Showcasing more than hundred recent artworks of the country's eminent artist and freedom fighter Biren Shome, Gallery Cosmos organised a unique drawing exhibition on Saturday at Cosmos Garden Gallery, Baridhara in the capital.

The exhibition showcased 137 drawing artworks of the veteran artist, and was joined by distinguished guests and art admirers from home and beyond.

Gallery Cosmos Director Tehmina Enayet, Cosmos Group Vice President and Gallery Cosmos Executive Director Nahar Khan, Cosmos Group President, Group CEO and Founder of Gallery Cosmos Enayetullah Khan joined the event, greeting the art admirers.

Ekushey Padak-winning art maestro Dr Farida Zaman, Dhaka University Faculty of Fine Arts Professor Sheikh Mohammad Rokonuzzaman, eminent Bangladeshi fashion designer and Fashion Design Council of Bangladesh-FDCB founding President Maheen Khan, renowned artist Maksuda Iqbal Nipa, Ekushey Padak-winning renowned indigenous artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma, United News of Bangladesh-UNB Editor Mahfuzur Rahman, officials from different embassies in Dhaka, and art admirers of the revered artist also joined the exhibition, among others.

The artist also showcased his artistic expertise with live drawings of the enthusiastic audiences at the exhibition, while the art admirers roamed across the gallery, enjoying the event.

Sharing her joy as the organizer of the event, Gallery Cosmos Director Tehmina Enayet said: "Everyone needs an artistic outlet in their lives in order to achieve a healthy mental balance. One of the country's greatest artists and freedom fighter Biren Shome, showcased how even the doodles that some of us like to distract ourselves with during stressful meetings in the corporate world, can be turned into great pieces of art. The exhibition shed the spotlight on how the images and forms that you eventually see in the finished artwork emerge at first on paper, and how you go on from there."

"Our revered artist, Biren Shome, was a valiant freedom fighter and also worked as a designer in the Directorate of Press, Publicity, Information and Broadcasting at Mujibnagar in 1971. It was in this capacity that he designed one of the most famous posters of the war, upholding secularism as paramount in the Bengali identity, whose message is as relevant today, as it was back then. It has been a great pleasure to host this special art exhibition, featuring the eminent artist," Tehmina Enayet added.

"This special exhibition took two and a half years to make," Biren Shome told UNB. "After the global pandemic of COVID-19, I started these works in a very special place - in a Dhanmondi art stationery shop, and started drawing these lines from my vivid imagination, but on black pads and white ballpoint pens. The beautiful landscape and the beauty of women have been recurrent subjects in these works, and this is mainly a drawing-based exhibition to inspire our new generation of artists in this medium."

Conveying his heartfelt gratitude to Gallery Cosmos, the revered artist said: "I have been associated with the Cosmos Atelier-71 and Gallery Cosmos since its inception by Enayetullah Khan, and worked on many art workshops, exhibitions and other artistic ventures. My sincere gratitude to the Director of Gallery Cosmos Tehmina Enayet, who not only encouraged me to exhibit these works but also arranged this tremendous exhibition at the Garden Gallery where I got the opportunity to meet many art admirers from home and beyond."

Sheikh Mohammad Rokonuzzaman, former Chairman of the Department of Printmaking, Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University, said: "The idea and definition of imagination has evolved; now, it is being believed that when an artist draws in the absence of enough sense and required objects, but synchronises because of having proper knowledge, that is called a proper imagination in terms of art. Exploring Biren Shome's showcased works in this exhibition, I felt like these artworks are the testaments of his inner imaginative artistic power, originated from his long-rooted relationship with our heritage and culture."

Eminent fashion designer Maheen Khan said, "This wonderful exhibition, 'Lines of Imagination' by our revered artist Biren Shome, has represented our folk and heritage through his drawings - something that he had been working on for the past couple of years. Through these works showcased in this exhibition, he shed the spotlight on our age-old, deep-rooted centennial culture, and I enjoyed the exhibition thoroughly."

Biren Shome, born in 1948 in Amlapara, Jamalpur, completed his high school in 1964 under the guidance of Rabi Dutta, a close associate of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin, and later earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Dhaka University in 1969. A freedom fighter during the Liberation War of 1971, he contributed his creative talents as a designer in the Directorate of Press, Publicity, Information, and Broadcasting at Mujibnagar.

Spanning over five decades, Shome's illustrious career includes 14 solo exhibitions (1979-2024) and numerous group exhibitions both locally and internationally. As Chief Artist at the Bangladesh National Herbarium until his retirement in 2006, he showcased exceptional versatility, mastering oil, acrylic, watercolor, etching, pastel, terracotta relief, and more. He also gained recognition as a graphic and book cover designer, with 500 of his cover designs exhibited in 1998. His art reflects themes of female figures, landscapes, abstraction, and vibrant color.

Shome's contributions have been recognized with numerous accolades, including the Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin Gold Medal (1999), Jatiya Grontho Kendra Award (2002), Poet Abu Zafar Obaidullah Award (2007), and the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Award (2008), to name a few. The fearless spirit and romantic optimism inside the artist have been inspiring generations, cementing his legacy as a luminary figure in Bangladesh's art and heritage.