Zainul Gallery has announced a solo art exhibition by Bangladeshi artist Fawaz Rob, featuring a major collection of his intaglio works, including the acclaimed Night Series, Charukola Series, and Palestine Series. Fawaz Rob is considered to be an authority in intaglio printmaking in Bangladesh.
The exhibition will feature his astounding artworks, spanning 10 years of relentless experimentation. This is a rare chance to witness one of the most ambitious bodies of contemporary printmaking in Bangladesh.
Known for his dramatic yet disciplined use of aquatint, Fawaz Rob creates cityscapes that examine how Dhaka transforms after dusk. His Kaua Series examines a crow's journey through Dhaka architecture, while his Women Series champions the inner strength of beauty.
Even though Fawaz Rob comes from an architectural background, he breaks the lines with subtle tenderness. His art rejects romanticism, instead revealing the psychological depth of urban solitude.
All the artworks are in black and white, or in sepia. In a world that is obsessed with social media and saturated with overuse of colour everywhere, Fawaz Rob's art brings soothing calmness to the eye.
His amazing control over tonal gradient and play with light demands the audience to observe the art deeply. A French critic once said, "Fawaz's art is like a night scene from a nouvelle vague movie…elegantly frozen in time." And Fawaz quotes, "Intaglio printmaking requires endless hours inside a dirty studio. Many people come, but only a few obsessive, perfectionist crazies stay. Because this world of intaglio can create unimaginable beauty."
Fawaz Rob's work has been exhibited in Paris, Florence, Budapest, Kathmandu, Istanbul, San Francisco, Athens, and beyond. His work has been featured in Le Parisien, and he is the first Bangladeshi to be published in the Journal of the California Society of Printmakers. His seminal piece, Long Walk Home, received an international award for art activism, while Gaza 1924, from his acclaimed Palestine Series, now resides in the permanent collection of the Art for Palestine archive. Fawaz Rob studied design at San Francisco State University, received a Master's degree from Florence, Italy, and later earned his MFA from Charukala. His work is also archived at the Printmaking Museum in China.
The exhibition is free and open to all. It will start on 27 November and run till 30 November — 11 AM to 9 PM daily — at Zainul Gallery in Dhaka University's Charukala.
Artwork: Fawaz Rob
