Biography
Imtiaj Shohag is an internationally acclaimed Paris-based Bangladeshi artist. Born in Bangladesh in 1973. He has obtained a diploma (BFA. stud first class, first) at the Institute of Fine Arts in Dhaka, he was awarded a grant by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs to continue his studies in France in 2000. He spent a year at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts of Aix-en-Provence (South of France), then was accepted into the prestigious Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs(National Superior School of Arts) in Paris and graduated in 2004 in Art-Espace (pass with honors 70-80%). From 2002 to 2004, he was resident in the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.
He has been living and working in Paris since 2002.
Selected Exhibitions
2020-21 Two men show « permanent collections » Gallery Fluide, Castle of Chémery. France 2019 – 2020 Promenade Artistique de Molineuf,“ Artistic walk of Molineuf ” France 2017 Duet “ Si loin Si Proche” Gallery Fluide, Château de Chemery, Loire valley, France 2016 Solo”Destruction/ (Re)-Construction” Shilpangan Gallery. Dhaka , Bangladesh. 2014 Nomination and Exhibitionat 18th Antoine Marin Prize -Paris,France
2013 Solo Ministry of Finance’s Cultural Center “Water and its Splendors” – Paris,France 2012 Solo L’eau – delà “The Water Beyond” La Galerie, Alliance Française de Dhaka. Bangladesh. 2010 Solo exhibition in the Goutte de Terre Gallery – Paris.France Exhibition in the GMBA Baker Tilly – Paris.France
2009 Solo exhibition at the International Conference Centre in Geneva as part of the “Disaster Prevention” conference. Swizerland.
Exhibition at the UNESCO headquarters – Paris.France
Exhibition in the GMBA Baker Tilly – Paris.France
Participation in the “Frigo-Art” event on the Pont des Arts – Paris.France Participation in the “Affordable Art Fair” – Paris.France
2005 Solo exhibition at the National Museum in Dhaka ,Bangladesh: he sold a painting to the collection.
2003 Representing Bangladesh at the Emaar International Art Symposium – Dubai 2002 Solo exhibition at the Cité Internationale des Arts – Paris.France
“Artistes du Monde” exhibition in the Bernanos Gallery – Paris.France
1999-2006 Exhibition at Dhaka Alliance française , The 9th, 10th and 12th Asian Art Biennial. Bangladesh.
Since 2013 he is working as an Visual art teacher at association Art-Exprim- Paris, France. He has collaborated with Jean de Loisy, Curator at the Centre Georges Pompidou ( Paris.France) for the design of future exhibition. He collaborated on drawing with Yves Ollier, designer and decorator( Disneyland Resort Paris,France).
He was awarded several times in France. 2nd prize da Silva ENSAD-Paris2002, France. 3rd Public prize in the exhibition of young artiste “H20” Vichy, France 2000. In Bangladesh he was
Concept
The coronavirus pandemic has transformed the economic, social and cultural landscapes of every country on earth. France too has had its share of upheavals. Cities have been locked down, bars and restaurants have been shuttered and people have been forced to take shelter inside their homes. Paris, usually a very crowded city, wore a deserted look as its inhabitants and tourists kept themselves away from its streets.
Nature, however, has given itself a makeover. In the absence of carbon emission and discharge of industrial waste, nature has healed. The flora in the deserted countryside has been able to flourish freely.
I live in Paris and I teach visual arts in the city but I paint in a studio set up in a rural retreat. Looking at the unthinkable emptiness created by the pandemic, painfully reflected by the barren Paris, and then at nature which seems eternal in its springy rejuvenation, I felt conflicting emotions that I wanted to record in a series of paintings. But at the end, what enlivened my paintings was a resurgence of hope. Things will change, my paintings told me, the world will be beautiful again.
All the works in the series are in the same format. I work with encaustic, hot wax and apply the pigment technique, transforming a hyperreal subject at the start of the process into a blurry pattern in places. In the process, the paintings introduce a doubt in the minds of the viewers about what they really perceive, in the same way that they could hardly believe what was going on around them in the thick of the pandemic. The series narrates the silent story of the paradox between dead looking cities and reborn nature filled with life and hope, a unique situation worldwide in the history of humanity. Is it the beginning of a new era? Who knows !
Art Work: Espoir du Futur, 2020
