Rickshaw is not only moves with the passenger and other load, but it moves with a museum full of folk arts. Every inch of the Rickshaw is well decorated with paintings, tassels, tinsel and colourful plastic and hood works. Rickshaw hoods, foot holds, seats and in the back side, even in frame and in chassis there is a sign of art. A painted rectangular metal board at the backside, between the two wheels, leaves a trail of passion that the Rickshaw artist puts in his creations. In a word a Rickshaw of Bangladesh is a burn of colours
In eighties to nineties the elites of Bangladesh scorned rickshaw art as vulgar while at the same time many fine artists of the country took it seriously as an expression of the taste and interests of the masses. What sort of art is rickshaw art? I consider it “peoples’ art”. It is not necessary to force it into a unitary category as it combines folkloric, movie, political and commercial imagery and techniques. It serves the expression of heart’s desires of the man in the street for women, power, wealth, as well as for religious devotion. Rickshaw art also serves prestige and economic functions for the people who make use and enjoy it.
 |
| Rickshaw Painter |
Rasid, a rickshaw painter, paints a tin plate fixed to the lower rear part of the rickshaw body at a garage in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Rickshaw painting is a unique art and the tricycle Rickshaw is one of the most popular modes of transport in Bangladesh.