Bangladeshi artist Laila Sharmeen will showcase her recent mixed media on paper series ‘Datta Dayadvam Damyata: Shantih Shantih Shantih’ in Amsterdam International Art Fair and Biennale of Chianciano in the historic city of Tuscany.
Her current series is 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.
The two-day Amsterdam International Art Fair will open on Friday 28 August at Amsterdam’s architectural landmark Beurs van Berlage with more than 150 artists showing cutting-edge contemporary artworks from around the world. The red-brick Beurs van Berlage was designed by architect Hendrik Petrus Berlage and constructed between 1896 and 1903.
The nine-day Biennale of Chianciano opens on September 5 in the picturesque city of Tuscany also regarded as the birthplace of the Renaissance. Curated and hosted by the Chianciano Art Museum, the exhibition is staged over 3000 square meters of the Museum and gathers some of the best established as well as emerging international talents. A total of 120 artists from 40 nations will be featuring in the 2015 edition of the Biennale.
Her work shows 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. 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.
She 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, Korea in 2011.
Her works are in permanent collection of Ataturk Museum in Izmir, National Museum of Bangladesh, Central Bank of Bangladesh, GrameenPhone and in many private collections at home and abroad.
