Firoz Mahmud
{{Short description|Bangladeshi painter}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Firoz Mahmud
| image = Firoz Mahmud.jpg
| caption = Firoz Mahmud
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|September 05, 1974|}}
| birth_place = Khulna, Bangladesh
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| occupation = Visual artist
| known for = Contemporary Art
| movement = [http://urgency-of-proximate-drawing-ninki.blogspot.com/ NinKi: Urgency of Proximate Drawing], Layapa Stencil Painting, Social Dream project
| website = {{URL|firoz-mahmud.com}}
| nationality = Bangladeshi
| television =
| education = University of Dhaka
Tama Art University
Tokyo University of the Arts
Rijksakademie
}}
Firoz Mahmud ({{langx|bn|ফিরোজ মাহমুদ}}) (born September 5, 1974 in Khulna, Bangladesh) is a Bangladeshi visual artist based in Japan. Mahmud was the first Bangladeshi fellow artist in research at Rijksakademie Van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. His work has been exhibited at the following biennales: Sharjah Biennale,{{Cite web|url=http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/publications/provisions1|title = Publications - Sharjah Art Foundation}} the first Bangkok Art Biennale,{{cite web |url=http://www.bkkartbiennale.com/profile/firoz-mahmud/ |title=Firoz Mahmud |website=Bangkok Art Biennale |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191012215934/http://www.bkkartbiennale.com/profile/firoz-mahmud/ |archive-date=12 October 2019}} at the Dhaka Art Summit, Setouchi Triennale (BDP),{{Cite web|url=https://www.samdani.com.bd/the-missing-one|title=The Missing One | 2016|access-date=2019-12-11|archive-date=2023-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206120309/https://www.samdani.com.bd/the-missing-one|url-status=dead}} the first Aichi Triennial, the Congo Biennale,{{cite web | url=https://www.congobiennale.art/firoz-mahmud/ | title=Firoz Mahmud – Congo Biennale 2021 }} the first Lahore Biennale,{{Cite web|url=https://www.lahorebiennale.org/?artists=firoz-mahmud|title=Lahore Biennale Foundation (LB01)}} the Cairo Biennale,{{Cite web|url=http://kunstaspekte.art/event/11-cairo-art-biennial-2008-12-event?hl=en|title = 11. Cairo Art Biennial}} the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial,{{cite web | url=http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/eng/artist/firoz_mahmud/#!/ | title=Echigo-Tsumari Art Field }} and the Asian Biennale.
Mahmud was awarded a guarantee from the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) in New York. Guggenheim Museum's UBS Global Art Initiative and Asia Society invited him to the symposium "Continuous Horizons: Contemporary Art for Asia",{{Cite web|url=https://www.guggenheim.org/audio/track/firoz-mahmud-on-colonialism-and-bangladeshi-art|title = Firoz Mahmud on colonialism and Bangladeshi art}} No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia Programs. In 2019, Mahmud was nominated for the French COAL prize, which was hosted at Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Artworks
