Artist Dilip Kumar Karmakar, who comes from a non-artistic background, has won an honourable mention award for a mixed-media work at the 17th Asian Art Biennale, which is now underway at the National Art Gallery of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
The award – comprising a crest, a certificate and a cheque for Tk 300,000 – was handed over by finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith at the inauguration ceremony of the month-long event on December 1.
‘It is the biggest recognition of my career as an artist. I feel greatly encouraged,’ said Dilip Kumar Karmakar, after receiving the award.
The award-winning work, Prakriti 3, done on a metal plate, looks simple at first glance – a mishmash of prehistoric humans and primates. But a closer look will reveal an order in the complex process of evolution that the mankind is believed to have gone through.
Through his deft etching on the metal plate, the artist seems to have based his work on English naturalist-geologist Charles Darwin’s theory that all species of life, including humans, have descended over time from common ancestors.
The placement of men amid apes, chimps and other animals and birds is an effort to show the symbiotic relationship among all species of life and natural elements.
In the work, Dilip has also paid tribute to his parents, by incorporating two visages of his parents with the use of jute fibre on the metal plate.
Younger brother of renowned artist Kalidas Karmakar, Dilip Kumar Karmakar does not have any educational background in fine arts. He has worked as a jewellery designer in his early years and now works at a printmaking studio in Dhaka.
‘I have learnt to work on metal from my father and stitching and design from my mother. In my works, I combine them all,’ said Dilip, adding he is especially fond of etching.
‘All my four brothers are artists well-known both nationally and internationally. I was encouraged by them to venture into the field of fine arts,’ said a humble Dilip.
The month-long Asian Art Biennale, organised by Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, features a total of 484 artworks by 329 artists from 55 countries.