Aakriti gallery’s ode to Indian independence 22-12-2022
Aakriti Art Gallery Kolkata pays an ode to 75 years of Indian Independence with an epic exhibition titled ‘FREEDOM: FROM DESPAIR TO DREAM’. Curated by the brilliant art writer and Curator Mrinal Ghosh featuring the works of 12 painters and 7 sculptors, this show is filled with nostalgia and the beauty of perspective and perception.
Narvekar’s twin studies
A musician with his instrument and a mother and child are two stellar studies by P.R.Narvekar the genius form JJ School of Art in Maharashtra.His treatment of monochromatic magic is something we can be enchanted with and the imagery stays with you long after you have seen it.
The frame is his mirror of life. The frame is also the personification of treatment and commentary. The musician is a fascinating frame of both poise and gesture. The drape of the dhoti kurta-clad musician is a study in portraiture. It goes back in time to the beauty of the past, a life of quiescent grace and poise. The aura of expression on the face of the musician is one that lifts one upto a realm of soaking tunes and melody as we contemplate on the notes being played on the humble beautiful instrument.
The mother and child is yet another study in maternal love and eternal expression of bonding.the figures of the child and mother in the enactment of play is one that brings a smile to one’s face. The mother and child subject is as old as history. This season of advent we think of Madonna and baby Jesus. Narvekar creates an everyday idiom of deep symbolism with his Mother and Child. The monochromatic tints are mesmerising are regarded as one of his most delicate and important. This impressive mother and child painting has a subtle spiritual balance and quality of calm as it recreates moments of silent pleasure and deep love between mothers and children anywhere in the world, irrespective of species across the universe.
Subrata’s ceramic sculpture
A brilliant choreography in character and charisma is Subrata Biswas’s Signature of Civilisation.The form that stands like a citadel, the tiny characters who become the animated people, this is a statement of time and tide and destiny and beliefs of the people, their whims, fancies and blind beliefs.Subrata creates a corollary of conversations with his work and invites the viewer to partake of the dialogue of the past and present.
His perfection of mould form and perspective all become a tableaux of his own degree of discipline and highly developed aesthetic sense. He draws attention to the products of the craft of civilisations and creates a narrative that deserves to rank as art outstanding by any standards.
Much of his sculpture is one that talks of hybrid classical characters, sometimes tribal, sometimes ancient. He creates a dramatic dialogue in which the past and present mingle to tell us that we can be individuals as well as private persons; we can belong to moments that are for ritual for the royal as well as everyday humble, real as well as divine representations. By itself, however, a sculpture is a representation of a single page from the wheels of civilization, carrying within its own language, and dialects of expression.
Tapas’s Benares
Yet another masterpiece in sculpture is Tapas Biswas’s Benares. In its cohesive structure and sculptural charisma it holds the idea and signature of monumentality in more ways than one. We sense a supreme sculptural competence in his handling of the bronze as we sense that he is a maestro who works quietly and with a language that augurs perfection in proportion and the challenge to create a narrative that is both associative as well as impactful in the drama of design.
Although relatively small, the sculpture embodies the essential monumentality required to create a sumptuous commentary in a single piece of sculpture. The immensely impressive life-size summation points the way to the magnificent picturesque dominion of the Benares Ghats that has been part of the artistic repertoire for so many years in Indian and world history. Not only does he bring alive the steps of the Benares Ghats he also weaves in the subtlety of carving and true spiritual dignity in the work created. We sense a fascination as well as felicity in his handling and translation of a riverscape medley into a cityscape that exhibits complete mastery of composition and mood.
The other artists in this exhibition include painters Partha Pratim Deb, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Chhatrapati Dutta, Samir Aich, Jaya Ganguli, Chandra Bhattacharya, K.Muralidharan, Samindranath Majumdar, Pankaj Panwar, Debraj Goswami and Bholanath Rudra, and sculptors Krishen Khanna, Bimal Kundu, Deabnjan Roy, Akhil Chandra Das, and Mrinal Kanti Gayen.
The show will start on 28 December 2022 and will continue till 28 January 2023
Courtesy: The Times of India