Bipasha Hayat in her first solo exhibition at Bengal Gallery, captivates the viewer with her images, lines textures and her composition. Like all followers of our master abstract artists, Mohammed Kibria and Aminul Islam, Bipasha Hayat expresses her feelings through her paintings. The artist has poured her inner mind and soul on to the canvas, with scintillating colours and dancing images. Some of the creations have warm, mellow colours, although she has the Liberation War in mind. What she focuses on at this juncture in life, is that she will suspend her script writing to which she has given so much time, and go into the journey of painting, which she has mastered at the Dhaka Art College. Earlier, Bipasha Hayat has had exhibits at the Art College premises and elsewhere, but she has never been so driven and decisive about her focus. Also, the artist has progressed to abstraction, where she uses lines, dots, squares and rectangles, textures and thick tear drop-like paints falling— to bring in the elements which have possessed her mind. The artist wishes to create something that has a soul pitch. She certainly wants to draw the attention of the viewer, or her painting would be an exercise in futility. The collage, layer upon layer hues, her juxtaposition of images against one another are there to tell the viewer of her journey within herself. The young painter wishes to bring in abstract elements such as the fluttering of the bird’s wings and the shaking of the leaves by the wind, the shifting of clouds, the pouring of sun’s rays from within the clouds, the flutter of the butterfly’s wings around her, in nature. Apart from painting, Hayat has experimented with prints, too, There oval shapes and delicate, vertical lines go along with oblong shapes in muted greys and umber. These speak of moments in her mind. The shades and gradations of vermilion speak of different things, at different times for this artist, such as recollecting reports and narratives of the genocide in 1971, which have had universal appeal in Bangladesh and beyond. Other happenings which have stirred up her inner feelings are visible on canvas and paper. In the gallery, earlier on, Jalil Bhai of Bengal Gallery, had been working non-stop, for hours and days, adjusting the lights and the hanging of pictures, after the superb print exhibition from Kolkata — some of which brought to mind master print maker, Safiuddin Ahmed, to artists and art buffs. The colours, rhythm of huge splashes of warm earthy colours, set off by startling whites and blacks made even prominent artists from overseas, pause and remark at the wonderful choice of shades of hues and their juxtaposition. Sand and dust have also been used in her compositions. The sweeps and jagged edges lend interest to her creation. A lot of her work reflects her dealings with people as a script-writer and their inner world. Her work also represents her own fears and hopes, as well as desires and dreams. This is combined with portraits of women, some presented in realistic forms, as by Jamal Ahmed, Iqbal and Kuhu. Others are impressionistic forms of standing figures of working women, draped in sari. In short, Hayat paints her changing moods. She certainly applies her colours like a careful, skilled painter, with a promise.