The country's one of the most prolific sculptors Prof Hamiduzzaman Khan celebrated his 70th birthday yesterday by opening a solo exhibition at Galleri Kaya in the capital's Uttara.

Chairman of Summit Group of Companies Muhammed Aziz Khan inaugurated the exhibition titled "Stones-2" in the evening.

Nancy T Vanhorn, press and information officer of the US Embassy, was present on the occasion among others.

The exhibition that will continue till March 18 showcases 10 bronze and 18 stone sculptures, five acrylic paintings and 20 drawings.

"Most of my exhibitions have been on sculptures. But I have been also drawing on papers in huge numbers," said Hamiduzzaman, who has been putting up solo exhibitions since 1968. This is his fifth solo exhibition at 12-year-old Galleri Kaya.

"Most of these drawings are related to sculptures while many were done during my frequent travels. Many of these were unsigned. So I have organised them this year and signed them. These will total more than 3,000! No, these won't be exhibited here," Hamiduzzaman told The Daily Star.

Hamiduzzaman Khan was initially a painter in the late sixties. He turned to sculptures in 1974 and kept on improvising on its techniques and materials.

"Initially for the first 10-12 years, I worked with metal castings. I switched to using metal sheets for the next 10 years. Metal sheets get rusted when kept outside. So in line with changing trends in building materials, I turned to using metal pipes," he noted.

He built a large sculpture using metal pipes at the UTC Building near the Sonargaon crossing. "The materials alone took Tk 17 lakh at that time," he said.

The workaholic sculptor's significant works include the Sangshaptak on the Jahangirnagar University campus. Some other large works include a 40 feet iron pipe sculpture at the Krishibid Institute and works at the United House and Bangladesh Bank.

"Then I also turned to using mixed materials, wood curving and finally on stones," he added. "The major media for modern sculpture is granite stones and metal sheets."

Working with stones requires a different approach for any sculptor. Hamiduzzaman Khan buys large stone cubes from stone importers which may weigh more than eight tonnes. He then uses the importers' factories to make the basic cuts with machine as per his sculpture design. Then it takes many days to curve out his desired shapes manually.

"I have gained experience and confidence dealing with stones now," he said. His large stone works include an 11 feet sculpture at the Open University.

The sculptures at the exhibition were all cut and finished at his home studio.