Mahmud exhibited at the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial 2006 in Nigata Japan, where he exhibited numerous wooden aeroplanes in the city of Tokamachi.{{cite web|url=http://www.echigo-tsumari.jp/eng/artist/firoz_mahmud/#!/|title=Firoz Mahmud – Echigo-Tsumari Art Field|work=echigo-tsumari.jp}} He was one of the finalist artists at The Sovereign Asian Art Prize in 2007 in Hong Kong.{{cite web|url=http://www.sovereignartfoundation.com/art-prizes/asia/gallery/?year=2007&page=2|title=The Sovereign Art Foundation|work=sovereignartfoundation.com}} He was invited to exhibit at the 9th Sharjah Art Biennial{{cite web|url=http://www.sharjahart.org/people/people-by-alphabet/m/mahmud-firoz|title=Sharjah Art Foundation|access-date=2015-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150613223744/http://www.sharjahart.org/people/people-by-alphabet/m/mahmud-firoz|archive-date=2015-06-13|url-status=dead}} in 2009 where he exhibited a large sculptural installation, 'Halcyon Tarp' with Royal Bengal Tigers. In 2010 he created a 26 feet long fighter aircraft sculptural installation 'Sucker'wfp21' to exhibit at the 1st Aichi Art Triennial{{cite web|url=http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/bien/aichi_triennale/2010/tour/firoz_mahmud|title=Firoz Mahmud, Photos. Aichi Triennale 2010|author=Gerhard Haupt & Pat Binder|work=Universes in Universe}} at Aichi Arts Center,{{cite web|url=
https://aichitriennale.jp/2010/en/artists/contemporary-arts/-firoz-mahmud.html|title=フィロズ・マハムド Firoz Mahmud – AICHI TRIENNALE2010|website=aichitriennale.jp}} Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in 2010. Mahmud was invited to an exhibition 'Step Across This Line',{{cite news |title=Step Across this Line – picture preview |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/step-across-this-line--picture-preview-2369871.html |newspaper=The Independent |location=London |date=13 October 2011}} contemporary art from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan in Asia House London co-organized by Grosvenor Gallery{{cite web|url=http://grosvenorgallery.com/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/2011-2/step-across-this-line/|title=Step Across this Line|work=grosvenorgallery.com|access-date=2015-06-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615111555/http://grosvenorgallery.com/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/2011-2/step-across-this-line/|archive-date=2015-06-15|url-status=dead}} and curated by Deeksha Nath.
= Painting =
He exhibited a stencil painting in his solo exhibition 'Lamentation in Two Lies'{{cite web |url=http://www.otafinearts.com/en/exhibitions/2011/Firoz-Mahmud-2011/|title=OTA FINE ARTS – TOKYO - Exhibition - Lamentation in Two Lies |work=otafinearts.com}} at the Ota Fine Arts in Tokyo in 2011. He exhibited a solo exhibition 'NinKi: Legacies, Run over the Yamuna'[http://exhibit320.com/artists/exhibitionInformation/EXH00041/FirozMehmud.pdf NinKi: Legacies, Run over the Yamuna] simultaneously with Nandan Ghiya at Exhibit 320{{cite web|url=http://www.exhibit320.com/artists.html|title=Exhibit320 – Art Gallery, Contemporary Art Space, Art Gallery in India|work=exhibit320.com}} in New Delhi in 2015.File:Firoz Mahmud Sucker Aichi Triennale 13.JPG, Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art in Nagoya, Japan]]
= Drawing =
Mahmud produced detailed drawings documenting human figures and animals. In the early 1990s, he had an art studio in a dilapidated building in a groceries market around Dhaka New Market area where he made numerous drawings of workers, labourers, vendors and slum-dwellers around the market. He mainly drew with pencil, pen and pastel on journals and sketchbooks which were also studies for paintings. Some of these can be identified as preparatory drawings for particular works, such as 'Evening twilight at Methor Potti (Poronto Bikel, 1997)', which he painted at Hajaribugh sweepers colony in Dhaka, 'Cooking for worker'(1997) and'Bookbinders'(1994).
