The second solo painting exhibition titled ‘Mangrove Portal’ by artist Avi Shankar Ain is set to begin today at Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) in the capital’s Dhanmondi area. The inaugural ceremony of the exhibition will be held in La Galerie of AFD at 5:30 pm today.

Enraptured by the different landscapes of Bangladesh, artist Avi Shankar Ain travelled and researched nature’s beguiling beauty to find inspiration for his canvas. He stopped at the southwestern end of Bangladesh and found Sundarbans with a panoply of spotted deer. That was beauty like no other! Even when on one side natural calamities are gnawing at the forestry and on another side man-made machinations of harm are eating away years and years of biodiversity, Sundarbans and the spotted deer had ignited something in Ain. His canvasses found the spotted deer browsing in the midst of the mangroves’ tangled roots and thickets above ground, boasting their branched antlers. Ain employed acrylic media to elucidate his artistic passion for the beautiful forest and viewers are sure to be presented with a unique take on Sundarbans.

Avi Shankar Ain was born on February 8, 1982 in Dhaka. As a part of his education, he did his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting in 2008 from Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Then he did a Masters of Fine Arts in Painting in the year 2011 at Kala Bhavana, Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan, India. He did his first solo exhibition in 2012 at La Galerie, Alliance Française de Dhaka.

The exhibition will remain open to all until July 19 and can be visited according to the following schedule: Mondays to Thursdays from 3pm to 9pm, Fridays and Saturdays (9am to12pm and 5pm to 8pm). Closed -Sundays.

Where: 26 Mirpur Road, Dhanmondi

When: Inauguration: 5:30pm, today