Noted romantic artist Nasreen Begum transports her emotions and experiences through her paintings in an ongoing solo exhibition titled Beyond Human Nature at the Athena Gallery
of Fine Arts in Badda.
The artist is displaying her recently completed 51 vibrant figurative paintings under a few series eight years after her last solo in Lahore, Pakistan.
The uniqueness of the exhibition is the subtle use of colours in her acrylic canvases. Another notable aspect of the current show is presentation of unusual symbols in aesthetically rich artworks.
Sagas of oppressed women in a patriarchal society have symbolically appeared as cacti in the desert in her series titled Red Cactus in Bloom. In the third canvas of the series, the seasoned artist has linked the pains of the two different creatures by portraying an intertwined image of a beautiful young woman in crimson red sari and a red cactus.
The same theme has been presented in a more elusive manner in her two other series titled Feeling Blue Cactus and Green Cactus in Bloom. An illusion has been created successfully through the lyrical shades of blue and yellow in the Feeling Blue Cactus series. The various shades of green in the Green Cactus in Bloom also catch the attention of the spectators.
As a nature lover, Nasreen Begum has combined nature with heritage in her Heritage series. The relics of the frontal door of a zamindar’s palace have been illustrated in the first painting of the series. Ferns, plants and ants crawling on the door emphasise the waning of the embellished beauty and inevitable infestations with course of time.
Another interesting aspect of the show is the demonstration of Nasreen’s skill in creating 3D illusion on her two dimensional paintings in her series titled Impression. A number of red ants in a quest for food have been presented through fine use of colours and lines in her third painting of the series.
Rural life and all its simplicity have appeared in Red Earth series by the artist. The second of the series depicts two women washing their utensils by a rivulet.
The contemporary artist has brought forward the urban road landscape and the struggle of a rickshaw puller on a rainy day in her paintings titled Rickshaw in the Rain and The Pink Umbrella not belonging to any particular series.
‘I only paint whatever comes to my mind or sometimes paint memories that are triggered in the mind. I never make a plan before creating an artwork because it should be a spontaneous process,’ said the romantic artist who is also a professor of oriental art at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Dhaka University.
Inaugurated on May 25, the exhibition will remain open for everybody from 10:00 am to 8:00pm till June 11.
-With New Age input
