‘Ode to Beauty’

Sheikh Arif Bulbon :
Shama Shaiom did her B.F.A. in Drawing and Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Dhaka and completed her M.F.A. from the University Of Development Alternative (UODA). She also followed a watercolour course from Wimbledon University in the United Kingdom. Her art is a tribute to what which is beautiful in this world. There might be much chaos in this world, but still, she focuses on the positive aspects that do and will prevail.
Shama’s works are influenced by post-impressionism and surrealism. She pays tribute to flowers, as a thing of beauty and joy. She tries to find the sublime through meditation. She searches for treasures of the ancient pirates in her slumbers. She sells seashells in the seashore in her dream. She discovers life as a tree in her thought and depicts it fully. Escaping from reverie, she captures the cityscape in her paintings. With colours at times subdued, at times bright, her attempts to explore the realm of quiet magic in radiant realism is there for one to enjoy.
The first solo painting exhibition of artist Shama Shaiom titled Ode to Beauty is going on at the Galerie Zoom of the Alliance Française de Dhaka (AFD) in the city’s Dhanmondi area now. Eminent artist Shahid Kabir was present in the opening ceremony.
Eminent artist Shahed Kabir largely appreciates the works of Shama Shaiom. He expects Shama Shaiom to be more attentive and punctual than usual to her arts. Not to mention, Shahed Kabir has suggested finding beauty amidst the ugliness.
A total of 18 artworks of Shama are on display in the exhibition.
In the artworks of the exhibition, Shama holds it that “Beauty is Truth, Truth beauty,” in the famous words of Ode to a Grecian urn, by English romantic poet John Keats. In the same way she believes what Khalil Gibran says – “Of the good in you, I can speak.”
While talking about her works Shama Shaiom believes, “A thing of beauty is joy forever.”
The exhibition will continue upto September 4.