New inspiration for artist Andaleeb
Andaleeb Preema has recently returned from the international art residency programme at Kompeung, Chiang Mai, in Thailand. "This is one of the popular residency programme and so I applied for it," says Andaleeb. "The reason why I like to attend such programmes is that if I stay in Dhaka and work, my feelings and emotions become stereotyped. If I remain in one place for too long I sense a lack of creativity. The diverse cultures and customs and the varied environment inspire me. In the last seven years the art scenario has changed a lot and is not confined to the canvas any more."
Andaleeb did some paintings inspired by the sight where she was staying, and which will remain in Thailand where she worked. She feels proud to represent herself and her country. She hopes to go to Korea shortly and carry some ideas of her own there. "Kompeung in Chiang Mai is a hilly area with tribal people living there. There are temples and monks. I shifted from canvas to Thai rice paper. On it I used the local charcoal colour. From the temples I got inspired by the gold colour and this I used lavishly in my work. There were cotton bushes all around and whenever the wind blew there were fragments of cotton in the air and this too gave me ideas," said Andaleeb.
She met artists from Canada, France, China, Japan and Taiwan. Interacting with the other artists, Andaleeb learned about their culture and this exchange helped her realise where she was standing in the art scenario. "This helped in my personal development," she said. She did paintings of staring Muslim women in 'hijab' all around the mud house in which she lived while working. After using the chalk she applied lacquer varnish to make the work permanent.
She had, moreover, a collection of 40 paintings. Of which she displayed 20 paintings at the Minimal Gallery in Chiang Mai. In them too Andaleeb used the charcoal black and the temple gold. Thus this was a variation from what she had done in the global art village in Delhi, 18 months back. This also differed from the one she had done in the USA three years ago. "Every new environment brings a change in my work, as I'm freshly energised by the new places. It also gave me an idea of conceptual art: Anything and everything can be art, if presented and seen in the right way," said Andaleeb.
Andaleeb hopes to write a book on the female artists of Bangladesh in the near future.
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