It is not often that one gets to see so many rare paintings by the country's top artists under one roof displayed for sale.

At Galleri Kaya in Uttara yesterday, an art exhibition showcasing works of 23 famous painters was inaugurated by economist Dr Binayak Sen.

Forty four paintings of these artists, drawn between 1973 and 2013, were put on display to mark the gallery's 11th anniversary. The artists include Zainul Abedin, Devdas Chakraborty, Rashid Chowdhury, Quamrul Hassan, Aminul Islam, Qayyum Chowdhury, Monirul Islam, Murtaja Baseer, Nitun Kundu, Rafiqun Nabi, Hamiduzzaman Khan and SM Sultan.

"Unlike the artworks by Indian artists, our artists do not use religious motifs in their works," noted Binayak Sen while inaugurat-ing the show. Bangladeshi artists demonstrate secularism, he said.

Not only that, our artists also demonstrate a kind of flexibility in their art technique. The artworks at the gallery show that the artists have turned to various forms

from cubism to impressionism to post-impressionism. "They use whatever technique is appropriate to express themselves properly, "Dr Sen observed.

As you go around the gallery, you will get to see the reflection of the social changes in their works during 1973-2013.

Some of the works are very per-

sonal. For instance, there is a sketch of famous poet late Shamsur Rahman drawn by Murtaza Basheer, which includes the poet's signature alongside Basheer's.

Works of some artists like Rashid Chowdhury, Devdas Chakraborty, Nitun Kundu and Zainul Abedin -which are on display - are rarely transacted.

Works of other artists on display include Hashem Khan, Kalidas Karmakar, Ranjit Das, Chandra Shekhar Dey, Samarjit Roy Choudhury, Shahabuddin Ahmed, Shishir Bhattacharjee, Tarun Ghosh, Dipa Haq, Ratan Majumder and Shambhu Acharya.

The exhibition will remain open until June 26.