The exhibition marked some promising brilliance in the works of the students, especially in those of Malay Bala, Pongkus K Roy and Nasrin Rahman. Assistant Professor of Oriental Art Department Showkatuzzaman also showed his skills in this genre of painting. Showkat's works are done in tempera on board. He generally prefers single work to series. His Crab displays a large arthropod, drawn in vague outlines, caught in a net. The grim colours of grayish black, soil brown and deep brown create the equally grim environment the creature has fallen into. The artist cannot stick to a subject for long. The exhibits also conform to this including subject-depended paintings like Grasshopper, Flower, Transience etc.

Nasrin loves to draw images that are intricately designed within its frame. Her favourite subjects are flowers, butterflies and dragonflies. Sometimes her details are so vivid that it clearly speaks of Nasrin's closer observation of the anatomy of her subject. The colourful patterns on the wings of butterflies, the delicate inside of flowers, the fine transparency of the wings of dragonflies find very minute expressions in Nasrin's paintings. And of course, it is Nasrin's power of observation that promises of a good artist in her.

Pongkus K Roy's compositions may first appear a little haphazardly done. A careful observation would, however, reveal that the natural elements, often in bright colours, create an artistic harmony about them. In places, the twists and turns, the lines and curves of Pongkus show influences of artist Quamrul Hassan.

Malay Bala seems to be the most promising among the five students. Two of Malay's series works--Belonging to Another and Shakuntala--earned much appreciation at the exhibition. Belonging to Another depicts the strange chemistry of attraction between the organs of a flower. The abundance of red-orange colour perfectly matches the theme of the painting--desire. In Shakuntala series, Malay recreates the myth of Shakuntala and Dushmanta on a vast canvas. The human figures are drawn on the roots and trunks of trees that depict the background jungle, where the mythical events took place. The yellowish shade and the patches of green convey the prehistoric bond of humans with nature.

Kantideb Adhikary is presently dwelling on female figures presenting some good pieces like After Bath. Besides, he also looks upon life--both animate and inanimate--around him for his subjects. A student of third year, Mehedi Hasan is still immature. His series on natural elements also shows little traits of the oriental art.

The brochure brought out on the occasion of the exhibition should have been attended with more care. A lot of spelling mistakes simply spoiled the whole effort. Such mistakes are unexpected from students of a highest level institution.