Rongbaaz releases at Britto Art Space

Photo: Monon Muntaka

If you have ever somehow wondered about what Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper would look like as a rickshaw painting, you can now have your curiosity satisfied if you visit Britto Art Space, located at Dhaka’s Green Road.

As an ode to our traditional rickshaw paintings and vibrant film posters, Rongbaaz is an exhibition appropriately named after Bangladesh’s legendary actor Nayak Raj Razzak’s film, released in 1973. To bring life into the white space, artists of Britto -- Mahbubur Rahman, Tayeba Begum Lipi, Shimul Saha, Yasmin Jahan Nupur, Aminul Islam Ashik, Jewel A Rob, Shimul Dutta and Lutfun Nahar collaborated with prominent rickshaw painter Tapan Das and noted banner painter Mohammad Hanif Pappu.

This collective project took two months to complete and was finally inaugurated by Khushi Kabir, Chairperson, Britto Arts Trust, along with members of the Board of Trustees, Mahbubur Rahman and Imran Hossain Piplu, recently.

Photo: Monon Muntaka

For many years, these kinds of works have been a part of public art in South Asia, marking a new urban popular art form, and Britto continues to collaborate with traditional artists and artisans to redefine Dhaka’s contemporary art practice.

Photo: Monon Muntaka

Using the signature colour palette of rickshaw art and conventional Dhallywood cinema banners, they have painted variety of subjects from legendary pop icon Michael Jackson saluting our Pop Guru Azam Khan, to the American actress Marilyn Monroe, and even recreated The Last Supper! Portrait of renowned comedian and painter Tele Samad, along with the visage of an unnamed rickshaw puller has been portrayed on the walls of the gallery.

For Instagram lovers, there is a great spot for photos in front of a rickshaw with wings. A corner has been dedicated to pots and pans painted in the same style as well. A lot more of this can be experienced until the February 15 from 1 pm to 8 pm every day.