Within the framework of Russia-Bangladesh cultural exchange program, Russian painter Mr. Sergei Radiuk visited Bangladesh. Mr. Radiuk is a member of the Union of Russian artists, president of “Sunny Square” international organization of artists and founder of a painting school by the same name in Moscow.

On January 17-28, 2017 Gallery Cosmos, Dhaka hosted Mr. Radiuk’s painting exhibition “Ladies Come Flying”, devoted to the 45^th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations between Russia and Bangladesh. Hon’ble Minister of Cultural Affairs of Bangladesh H.E. Asaduzzaman Noor attended the inauguration exhibition as a chief guest. In his speech, he appraised highly the bilateral collaboration in all fields and expressed his hope that in the future the number of cultural exchanges will increase. Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh H.E. Alexander Ignatov noted that cultural diplomacy helps our nations better understand each other and develop other sectors of cooperation.

Well-known Bangladeshi artists such as Kalidas Karmakar, Afroza Jamil Konka, Monirul Islam and others, members of the Soviet/Russian Alumni Association of Bangladesh, representatives of the diplomatic corps, public figures and those indifferent to art attended the exhibition. The event got a wide coverage in newspapers and on TV.

On January 17, 2017, Mr. Sergei Radiuk held a workshop at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy where showed his painting techniques to students of the Faculty of Fine Art of the University of Dhaka and acquainted them with Jazz painting style characterized by eclecticism and improvisation. The picture created collectively during the workshop was presented to Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy. In a speech at the end of the seminar Director General of the Academy Mr. Liaquat Ali Lucky stressed the importance of cultural interaction in developing our bilateral relations and reminded that it was first initiated by great Bengal poet, writer, philosopher and artist Rabindranath Tagore who visited the USSR in 1930.

During his stay in Bangladesh, Mr. Sergei Radiuk visited major art galleries in Dhaka, Faculty of Fine Art of the University of Dhaka, established contacts with his Bangladeshi counterparts and travelled to the Bengal Bay beach town of Cox’s Bazar to create landscape paintings.

In the future, the Embassy in cooperation with “Sunny Square” organization plans to arrange a reciprocal trip of Bangladeshi artists to Russia, including Moscow, St.Petersburg, Vologda and other places.