One of Javed Jalil's mixed-media works, Fishing for the soul is a linear work that has brought together press ink and pastel to present figurative work. The picture presents a primitive, muscular man in a boat, striving to catch fish. In reality he is peering into his own private world. "He seeks to find himself, while he is also searching into the past, assessing his sorrows and desires. Beside him is a woman emerging from the water and other elements," Javed explains. This is inspired by Picasso's Fishing in the Entibes."

Farida Zaman in Fisher woman tries to capture the festive days and other moments of happiness in the lives of the fisherfolk. She has used the folk elements like boats, birds, waves and rain. She has brought in bright brown, black, scintillating red and sun-lit yellow by using acrylic on paper. "People speak of green Bangladesh but the colours I've used are the hues I see around me. The scenes are also reminiscent of my idyllic childhood days in Chandpur," Farida comments.

Hamiduzzaman Khan, in his Face, a water colour, has brought in an elongated portrait of a woman enveloped by smudges of black falling hair. There is red on her nose and lips, while the forehead flaunts fragments of the Bangladeshi flag. This is set on a backdrop of indigo blue.

Alokesh Ghosh's water colour landscape brings in ink-blue clouds in the distance. Boats at full sail and land masses with trees and houses are also included in the composition. The final impact is a mass of gray with the gathering clouds being only slightly reflected in the flat gray streaks of the water.

More landscape is to be seen in Mohammed Zahiruddin's Nature. This introduces bars of blues, purples and green to delineate the river, land and the horizon above. Apart from the sweeps of the treetops at the back is the solitary tree to the right, in the forefront, complete with falling branches and twigs.

The chalk pastel Still Life by Iffat Ara Dewan brings in a mass of tiny white blossoms, held in a rounded turquoise blue vase. Smudges of blue, brown and yellow complete the simple composition.

A voluptuous flamingo red-clad female figure is seen in Anukul Mojumdar's Passionate woman. The full figure reminds us of the figures in the frescos of Indian temples. The lines are minimal and yet dramatic and moving.

Face, a sculpture in bronze by Ivy Zaman, has hollow, slanted eyes, a prominent nose, full lips and a heavy necklace at the throat. This is evocative of the Santal women that Ivy saw in her student days.

The exhibition is a good collection of experiments by our local artists, ushering in different mediums and styles.