The 19th century English poet Christina Rossetti once said "Spring is when life's alive in everything," and the pleasant weather alongside all of its vibrant festivities have truly made it the king of all seasons. A great number of art events always get scheduled in this season around the world; however, the ongoing global pandemic of Covid-19 has been jeopardized the festivities since 2020. As Bangladesh has successfully been handling the pandemic situation with rapid vaccination and other measures, art events returned to the traditional galleries and the artists have been showcasing their brilliance through exhibitions once again.

The abovementioned jovial paragraph did not contain the word 'drawing,' because this is, in fact, the scenario among the artists and painters nowadays. While drawing is widely considered as the beginning of everything related to painting and the foundation of artistry, the culture of celebrating the practice of drawing has been somehow becoming obsolete among the newcomers, as time moved forward. Traditional galleries also lacked the needed enthusiasm to promote drawing-based events and motivate artists to nurture the passion within themselves.

Considering these things and also celebrating the scenic beauty of colourful Spring in the glorious month of International Mother Language Day, Gallery Cosmos organized an exclusive daylong art event titled 'The Passion of Drawing' on Friday at the Garden Gallery, Baridhara in the capital.

Seven leading and promising artists of the country including Biren Shome, Kuhu, Fareha Zeba, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Afrozaa Jamil Konka, Jibrael Ali Chowdhury and Sourav Chowdhury participated in this daylong event, showcasing their brilliant brushstrokes through their drawing sketches.

The artists participated in life drawing sessions by putting the beauty of the live model on their respective canvases and interacted with prominent enthusiastic art admirers who joined the event to celebrate the essence of art and nature at the beautiful, picturesque venue.

Regarding this unique art event, freedom Fighter and eminent artist Biren Shome said, "Drawing is the mother of every art form and our pioneer artists such as Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin or SM Sultan, they never forgot their origin which was drawing. For celebrating the practice of drawing inside this picturesque Garden Gallery and inviting us to join this festivity, I thank the Gallery Cosmos wholeheartedly."

Visual artist and art educator Fareha Zeba lauded the initiative for reviving the practice of life drawing. Sharing her experience with Dhaka Courier, Zeba said, "Back in the days when we were students, we used to practice life drawing with models. It feels really good to explore that opportunity once again, today at this event."

Echoing the same, eminent indigenous artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma said, "It feels refreshing to participate in such an amazing event, especially for the opportunity to work on life drawing. The ambience, the art-admiring audiences and the overall hospitality of Gallery Cosmos truly mesmerized me throughout the day."

Freelance artist Kuhu, one of the main visionaries of this event, told DC that other galleries should also focus on popularizing the practice of drawing among the painters. "As an artist, I enjoy life drawing more than anything else, especially the urban landscape-themed life drawing. This wonderful daylong art event inside this Garden Gallery is such an ideal example which should be followed by other galleries as well."

Artist Afrozaa Jamil Konka said, "The month of February is always special as we snatched the freedom of expressing ourselves through our mother language in this month, and also because of being the welcoming month of the mesmerizing Spring. Although we all start our journey in art with the practice of drawing as beginners, many of the artists eventually forget the practice. With this amazing initiative of Gallery Cosmos in this beautiful Garden Gallery will all these charming festivities brought together, personally I feel like my artistry got rejuvenated."

Sharing the motif behind 'The Passion of Drawing,' Gallery Cosmos Director Tehmina Enayet said, "We are truly very happy to organize this Spring celebration of drawing; however, this is not the first time we are organizing this type of art event. Thirty years ago, we organized a similar event with our revered and beloved artist late Kalidas Karmakar in this same venue, and we realized it would be wonderful if we organize this event here once again, in this glorious month of February. The jovial participation of our eminent artists and art enthusiasts exceeded our expectations, and we will definitely move forward with even more festivity in the near future."

Gallery Cosmos Executive Artistic Manager and one of the participating artists Sourav Chowdhury said, "Exploring the mesmerizing nature in this month of Falgun while reimagining the innate love for drawing is certainly a great experience, something which I am proud of both as a participating artist and one of the organizers."

"This was quite a unique exhibition for the participating artists and well as the art admirers who joined us today. Their expertise in working in between the elements, the overall process behind the crafts of these prominent artists while being accompanied with music and nature, their locked focus behind their drawings while simultaneously interacting with the enthusiastic audiences - all these things are not regularly seen together in many exhibitions," said Kate Jaro Khan, Artistic Director of Gallery Cosmos.

The event was joined by a large number of eminent and influential personalities from home and beyond, including the Turkish Ambassador to Bangladesh Mustafa Osman Turan.