Laila to attend 3rd World Art Games in Montenegro

Noted Bangladeshi artist Laila Sharmeen will put up her recent works in mixed media on paper at the 9-day 3rd World Art Games to be held in different cities of Montenegro, which begins today. The exhibition of games will open at the oldest art institutions of the country Gallery of Association of Visual Artists of Montenegro. The show will then travel to other major cities of Montenegro including Sutomore and Kotor. Known as the pearl of the Mediterranean, Montenegro is situated in the south of the Adriatic Sea and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, and Albania to the south-east.  
Laila Sharmeen has 11 solos and over 60 international shows to her credit. She has showcased her works in major international art fairs and biennales including Tokyo International Art Fair, Oxford International Art Fair, Barcelona Art Fair, Art Shopping (Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris), Art Expo New York, Izmir Biennale (Turkey), and Effetto Biennale (Merida, Mexico). She was awarded a Purchase Prize at the 16th Space International Print Biennial, Seoul in 2011.
Currently Director of Hyacinth Garden Gallery, Sharmeen’s works are in permanent collection of Ataturk Museum in Izmir, National Museum of Bangladesh, Central Bank of Bangladesh, GrameenPhone, Eastern Bank Ltd.  and in many private collections at home and abroad.
Her works are a distillation of political comment, social engagement and formal beauty. She is keenly conscious of many of social changes of modern times that are not healthy or natural. For her, they do not have the essentials for sustenance of humanity. At the same time the artificiality of modern life is equally to be blamed. Deeply perturbed by the materialistic greed and alienation of modern man, the hollowness of modern civilization, the clash of civilization, apartheid, religious bigotry, she seeks solace in the beauty and harmony of nature. At the core of her heart she is a romantic dreaming about a utopian world amidst obscurantism, hypocrisy and deceit.
Her works show both a modernist preoccupation with time, flux, the loss of a center and disappearance of faith and a concern for beauty and truth, imagination and solitude. She is also deeply influenced by the ancient philosophical text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad containing Hindu and Buddhist concepts particularly the ones regarding three duties that each individual must perform. These duties are Datta Dayadvam Damyata meaning give, compassion and control. Her mantra for peace and serenity in this world of unrest is Datta Dayadvam Damyata.
Her canvas is full of fish, Kash flower, fireflies, hyacinth flowers, boats and rivers of Bangladesh, paddy fields swaying in the gentle breeze, butterflies, the vast expanse of the sky and birds.
Her composition, in its visual arrangement, stresses on the interaction between space and form, and occasionally, textured surfaces for a gradual unfolding of her thought. Colors are carefully arranged: black now appears with a renewed zeal. But there are also moments of playfulness, as when she allows bits of brushwork to spill into the mounting. Overall, her work creates a fine balance between life and death, negating any strong, pessimistic pull. l

Laila to attend 3rd World Art Games in Montenegro

Noted Bangladeshi artist Laila Sharmeen will put up her recent works in mixed media on paper at the 9-day 3rd World Art Games to be held in different cities of Montenegro, which begins today. The exhibition of games will open at the oldest art institutions of the country Gallery of Association of Visual Artists of Montenegro. The show will then travel to other major cities of Montenegro including Sutomore and Kotor. Known as the pearl of the Mediterranean, Montenegro is situated in the south of the Adriatic Sea and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, and Albania to the south-east. Laila Sharmeen has 11 solos and over 60 international shows to her credit. She has showcased her works in major international art fairs and biennales including Tokyo International Art Fair, Oxford International Art Fair, Barcelona Art Fair, Art Shopping (Carrousel Du Louvre, Paris), Art Expo New York, Izmir Biennale (Turkey), and Effetto Biennale (Merida, Mexico). She was awarded a Purchase Prize at the 16th Space International Print Biennial, Seoul in 2011. Currently Director of Hyacinth Garden Gallery, Sharmeens works are in permanent collection of Ataturk Museum in Izmir, National Museum of Bangladesh, Central Bank of Bangladesh, GrameenPhone, Eastern Bank Ltd. and in many private collections at home and abroad. Her works are a distillation of political comment, social engagement and formal beauty. She is keenly conscious of many of social changes of modern times that are not healthy or natural. For her, they do not have the essentials for sustenance of humanity. At the same time the artificiality of modern life is equally to be blamed. Deeply perturbed by the materialistic greed and alienation of modern man, the hollowness of modern civilization, the clash of civilization, apartheid, religious bigotry, she seeks solace in the beauty and harmony of nature. At the core of her heart she is a romantic dreaming about a utopian world amidst obscurantism, hypocrisy and deceit. Her works show both a modernist preoccupation with time, flux, the loss of a center and disappearance of faith and a concern for beauty and truth, imagination and solitude. She is also deeply influenced by the ancient philosophical text Brihadaranyaka Upanishad containing Hindu and Buddhist concepts particularly the ones regarding three duties that each individual must perform. These duties are Datta Dayadvam Damyata meaning give, compassion and control. Her mantra for peace and serenity in this world of unrest is Datta Dayadvam Damyata. Her canvas is full of fish, Kash flower, fireflies, hyacinth flowers, boats and rivers of Bangladesh, paddy fields swaying in the gentle breeze, butterflies, the vast expanse of the sky and birds. Her composition, in its visual arrangement, stresses on the interaction between space and form, and occasionally, textured surfaces for a gradual unfolding of her thought. Colors are carefully arranged: black now appears with a renewed zeal. But there are also moments of playfulness, as when she allows bits of brushwork to spill into the mounting. Overall, her work creates a fine balance between life and death, negating any strong, pessimistic pull. l