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Madhumati Art Camp 2010
a convergence of artists from two Bengals
A four-day-long art camp organized by Bengal Foundation and participated by artists from the West Bengal, India, and Bangladesh set the backdrop for a four-day sojourn spent in the midst of unscathed nature and its vigour and visual splendour against which the participants hatched their images.
The Arunima Countryside Resort at Panipara of Naragati upazila in Narail, played host to 63 artists.
The journey from Dhaka began on January 6th, as Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts arranged for the artists to be bussed to their destination where they were to spend four days in creative stupor to pay tribute to the legendary artist of Narail -- S M Sultan.
Bangladeshi participants included 45 artists, and their Indian counterparts numbered in the 18, among them were the stalwarts who once ruled the artistic domain of West Bengal, namely, Bijan Chowdhury, Prakash karmakar, Robin Mandal who had some extraordinary experience to share with the representatives of the younger generations.
The Bangladeshi group was a medley of sorts, consisting of artists of different generations as well as aesthetic mores. It was like having most of the hues that so far went into building the spectrum of the Bangladeshi art scene in one huge palette.
Among the bigwigs from the homegrown talents were Qayyum Chowdhury, Rafiqun Nabi, Hashem Khan, Kalidas Karmakar, Samarjeet Roy Chowdhury,
Mansur Ul Karim, Mahmudul Haq, Farida Zaman, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Mohammad Eunus, Rokeya Sultana and Naima Haq.
As for the artists from relatively younger age bracket, they were the most ardent exploiter of time and energy. Alongside efforts by such illustrious names as Kalidash Karmakar, Mansur Ul Karim and Mohammad Eunus, Dilara Begum jolly -- artists who have behind them years of successful aesthetic exploits, Golam Faruque Bebul, Mahbubur Rahman, Ronni Ahmmed, M M Maizuddin, Syed Zahid Iqbal and Jamil Akbar Shamim came up with more spirited versions of their signature vocabulary.
The core goal of the organizers was to facilitate artists of different temperament and language to be at the heights of their energy by making them commingle and cohabit in one huge repository-of-a space that was the Camp. As an inspiring site, where artists of different generations and inclinations converged to create an ambience of high spirit and warmth, Madhumati camp also provided for some stimulating ways for all to imbibe the cultural and artistic verve through musical soirees and documentary films in the evening slots to egg on the already fraught environment.
From the Indian counterparts, there were no shortfalls of appreciative comments. 'We are highly fascinated to avail of the opportunity to take part in such an art camp. This will reinvigorate the art scenes of both the countries by infusing them with new-found inspiration,' participating Indian artist Bijan Chowdhury commented during one of the addas or conversation sprees.
With the four days yields Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts plans to hold an exhibition in near future as is the norm set by the gallery since the first India-Bangladesh art camp in 1999.