Bengal Masters' works,Symphony of Silence, Simply Suhas and more..

NEWS

Artworks of Bengal Masters

(work by Bikash Bhattacharjee)

Wonderwall, New Delhi, presents an exclusive show of artworks by some renowned Bengali artists. The show titled, ‘Bengal Masters’ is being presented in association with Gallery Sanskriti and has on display the works of artists Bikash Bhattacharjee, Ganesh Haloi, Jogen Chowdhury, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Paresh Maity, Paritosh Sen and Shuvaprasan.

Bikash Bhattacharjee depicted the life of the average middle-class Bengalis through his works. His paintings reflected their aspirations, superstitions, hypocrisy and corruption. Ganesh Haloi, a Kolkata based artist, was extremely influenced by Ajanta and his works are marked by lyricism. He has worked with a variety of mediums and often used dots, dashes and lines to represent trees, water and green fields. Jogen Chowdhury, another eminent painter, is a master of lines and curves. The curves of the figures he creates are often enough to convey what he wants to express about them. Lalu Prasad Shaw is an immensely gifted artist and print maker and is well known for his smooth synthesis of starkly different stylistic elements.

The show is on view till 31st December 2013.

A tryst with figuration

( work by Vijay Dupatre)

Artistree Art Gallery, Mumbai once again tries to invoke the essence of art even in a lay person with their new show of art works. The gallery presents an innovative art collection by a renowned artist from Maharashtra – Vijay Dupatre. The artist is a master at figurative art with one central figure occupying the entire canvas. the works are rendered in acrylic and oil on canvas.

The artist introduces delicate textures into his work that gives them a unique appeal. His preferred hues are bright reds, blacks and browns making his works vivid and dark at the same time.

The show is on view till 19th December 2013.

Symphony of Silence

(Work by Paresh Maity)

Art Musings gallery, Mumbai presents ‘Symphony Of Silence’, a solo art exhibition of artworks by artist, Paresh Maity. 

Through his collection, he explores different mediums and presents a strong character of his thoughts. His paintings and sculptures display a myriad of unusual shapes and forms. 

An alumnus of Fine Arts from the Government College of Art & Craft, Kolkata, he has more than 50 shows to his credit. 

The show will be on view from 18th December 2013 to 20th January 2014.

Simply Suhas

( work by Suhas Roy)

Open Palm Court Gallery, Delhi presents an exhibition - Simply Suhas. On the display will be the works by Suhas Roy, in memory of his only son, artist Suman Roy. 

Suhas Roy is one of the leading and the most persistent artists in the genre of modern art in India. His passion was first inclined to landscapes and later towards capturing the grace and glamour of Indian women. In his pictures, art lovers can see the original grace and charm. He uses materials like brush, charcoal and crayons fashion his artworks that are deeply soaked in the numinous zest.

The show is on view from 18th December to 24th December 2013.

(News reports by Sushma Sabnis)

FEATURE

Madhubani comes alive

Through her workshop, Ambika Devi propagates the tradition of Madhubani paintings

( Through her workshop Ambika Devi propagates the art of Madhubani)

There is a little bit of Mithila in every Madhubani painting, Ambika Devi a Madhubani artist says. The flora and fauna colour the paintings, literally. There is bark of mango trees and mehendi leaves in its browns, blues take their hues from berries, green from the leaves of the poya, red from the flowers, yellow from fresh raw turmeric, and black from a combination of soot collected from kerosene lamps, cowdung and gum (from trees). Cowdung mixed with neem juice and rice powder is used to ‘dye’ the paper, a few drops of water from the Ganga added to it for ‘purification’.

Then there is the spirit, the years of tradition handed down from mother to daughter. It is an heirloom bequeathed to the next generation in the villages that comprise Madhubani district in Bihar, the land of Madhubani paintings. It carries with it the fragrance of the soil of its birth; it’s a narrative women of Mithila proudly claim as theirs.

Ambika Devi from ‘one of the 10 villages that make Mithila’ has been a practitioner since she was 11 years old. She is at the RLV College of Music and Fine Arts, Tripunithura, a part of a Spic-Macay initiative teaching or, as she sees it, familiarising students with the art form. Madhubani paintings bear the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

“I derive comfort from such sessions. Comfort because I am convinced Madhubani will survive time.”

Ambika has been associated with Spic-Macay for almost eight years now. She travels to various parts of the country teaching youngsters the art form.

For her Madhubani is an emotional bond with her ancestors and the land of her birth. A President’s Award winner, she learnt her painting from her mother, who is also a President’s Award winner, as did her mother from Ambika’s grandmother. “We don’t know when it began. We do know it has always been there as part of our collective unconscious.”

Young girls in these villages in Mithila are encouraged to learn drawing motifs – arpan – made out of powdered rice drawn for pujas. Her mother used to tell her to embrace Madhubani but she never took it up seriously, not until she was in her teens.

“I thought if I was married off to some other village I might not get a chance to pursue it.” But fate had other plans and she married into a family that lived ‘very close’ when she was 17. “My mother’s story was my mother-in-law’s…Madhubani painting. By then even my attitude was changing. It is an activity that brings all the women in a community together. A Madhubani painting is a must for our rituals. We have 12 pujas a year and for each there is different motif which we draw. Each has its own symbolism. Even marriage functions need these.”

She adds that there is no compulsion for women to pursue this tradition; two of her sisters don’t paint while she and another sister paint.

Kobad is painted on a wall in the room, in the bride’s house, where the newly married couple spends the first few days after the marriage. It has motifs such as bamboo, fish, elephant and the sun and the moon – each with its own significance.

And the groom takes sindoor for his bride wrapped in a painting of Dasavatar painted by his mother or womenfolk in his community. “While painting these we sing ditties about weddings and marriage. As long as these functions are there, we will always have work.”

Ambika lives in Delhi with her husband and two children. “But all the raw materials and my imagination are still rooted back home. And I get the colours from my village.” For the paintings she uses natural colours but for saris, dupattas and garments she uses fabric paint.

Aid from the government and handicrafts department has come a long way in making this work economically viable for women. It is more than economic freedom - “menfolk acknowledge our contribution; women who have been doing this have done much better than most highly educated men.”

She has taught her children, son and daughter, painting. “My daughter, who is in Class X, is good at it. This is something women can do better. I have done my bit by teaching her, now I hope she teaches her children in order to perpetuate the tradition.”

(Report by Shilpa Anand Nair for The Hindu)