, is a recurrent theme in his work.

His paintings depict the mystic Bauls of Bangladesh, different forms of pat and sora, as well as various other facets of Bangladeshi culture on tempera and oil. He has also addressed social issues through his artworks since the early 1980s.

In 2024, his solo exhibition "Monon Khonon" (Unearthing the Archaic) at Bengal Shilpalay featured installations made from wood, aluminium, iron, and terracotta, exploring material culture and the relationship between the people of the delta region and their environment.

Selected exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• "Rearrangement", Shilpangan, Dhaka (2007)
• "In Books, You Can Read", Dhaka Art Centre (2010)
• "Reading Images", Bengal Art Lounge, Dhaka (2012)
• "Cultural Fast Food", Dhaka Art Center (2012)
• "Bodyspace Mindscape", Dwip Gallery, Dhaka (2019)
• "There Is No Story", Gallery Shilpangan, Dhaka (2020)
• "Monon Khonon", Bengal Shilpalay, Dhaka (2024)

Group exhibitions

• "Kagajer Chhaya", National Museum, Dhaka (2009)
• "+ - art....texture", with architect Abdullah Motaleb, Kalakendra, Dhaka (2026)

International exhibitions

Rahman's works have been displayed in Germany, France, Norway, Greece, Bulgaria, Japan, and Cuba.

Awards and recognition

Rahman has received several awards, including:

• Annual International Exhibition of Miniature Art, Toronto (1989)
• Best Award (Graphic Media), Young Artists' Art Exhibition, Dhaka (1994)
• Norwegian International Print Triennale, Fredrikstad (1995)
• Agricola-Preis für Kunst und Wissenschaft, Glauchau, Germany (1996)
• Best Award (All Media), Young Artists' Art Exhibition, Dhaka (1996)
• AB Bank Award, National Exhibition, Dhaka

External links

• (inactive)

• Wakilur Rahman at Bengal Foundation