=Soaked Dream=
Soaked Dream is an art project created by Mahmud in 2013.{{cite news |title=Soaked Dream: German hope in Firoz Mahmud's eyes |url=http://www.dhakamirror.com/art-culture/soaked-dream-german-hope-in-firoz-mahmuds-eyes/ |work=Dhaka Mirror |date=9 October 2013}}{{Cite web|title=COAL Prize 2019 at Pompidou Center and COP25 : COAL|url=http://www.projetcoal.org/coal/en/2019/11/30/les-nomin%c3%a9s-du-prix-coal-2019/|access-date=2020-12-26}}
It features drawings, sculptures, videos, and photos portraying the symbolic dream of colonial people, cross-border refugee families, immigrants, diasporas, exodus, deprived people and ethnic minorities who look for prosperity when arriving in their new location.{{Cite web|last=Mulherin |first=April|date=2020-01-15|title=UMF Emery Community Arts Center presents "VOYAGER: Migrational Narratives," exhibit, Jan. 30–March 6|url=https://www.umf.maine.edu/2020/01/umf-emery-community-arts-center-presents-voyager-migrational-narratives-exhibit-jan-30-march-6/|access-date=2020-12-26|website=UMF|language=en}} Mahmud arranges families of those communities, makes sculptures of metaphoric eyeglasses with the help of those families and creates photographs. The output of this project was a video of the Chimera project.{{Cite web|title=Past Exhibitions – Children's Museum of Manhattan|url=https://cmom.org/exhibitions/past-exhibitions/|access-date=2020-12-26|language=en-US}}
Exhibition
= Solo exhibition =
Mahmud's solo exhibitions include Ota Fine Arts in Singapore 'Drawing Reverberation', and Abinta Gallery of Fine Arts Dhaka 'Reverberation'.{{Cite web |title=Firoz Mahmud: Drawing Reverberation |url=http://www.otafinearts.com/sg/exhibitions/2018/drawing_reverberation/ |access-date=March 17, 2021 |website=OTA Fine Arts}}{{Cite web |title=Firoz Mahmud's Solo Exhibition Reverberation |url=http://abintagallery.org/event/firoz-mahmuds-solo-exhibition-reverberation/ |access-date=March 17, 2021 |website=Abinta Gallery}}
= Group exhibition and art biennials/triennials =
File:Firoz Mahmud HalcyonTarp Sharjah Bien 9.jpg in 2009]]
Mahmud exhibited large scale art projects or art series at several art biennale and triennial exhibitions, including 1st Bangkok Art Biennale, 1st Lahore Biennial, Dhaka Art Summit, Sharjah Biennale, Cairo Biennale, Asian Biennale, Setouchi Triennale art festival, 1st Aichi Triennial, and Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennial.
Mahmud has exhibited at the Hunter East Harlem Gallery, New York, Artens Xouth Art Festival in Athens, Greece, Emery Community Arts Center [UMF] in Maine, Kresge Gallery of Lyon College in AR, COAL PRIZE Art project screening at the Pompidou Center in Paris,{{Cite news |date=December 20, 2019 |title=Artist Firoz Mahmud nominated for France's COAL Prize |work=The Daily Star |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/arts-entertainment/exhibition/news/artist-firoz-mahmud-nominated-frances-coal-prize-1842553 |access-date=March 17, 2021}} IFEMA Feria de Madrid in Spain, Asia Art Initiative in Philadelphia, Sharjah Art Foundation in Sharjah, UAE, Berkshire Art Museum in Massachusetts, Children's Museum in Manhattan, New York, and the Office of Contemporary Art (OCA) Oslo, Norway.
= Photo based artwork =
In 2017, the Soaked Dream photograph series was exhibited at Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid in New York by ABC No RIO at Flux Factory.{{Cite web |title=Against Competition/Towards Mutual Aid |url=https://eventium.io/events/203491340119368/against-competition-towards-mutual-aid |access-date=March 17, 2021 |website=Eventium}} His recent projects on refugee families and displaced people were exhibited at Bangkok Art Biennale in 2018 and Sharjah Art Foundation in UAE.{{Cite web |title=Vantage Point Sharjah 7 is the seventh iteration of Sharjah Art Foundation's annual photography initiative. |url=http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions/vantage-point-sharjah-7 |access-date=March 17, 2021 |website=Sharjah Art}}
Exhibitions
Mahmud has exhibited works from this art project in Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa. Locations and exhibitions include:
- MAXXI (National Museum of 21st Century Arts), Rome, Italy
- Children's Museum of Manhattan, Manhattan, New York, United States
