Artists' noble endeavour for the flood ravaged

Australian High Commissioner Lorraine Barker (left) and Indian High Commissioner Veena Sikri (on Barker's left) watching paintings at the exhibition

Aweek-long art exhibition, arranged by the Society for the Promotion of Bangladesh Art, opened at Saju Art Gallery on August 14. The works of 68 artists, including 11 paintings which were donations from private collections, were on display. The raison d'etre was to raise funds for the flood affected people.

Talking about the early glitches faced by the organisers, Elthem Kabir, the chairperson of the Society, said that it took some time to contact the artists and gather together the paintings. This explained why the display could not have been held earlier.

'Each art work that the painters gave could have earned them money. Instead, they showed benevolence by donating them to this endeavour.'

The exhibition was one of its kind. Said Kabir, 'The uniqueness of the exhibition is that we not only approached the artists but also private collectors, who have donated works of SM Sultan and Quamrul Hassan.' Members of the executive committee of the Society have also donated paintings from their personal collections. 'There is no profit for the artists but if any work is not sold it will be returned to the artist. Saju has given his gallery for a week without any cost,' said Kabir.

'No commission will be charged. The cost of invitation cards, banners and publicity costs are being paid for by the Society. Every single Taka earned will be given for relief purposes. The price range is from Taka 3, 000, as in the case of Abu Taher's Mother and child (pen) to Taka one lakh for Mohammed Kibria's mixed media composition. The major artists here are SM Sultan, Quamrul Hassan, Mohammed Kibria, Monirul Islam, Qayyum Chowdhury, Kalidas Karmakar and Rokeya Sultana.'

Turning to the subject of the Society, Kabir said that this non-profit organisation was founded over a year ago and its only objective is to popularise Bangladeshi art around the world. Its first undertaking was a book on Bangladeshi art--the first of its kind--which is now on display in many museums and universities all over the world. Next year the Society plans to hold two exhibitions, in USA and Europe.

Among the superb display of art works was included the art work by Quamrul Hassan which brought in a walking fish, an elephant with a bird on its back and a portrait of a man with a twisted face, glaring eyes and flared nostrils. Mohammed Kibria's Untitled had a gray rectangle in the middle, with two rectangles and a triangle at the top. The composition had a base of two circles. The creation was in layers of gray. Qayyum Chowdhury's My Village had trees, clouds in the sky and birds done in simplified geometrical shapes, one merging into another. The central gray form was surrounded by blues, browns and greens. Samajit Rai Chowdhury's Boy with a bird was a pastel sketch of a boy with large eyes and cupid lips, holding on to a pet.

Also to be seen were fine works like Rafiqun Nabi's Flood. This work depicted people sitting on top of the roofs of boats and houses. This was done in sketches of black, green, brown, red and blue. It was a misty gray at the back. Aminul Islam's Poetry and drawing had a poem on the left hand side and sketches to the other side. The drawing consisted of lines, curves, dots and rectangles presenting a main tree form including human figures. Abdus Sattar's Three faces had portraits of women with careful oriental details of lips, eyes and nose. Abdus Shakoor Shah's Mohua in pink depicted a character from folk poetry with cascading, curly hair, with details of the borders of the sari. A border of flowers, birds and human faces completed the picture.

This exhibition presented excellent work at reasonable prices and runs till August 21.