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Nobo Kumar Bhadra
Nobo Kumar Bhadra (1964; Bengali: নব কুমার ভদ্র) is one of the known rickshaw painters of Bangladesh. Rickshaw paint is a traditional folk art of Bangladesh. Nobo Kumar was born in Shakhari bazar, a place in the old town of capital city Dhaka. He started by painting banner for cinema halls along with his father in late 70s Dhaka. Later, his neighbor introduced him to rickshaw painting.

Early Life
Nobo Kumar dropped out of school when he was in grade six. Poverty did not allow him to continue school and he had to start working along with his father in painting banners for cinema halls. Nobo had naturally acquired the sense of color and strokes for which his neighbor, Sitesh Sur, who was a rickshaw painter made him his pupil. Nobo Kumar calls him his ustad or master for rickshaw painting. The neighborhood he was born in has artists of different kind, he could take his painting for selling quite easily. He started his journey in the art world in 1987. He has been in this field for more than 25 years.

Career
In 1999, director of Alliance Française de Dhaka asked Nobo to make a some rickshaw art for him. Nobo then was offered a job a staff in Alliance Francaise de Dhaka. Before leaving Dhaka as the Director, France Lasnier organized a rare exhibition of rickshaw paint with 83 rickshaw painters of Bangladesh. That was Nobo Kumar’s first exhibition of his life. He is still working in Alliance Francaise de Dhaka.

Artworks


Nobo Kumar Bhadra’s regular artworks usually involve portrayal of commercial cinema culture of Bangladesh of a certain time period which took a shift towards drawing animals in 2013.

Actors and actresses can be found in versatile actions in his artworks, influenced by his days of making banners for cinema. There are several distinctions of actions on the basis of gender in his cinema related artworks which are also common in other rickshaw artworks by other artists.

The actors look either grumpy, violent, hit hard by their cinematic life of hardship or fueled up to take revenge on their enemies with weapons in his hand and his beloved by his side. Actresses are usually in their seductive attire and facial expressions with striking portrayal of their voluptuous figure consciously made by the artist, rightfully illustrating the usual body structures of popular Bangladesh cinema actresses of a definitive time period which has changed in present times.

The skin tone of the actors and actresses are generally reddish.

Patriarchal dominance and vulnerability of the females as a collective are common motifs in his and other’s rickshaw artworks.

Comparatively, due to the demand of subjects itself, the artworks related to animals have a different coloring pattern and the subjects are illustrated in different actions.

Birds, lions, tigers are the familiar subjects in this setting.

Philosophy
Nobo Kumar's fundamental philosophy behind his artworks is to give people pleasure. He uses bright and vibrant colors to create characters in bizarre actions to achieve his philosophy.

Exhibitions

 * Summer in Colour, Zoom Galerie of Alliance Française de Dhaka

Future Plan
Nobo Kumar has worked on rickshaw plates, clay plates and pots, now he wants to show his art skill in different canvases such as sharees, dresses and other traditional cloths of Bangladesh. He wants to arrange an exhibition in every year.