on 25th august Abdus Shakoor's 14th solo exhibition will be held at shilpangan gallery in dhaka,bangladesh.everybody is invited to enjoy this grand occassion.

Abdus Shakoor is a devoted and a legendary artist in our art scenario. Mainly folk motifs and ancient ballads have taken place in Shakoor’s canvas. Folk ballads of Mymensingh-the famous Mahua and Malua love stories, Nakshi Kanthar Maath, Gazir Pata, Manasha Pata have found prominent places in his works. He has depicted stories with elements and motifs from folk art. In his works, peacocks and parrots have been featured in a large scale. Shakoor also uses animal figures such as elephants, bulls, dogs, cats, tigers, birds, serpents and reptiles-all as pleasant and decorative motifs. Shakoor’s paintings are not simple illustrations of the traditional ballads. He uses calligraphy stylistically on his canvas, which sometimes includes figures of humans along with birds and animals. Each work depicts a complete story that hides our identity. In some, animals like birds, snakes and elephants are presented. Warriors, tigers and an elephant in the center of a creation bring out the beauty of the rural areas where birds, flowers, cattle and snakes are blended together to create a breathtaking natural composition. The paintings are primitive in nature and at the same time modern in its execution. The lines he uses are not necessarily stylised, but they have an interactive attitude of a child with bold outline. The treatment of lines is simple and untrained in nature giving an authentic illustrative expression to the paintings, as a whole. The artist usually uses four mediums, ink drawing, opaque-watercolor, acrylic and oil. Among them he mostly uses ‘opaque-watercolor’ and acrylic. He has also used gouache in a series of his paintings. After completing a degree in painting, Shakoor joined the Institute of Fine Arts in Dhaka in 1980. He took keen interest in painting, tapestry, batik and screen-print. Earlier he had been a student, painting at the Department of Fine Arts, Chittagong University, under Rashid Chowdhury, who encouraged him to work with our heritage, culture and myths. For Abdus Shakoor, the time of his painting actually started in 1978 when he was studying in Baroda University in India. While listening to discussions on arts by his teachers in the university he was noticeably moved and was faced with a new realization. Questions dawned in his mind about the paintings he had been doing all his young life. During his study in Baroda University, he started experimenting with different styles, forms and colours. He was highly influenced by Gazir pat, Laxmi sara, alpana, shital pati, nakshi kantha, wood works, wall paintings and other folk art forms. He found the spirit of Bengali nationality in them apart from getting a guideline from them. The works of Jamini Roy had also influenced him in the beginning of his career. But he has developed his own style, adapting it from our folk art. He always wants to present Bangladesh, the Bengali nationalism, culture and language as his subjects; on the other hand he want to also portray our Asian identity.