- Lahore Biennial, Lahore, Pakistan{{Cite web|date=2018-10-15|title=Bangkok Art Biennale 2018|url=https://durjoybangladesh.org/2018/10/15/bangkok-art-biennale-2018/|access-date=2020-12-26|website=Durjoy Bangladesh|language=en-US}}
- Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE
- IFEMA Feria de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Dhaka Art Summit, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2014{{Cite web|title=Firoz Mahmud – Bengal Foundation|url=https://bengalfoundation.org/featured_artist/firoz-mahmud/|access-date=2020-12-26|language=en-US}}
- Office for Contemporary Art, Oslo, Norway, 2016{{Cite web|title=The Missing One: News: OCA|url=https://oca.no/news/9158/the-missing-one|access-date=2020-12-26|website=oca.no}}{{Cite web|title=Project: 'The Missing One': Press: OCA|url=https://oca.no/press/images/project-the-missing-one-/|access-date=2020-12-26|website=oca.no}}
- ABC No Rio in Exile, ABC No Rio, Flux Factory, Queens, New York, United States, 2017{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}
- 1st Bangkok Art Biennale, Bangkok, Thailand, 2018
- 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25)
- Pompidou Center (short-listed for the Coal Art Prize), Paris, France, 2019
- Emery Community Arts Center, University of Maine at Farmington, Farmington, Maine, 2020{{Cite web|title=Firoz Mahmud at UMF Emery Community Arts Center, Maine, USA|url=https://www.asianculturalcouncil.org/events/firoz-mahmud-at-umf-emery-community-arts-center-maine-usa|access-date=2020-12-26|website=Asian Cultural Council}}
Media
Art Asia Pacific magazine published an article 'Garden of Historical Delights' on Mahmud's solo exhibition held at Ota Fine Arts in Singapore. Hong Kong based art design and lifestyle magazine COBO published an article on Mahmud's exhibition titled 'Firoz Mahmud: Delineating Colonialism of Bengal Presidency', written by Selima Quader Chowdhury which was published in January 2019. In 2013, Asia Society{{cite web|url=http://asiasociety.org/hong-kong/events/continuous-horizons-contemporary-art-asia|title=Continuous Horizons: Contemporary Art for Asia|work=Asia Society}} in Hong Kong invited him to a symposium 'Continuous Horizons: Contemporary Art for Asia, No Country: Contemporary Art for South and Southeast Asia Programs' co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Mahmud was featured in Japan Times{{cite news |last=Birmingham |first=Lucy |date=13 August 2010 |title=Contemporary art helps revive a city |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2010/08/13/arts/contemporary-art-helps-revive-a-city/ |newspaper=The Japan Times}} and DNP{{cite web|url=http://www.dnp.co.jp/artscape/eng/focus/1009_01.html|title=artscape International|work=dnp.co.jp}} magazine written by Lucy Birmingham.{{cite web|url=http://lucybirmingham.com/|title=Lucy Birmingham|work=lucybirmingham.com}} He exhibited his solo exhibition "Loss of the Toss is Blessing of Their Disguise," on NinKi:Urgency of Proximate Drawing at Dhaka Art Center in 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/arts-amp-culture/2013/sep/09/firoz-mahmud%E2%80%99s-art-show-presents-controversial-celebs|title=Firoz Mahmud's art show presents controversial celebs |work=Dhaka Tribune}}{{cite news |url=http://news.priyo.com/2013/09/12/solo-exhibition-loss-toss-blessing-their-disguise-85461.html|title=Solo Exhibition- 'Loss of the Toss is Blessing of Their Disguise'|work=Priyo.com|access-date=2015-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150711213855/http://news.priyo.com/2013/09/12/solo-exhibition-loss-toss-blessing-their-disguise-85461.html|archive-date=2015-07-11|url-status=dead}} The Daily Star featured his ongoing (primarily anonymous) NinKi: Urgency of Proximate Drawing photograph when he had a solo exhibition at Dhaka Art Center.{{cite news |title=Famous and controversial personalities under the lens |url=http://archive.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/famous-and-controversial-personalities-under-the-lens/ |newspaper=The Daily Star}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahmud, Firoz}}
Category:Tokyo University of the Arts alumni
Category:20th-century Bangladeshi male artists
Category:20th-century Bangladeshi artists
Category:21st-century Bangladeshi male artists
Category:21st-century Bangladeshi artists
Category:University of Dhaka alumni
Category:Bangladeshi expatriates in Japan