Biren's splendid swirls on mixed-media

One of Biren's compositions

His work is inspired and daring, as he works at night at the National Herbarium, after office hours. He puts in a layer of oil and then fills in the details with delicate watercolour brushes, broad brushes and spatula, as the mood takes him. He has finished his present display of 60 mixed-media works in two months, Biren looks forward to his retirement, when he can create at will, putting in as many hours as he can.

Biren has included the national flag, upward facing canons and tortured innocent women who have been ravished during 1971 by the Pakistan army. He has also included the pulsating sky and the optimistic sun on the top of the compositions (to usher in the new generation). He has moved on to compositions of under water creatures in which he has included the ripple of waves and underwater slimes to create gorgeous images in turquoise, cobalt blue, jade green, with intermittent flecks of ruby red and yellow ochre. Cascading, rippling and pulsating waves, curls, dots and dashes thus bring in the submarine world. "I work in the Herbarium and so am well acquainted with the underwater flora and fauna. I've included but a fraction of the rivers of Bangladesh in my compositions," says Biren.

The artist's consummate passion has leapt on to the canvas to bring in unusual landscapes in which we find repeated images of crows, talking to each other, as they perch on pylon poles and electrical wiring. On one occasion, the birds are seen chattering with one another, with Old Dhaka's multi-storeyed buildings framing the subjects. The scintillating sky in the backdrop -- which include twirling blues and bold splashes of egret white -- bring in the impending dusk with the inclusion of gray. Sure, such scenes have been done by more established artists, like Hashim Khan or Showkutuzzaman, as seen in the recent past in Shilparag. Biren's treatment, however, is more flamboyant vis-à-vis the other contemporary paintings with the same theme of jet-black crows, seen against the sunset.

Biren's old preoccupation with the beauteous female forms, with folklore features -- holding on to a pigeon or parrot, or a flower is witnessed in two entire rooms of the gallery. The pulsating oranges, emeralds, corals, and Prussian blues present images of women, as once presented by Biren's teachers -- only with lines and colours of his own imagination and experience.

Apart from his paintings, Biren has written a series of successful books on painting for children. These books will hold even adults spellbound.