FOR Shabin Shahriar fabric is his canvas to express himself. Shabin's 3rd solo exhibition titled Karur Charuta ended at the Zainul Art Gallery, Institute of Fine Art, university of Dhaka on January 28.

Professor Abdur Razzaque inaugurated the exhibition on January 22. This exhibition was special in many ways. Painting on fabric is something special, but what was interesting about it was that the only solo exhibition

of this media was last held at Zainul back in 1975, which was basically a oriental figurative work on fabrics. Since then there were many group exhibitions and only few attempts at painting on fabrics were made.

Shabin Shahriar is currently doing his Masters in Fine Art from Crafts Department, Institute of Fine Art, university of Dhaka. His first solo exhibition featuring a wide variety of works was held at his hometown Nowgaon in 1993. Then after break of his second solo

was held last year at the Zainul

Traditionally the motifs of fish dominate our folk art. Shabin's fish motifs are heavily influenced by traditional patterns. He has done four paintings with fish motifs. The colours used in these paintings are also very bright. The use of bright colours gives his works a warm feel. In one of the paintings titled Fish-35 Shabin has used an amazing mix of yellow, red, dark and light blue. A large fish and surrounding it there are little figurative details of turtles. In another quite interesting work titled Lokoj Pitha-21 Shabin used the forms of the primitive pully and pakon cakes at the same time. Three half-moon shapes and a starry circle shapes coloured in red, orange and green and skilfully detailed with the fabric magic.

Overall the exhibition Karur Charuta has given the art loving community of our country something to savour and take delight in.

Gallery, where he exhibited his wood and metal works.

Shabin has also participated in various group-exhibitions, art competitions and experimental workshops.

Always keen to experiment with different mediums, Shabin has quite a number of awards to his name including Best Prize (water-colour) from the Department of Fine Art, university of Rajshahi in 1991 and for Best Experimental Work Award in 1999, Institute of Fine Arts.

His recently concluded exhibition at Zainul entitled Karur Charuta featured a collection of his 26 fabric paintings.

The fascinating side of the exhibition has been the artists creative ability to take the motifs of Lokoj Pitha (traditional cakes) as his subject. Traditional rice cakes are very popular sweets in our country. These cakes come in a wide range of variety and designs. Mouth-watering as they have always been, the

traditional cakes of our country are also seasonal and every season has its own variety to charm our taste buds. Cakes are a delicacy; not only they taste sumptuous but also eyecatching design-wise.

Shabin has picked up his forms from different traditional cakes and has interpreted them in his fabric paintings with an eye of a passionate artist deeply in love with his tradition. Shabin has used the shapes of different pithas from different regions of the country to enrich his canvas. From North Bengal he picked up the famous Pully pitha and from the east he chosen the famous Pakon pitha to pain them with the colour of his emotion.

His paintings are a reflection of his thoughts and feelings. According to him, the designs of these cakes are handed down from generations to generations and possibly dates back to antiquity. And this is why he uses the natural basic colours in his work. Inspired by the deli-

cate and bold designs of the cakes, Shabin has created his own forms and designs out of

them. The thread works and the tiny details of his work simply glows in his painting.