ART

Celebrated Bangladeshi artist Mohammad Rassa, 30, burned his sculptures in front of hundreds of onlookers outside the National Art Gallery in Dhaka Wednesday to protest what he said was “official apathy toward me.” Rassa told reporters: “Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy (National Art Gallery) and other organizations have not only refused to buy or preserve my works, they did not even allow me to hold a solo exhibition in the country. I have been paupered by pursuing this difficult art and I am gravely disappointed by the official apathy toward me and my works.” Gallery officials described Rassa’s act as “outrageous and self-destructive.”