Mind-whirling 3-D work

Shakhawat Hossain's Shadhu, carved in wood, has long hair, a trailing beard and details of eyes, nose and mouth. On the head is an actual plant, whose leaves take the place of knotted hair. Thus the artist has combined nature with mankind. Shakhawat says that he went into sculpture as he found it challenging and fairly new. "Cutting wood or moulding clay seemed more interesting to me than just putting colour on paper or canvas," he comments. "My teachers, Abdur Razzak, Hamiduzaman Khan and Shamim Shikdar were all helpful. Though artists Shafiuddin Ahmed and Mohammed Kibria are not sculptors yet they have encouraged me all along. Today, among the problems a sculptor faces is that he requires a lot of space to work in and that is not always possible for young artists. When I'm sculpting on wood the neighbours often complain about the noise. Sale of experimental items that sculptors make is not much and we have to depend on other sources of income such as graphics designing, " he adds.

Anita Islam's metal composition contains a foetus, a presentation of confused man, and a trail of question marks on the ground in the form of metal screws. The artist asks why man has been put in the world to suffer. Imran Hussain Piplu has presented the head of a prince on that of a bird with the surrounding of watermelon colours. Prince with watermelon has the prince as a symbol of power while the watermelon represents the common men who are soft and simple. These are images taken from fairytales. The sculpture has been done with papier mache. Sagar Shahidullah's work has a cow's skull at one end and the shape of a large fish end at the other.

Tejosh Haldar Josh has his Resist, a theme on mother and child, in fibre glass. He developed the figure from a plaster mould. The model has been taken from his class work at the Institute of Fine Arts. Emotions have been wonderfully captured in the piece. Tejosh hopes to do more realistic pieces before he progresses on to the abstract and symbolic like the others in his group. "My teachers Hamiduzzaman Khan, Lala Rukh Selim, Enamul Huq Enam and Togor are all very helpful. My favourites from the masters are Michelangelo and Henry Moore," says Tejosh.

Kabir Ahmed Masum Chisty's mixed media Shadow speaks of his brush with the police. He and his two friends are represented in the three trodden red poppies; while boots and the evil shadow created by folded newspaper stand for the police who let him off after receiving a bribe. "Today only experienced and established artists like Hamiduzzman Khan and Alok Roy do not find it difficult to get patrons. So some of us who had studied sculpture, grouped together in 2001 and have had three exhibitions so far," says Kabir. Farzana Islam Milky's creations in metal with their symbolic representations were also awe inspiring.

Once one understood the meanings behind the symbols of the works of the young artists, one appreciated their work even more.