Visitors at the exhibition. — Snigdha Zaman

A three-day group art exhibition, dedicated to Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, was inaugurated by Zainul’s widow Zahanara Abedin, on Saturday at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
Eighteen artists, mostly former graduates of Institute of Fine Arts of Chittagong University, a few from Faculty of Fine arts of Dhaka University and Shantinekatan University of India, are displaying 80 artworks including paintings, installations, tapestries, drawings and traditional paintings.
The displayed artworks feature the artists’ individual emotions and realisations, intimacy of nature and human being, natural disaster, man-made-havoc, contemporary social crisis and national issues.
The participating artists have organised the art show with the hope to create a platform for young talented artists of the country.  The organisers claim themselves to be followers of Zianul’s intention of promoting artists. Zainul used to say, ‘Rather than doing paintings, I get more satisfaction from creating a platform where many artists will get the opportunity to paint together. The much sought-after beauty is usually begot from such collaborative initiatives.’
Leeton Bhuiya’s four acrylic artworks portray imaginary kinetic movements, shape and colour of human souls. Using spatula, threads and dry-brushes in the painting ‘Soul flies in the mid-night’, Leeton Bhuiya depicts amorphous kinetic forms of human souls gliding in the dark sky.
One of the four paintings by Samina Nafies titled ‘Felani’, is acrylic on canvas, and shows an imaginary face of the innocent girl Felani, who was killed brutally by the border guards of India and left hanging on the barbered wires. The artist, however, has not portrayed a brutal picture of the dead body. Her aesthetically rich canvas, with prominent green colour, rather portrays an imaginary face of the unfortunate rural girl playing with goats surrounded by birds and trees.
Pradip Kumar Chakraborty’s painstaking series work titled ‘Relation’, done by pen on paper, depicts the intimacy of lovers. Mokarram Hossain Heron’s fabulous oil painting ‘Waiting’ shows an old farmer eagerly waiting for rainfall, for his dried up paddies. Golam Sarwar’s acrylic series work ‘Anumita Bhalobashar Gurudanda’ highlights the pains of an imaginary lover.  Artworks of Kudsia Begum Dalia, Afroza Khandoker Beauty, Afzalur Rahim attract visitors’ attention.
Shantiniketan’s graduate Tasmin Chowdhury’s innovative installation ‘Shadow’- done with appliqué, print, tapestry and cotton fibres- portrays the wonderful beauty of lotus leaves after a heavy shower.
One of the organisers, artist Samina Nafies said, ‘We have a plan to arrange such tribute exhibitions dedicated to the pioneering artists of the country, including Quamrul Hassan, Abdur Razzak, Safiuddin Ahmed, every three months. This artists’ platform also allow fresher artists to send their artworks as participants.’
The promotional exhibition, which began on June 9, will remain open from 11:00am to 8:00pm, till June 11.