ARTIST PROFILE ( Enaab Karim )

Enaab took a six years course in a drawing school where he was heavily inspired by the principal, Milmoy Barua. Enaab says that he wants to establish a new genre in art. He feels that the past movements in art have all been technical, based on differences in brushstrokes and the like. 'But I don't believe in this', he says, 'I never believe in pure abstract work and I think that many people do this kind of work today because it is easy to do it. In my works, I first draw something realistic and then convert this to abstraction.'

For Enaab, conveying any message through his work is the first priority. He criticizes other contemporary artists who nly produce 'theme-based' work, stressing on the fact that he does not believe in painting solely about subjects such as 'sadness, relationships, loneliness, love'. He wants to change the society and in particularly wants to 'directly hit people through the titles of my paintings'.

Enaab takes inspiration from 'the youth and from foreigners'. Foreign sinior artists inspire him a lot and he feels that they are 'not politicians like the artists in our country'. He says that foreign artists do not discriminate artists according to their age, 'unlike the artists here'.

Enaab is currently studying BBA in East West University. So why not pursue a career in fine arts instead? Firstly, he says, he does not like the environment in the Fine Arts Institute, now a faculty of Dhaka University, the prestigious university which was established by the great Bangladeshi artist Zainul Abedin. And secondly, he feels that he does not want to be directly influenced by the art school and believed that if there is too much influence on a person's work, he loses his uniqueness. So he self-studies through the internet, and says that he does not follow anyone, except for his mentor Milmoy Barua.