Art is timeless. Art is the inevitable relief for the soul. These lines echoed in the halls of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy as youngsters flooded amidst a certain Galley- 4. Art Nation Canvas 2.0, a painting competition and exhibition, hosted by Bangladesh Art Nation took place on the last week of January. 143 paintings were exhibited at the two-day exhibition from morning to evening.
‘It was a different experience. The overwhelming response in fact frightened me on the first day, we were not prepared for the thousands of visitors who flocked inside the exhibition and spent their time amidst our humble exhibition’, said Mahir Shahriar Mishan, the COO and Managing Director of Bangladesh Art Nation.
The process started online, on a Facebook Event Page at the end of November. The creative promotions grabbed the attention of artists across the nation, and within the deadline of two weeks, a whopping 1023 online painting submissions were received from 612 artists.
Also read: Bangladesh Art Nation announces winners of online story writing competition
The gallery space was not sufficient enough to hold 300 paintings selected for the exhibition round. Due to the extension of the Youth Arts Exhibition 2020, previously held, Bangladesh Art Nation was allocated a smaller gallery.
"The experience was tricky at the beginning I must say. To disappoint the artists would be the last thing Bangladesh Art Nation would do," described the founder and CEO, Iffat Ara Ikbal Oishi. “But we knew our team would find a way.”
“I’m elated at the crowd we received at our premises," said Director of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Chitroshala division, Syed Mahbuba Karim, popularly known as Mini Karim.
The judges for the exhibition and competition held were the famous artist, Assistant Editor of the popular magazine Unmad, Morshed Mishu, along with one of the finest watercolor painters of the recent generation, Shahanoor Mamun. Flexbiz, the Prize Money Sponsor of the event, played a pivotal role in the context of the event. The winners were awarded a total prize pool of 10,000 Taka.
At closing ceremony on January 23, more than a hundred artists and visitors eagerly awaited the results. The champion painting was ‘The Man and the Grief’, proudly held by the artist Faizah Rafsan Rinita in front of everyone present there as the chief judge handed it over to her, along with her winning crest, certificate and prize money. The 1st Runner-up was ‘Heritage Bears the History’ by the artist GM Mehedi Hasan, who too was greeted with hurrays.
On another side, the team of Bangladesh Art Nation, a humble number of around twenty people too were all smiles. They have been the core to this organisation for more than a year now, and they knew they had a long way to go, to live up to their promise of ‘Promoting Art, Creating Platforms.’
