Feature

The IUB Art Club keeps busy

Megen Marsha Barrokh Edwards

'Art is way of understanding one's heritage, truth, beauty, aesthetics' says Mr Nazir Ahmed, coordinator of IUB Art Club, 'and without art is would be difficult to relate oneself into the world'.

Mr. Nazir Ahmed, assistant Professor at the School of Liberal Arts and Science, comes from a family of seven siblings and he says that his father is the one from who he and his siblings inherited their musical talent. Mr Nazir Ahmed's brother, Mr Nasir Ahmed Opu, is also well known for his musical talent. For instance he was the first to introduce Bangla Pop, Jazz and Rock music in Bangladesh by a band called 'Spondon Shilpi Gosthi'.

Mr Nazir Ahmed has also had his share of fame; in 1985 he had Musical performance and Solo Painting Exhibition at Munch Museum Oslo, Norway and in 2006 and 2007 he published four book cover illustrations and typography from publisher house writer ink and Ankur Prakasani in Dhaka.

The idea of the Art Club was inspired by Vice Chancellor, Bazlul Mobin Chowdhury, and the club officially started off in the year 2004. The Art Club is not only for canvas and oil paints but it is also for those interested in music, creative writing and other contemporary issues. It is a club for students to come and get together, have fun and be creative and share their feelings or even fuse them together and form a nebula of beautiful creativity.

The Art Club has had a few exhibitions, one of which was 'Mona Lisa in Bangladesh' in the year 2005; the exhibition portrayed 'Mona Lisa' in different fashions with a dash of Bengali culture and this exhibition took place in the month of 'Chotro Shongkranti' which is just before the Bengali New Year at Campus 3 IUB Art Gallery. Both in 2006 and 2007 the Art Club performed a 'Boishaki Rally' (mongol shobajatra) within the Baridhara campus.

Nazir Ahmed wishes that the Art Club will contribute something substantive to the Media and Communication Department of IUB and that it may produce innovative and inspired individuals that can represent not only their heritage, but also their inner selves through their artwork.