Celebrating the scenic beauty of colourful Spring in the glorious month of International Mother Language Day, Gallery Cosmos organized an exclusive daylong art event titled ’The Passion of Drawing’ on Friday at the Garden Gallery, Baridhara in the capital.

Seven leading and promising artists of the country including Biren Shome, Kuhu, Fareha Zeba, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Afrozaa Jamil Konka, Jibrael Ali Chowdhury and Sourav Chowdhury participated in this daylong event, showcasing their brilliant brushstrokes through their drawing sketches.

The artists participated in life drawing sessions by putting the beauty of the live model on their respective canvases and interacted with prominent enthusiastic art admirers who joined the event to celebrate the essence of art and nature at the beautiful, picturesque venue.

Regarding this unique art event, freedom Fighter and eminent artist Biren Shome said, “Drawing is the mother of every art form and our pioneer artists such as Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin or SM Sultan, they never forgot their origin which was drawing. For celebrating the practice of drawing inside this picturesque Garden Gallery and inviting us to join this festivity, I thank the Gallery Cosmos wholeheartedly.”

Visual artist and art educator Fareha Zeba lauded the initiative for reviving the practice of life drawing. Sharing her experience with UNB, Zeba said, “Back in the days when we were students, we used to practice life drawing with models. It feels really good to explore that opportunity once again, today at this event.”

Echoing the same, eminent indigenous artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma said, “It feels refreshing to participate in such an amazing event, especially for the opportunity to work on life drawing. The ambience, the art-admiring audiences and the overall hospitality of Gallery Cosmos truly mesmerized me throughout the day.”

Freelance artist Kuhu, one of the main visionaries of this event, told UNB that other galleries should also focus on popularizing the practice of drawing among the painters. “As an artist, I enjoy life drawing more than anything else, especially the urban landscape-themed life drawing. This wonderful daylong art event inside this Garden Gallery is such an ideal example which should be followed by other galleries as well.” 

Sharing the motif behind ‘The Passion of Drawing,’ Gallery Cosmos Director Tehmina Enayet said, “We are truly very happy to organize this Spring celebration of drawing; however, this is not the first time we are organizing this type of art event. Thirty years ago, we organized a similar event with our revered and beloved artist late Kalidas Karmakar in this same venue, and we realized it would be wonderful if we organize this event here once again, in this glorious month of February. The jovial participation of our

eminent artists and art enthusiasts exceeded our expectations, and we will definitely move forward with even more festivity in the near future.”

Gallery Cosmos Executive Artistic Manager and one of the participating artists Sourav Chowdhury said, “Exploring the mesmerizing nature in this month of Falgun while reimagining the innate love for drawing is certainly a great experience, something which I am proud of both as a participating artist and one of the organizers.”

“This was quite a unique exhibition for the participating artists as well as the art admirers who joined us today. Their expertise in working in between the elements, the overall process behind the crafts of these prominent artists while being accompanied with music and nature, their locked focus behind their drawings while simultaneously interacting with the enthusiastic audiences - all these things are not regularly seen together in many exhibitions,” said Kate Jaro Khan, Artistic Director of Gallery Cosmos.

The event was joined by a large number of eminent and influential personalities from home and beyond, including the Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan.