The Athena Gallery of Fine Arts opened a little under a year ago and this is the first time they are hosting a solo painting exhibition. The exhibition titled “Beyond Human Nature” showcase the works of Nasreen Begum, who, after eight years has come up with a solo show. The eye-catching exhibition will continue till June 11.
Nasreen Begum is a professor of the Department of Oriental Arts, Dhaka University. She is also a pioneering artist who is credited with encouraging greater female participation in the wider Bangladeshi art arena. The talented artist is robust and uncompromisingly dogmatic with her craft in depicting her distinctive style blended with oriental art.
Her practice of work shows a profound appreciation for harmony in nature, highlighting instances of beauty in the objects mostly overlooked in nature, places and instances. She is widely known for her signature motif of cactus and through her new work will be displaying new examples of this symbol of struggle between perception and reality. With this latest exhibition, she sheds new light on observations that characterises the unpredictable intersections between humanity and nature.
Especially, the harmonious relation between women and nature has been portrayed very insightfully in many of the displayed artworks yet having variations in compositions and use of colours.
Though oriental art is pleasant looking, the artist by remaining in her periphery has brought symbolic use of leaves in a stylized composition. She has done abstract art within oriental style, where scribbling and swirling use of lines are prominent.
Officially, the exhibition was inaugurated by eminent artist and cultural icon Rafiqun Nabi as the chief guest of the occasion.
Nasreen Begum participated in various group art exhibitions at home and abroad and also held seven solo exhibitions at different venues like Biswa Shahitya Kendra in 1986, Gallery Tone in Dhaka in 1993, Devine Art Gallery in Dhaka in 1995 and 2000, Zainul Gallery at FFA in 2001, at Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts in 2004 and Hamail Art Gallery in Lahore in 2006.
