by Mrinal Ghosh

Retrospective Exhibition of Sculptures by
Gautam Pal

Abanindranath Tagore Gallery.                      
RTC, ICCR                                                              
1 May to 8 May, 2012

Gautam Pal, born 1949, is a sculptor who has come up from the traditional sculptural environment of Krishna Nagar of West Bengal. After completing his graduation in sculpture from Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta he joined the Academia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, Italy in 1972 for higher education. He has earned special proficiency in portrait sculpture. His busts and full figure sculptures of great personalities have been installed in 279 centers within India and 69 places in different parts of the world. Recently his large full figure sculpture of Rabindranath has been installed in the Parliament House at New Delhi. The present exhibition, Retrospective Exhibition of Sculptures, showcased his seven works of portrait sculptures in fiberglass, bronze and marble, thirteen sculpture compositions in fiberglass, bronze and wood, six miniature sculpture compositions in bronze and four paintings, oil on canvas. Apart from these there were 25 photographs of his works and his presence with different dignitaries throughout the world.

'Objects': Art Works by Eight Artists

Ganges Art Gallery                                                                         
2 May to 30 June, 2012

In the post-modern situation it cannot be said that every art is derived from some sort of 'object', as is generally conceived in case of conventional painting or sculpture. In spite of that when the show has been titled as Objects, it indicates that the artists have tried to explore how an object is emancipated from its earthly objecthood and transcended towards some higher aesthetic values. The process is different for different artists. Here we find eight different ways of such artistic treatment. The concept note of the exhibition states, 'When one thinks about the debates that have gone on around what should and should not constitute 'art' proper, its renderings of 'objects' make it even more interesting - especially in today's context when artistic liberties and interpretations range from creative to thought-provoking to bizarre. In such a delicate setting, how different artists, with widely varied trainings, agenda, ideas, outlook, style and execution, come together to present their takes on 'objects', is what this show primarily seeks to explore.' The participating artists were: Anita Gopal, Avijit Mukherjee, Mahjabin Majumder, Nandini Chirimar, Nantu Behari Das, Partha Shaw, Paula Sengupta and Tapati Chowdhury.

Summer Show 2012

Galerie 88                                                                                      
4 May to 31 May, 2012

The exhibition showcased the works of twelve young artists from different part of the country, completing their art education from different art institutions of Kolkata, Santiniketan, Baroda etc. Two of them are sculptors. The remaining ten have worked on two dimensional surfaces, based on painting, graphics and photography. It was not curated based on any particular theme or concept. The works displayed variety of styles and technique and showed the diversity of forms and creative impulses practiced in contemporary art. Yet there was some common point in the expressions. There was search for novelty, experimentation to posit uniqueness in form and technique and commitment towards social and temporal reality. Diversity of contemporary existence and mode of life came up as an indirect theme of the show. The participating artists were: Abesh B Mitra, Annapurna Mandal, Arpan Mukherjee, Debashis Manna, Murali Cheeroth, Narendra B Thakare, Prantik Chattopadhyay, Pulak Sanpui, Riya Chatterjee, S Tanushree Chakraborty, and sculptors like Saurav Roy Chowdhury and Sushanta K Maharana.

'Shri Ramkrishna, His Life and Teachings': Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture

Ramkrishna Mission Institution of Culture, Gol Park                                  
4 May to 9 June, 2012

On the occasion of 175th birth anniversary of Shri Ramkrishna -- Ramkrishna Mission Institution of Culture presented this year's annual exhibition based on paintings and sculptures done by various artists on the life of the great saint. Total number of works was 82. Not only portraits there were various sorts of composition works delineating important features of his life and other mythical aspects. The terracotta relief of the face of Ramkrishna by Ramkinkar was one of the most important works of the show. There were works by neo-Indian artists like Manindra Bhushan Gupta, Mrinal Kanti Das, Dhirandranath Bramha, Amal Nath Chakladar, Ajay Ghosh, Ratan Acharya and others. Two paintings by Paritosh Sen on his Shri Ramkrishna Kathamrita series were special attraction of the show. There were works of contemporary artists working in various forms. Sculptures of Uma Siddhanta, Niranjan Pradhan and Bimal Kundu need special mention. Among the contemporary senior and young artists there were Nabhensu Sen, Debabrata Chakraborty, Wasim Kapoor, Shukti Shubhra Pradhan, Ramlal Dhar, Sohini Dhar, Sanatan Dinda, Manoj Dutta, Subrata Ganguly, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Partha Dasgupta, Atin Basak and many others.

Punch Sena: Art from Navi Mumbai

CIMA                                                                                           
11 May to 30 June, 2012

The exhibition presented five young artists based in Mumbai. Though none of them are originally from Mumbai, they have arrived here from other parts of the country and gradually settled making the city their working place. So they have confronted the city as outsiders and noticed its inhuman environment and decays caused by greed and exploitation by the centres of power. Their art has grown out of the social unrest and economic recession of the country as reflected in this particular city, which is known as economic and commercial capital of India. Each of the artists created his own sort of image and transformed it into concept to posit the rebellion against the decay of human values generated out of contemporary globalised condition. The power of the images made the show outstanding reflecting originality of vision and empathetic sensibility of the artists. The artists were: Sanjeev Sonpimpare (1969), Roul Hemanta (1977), Santosh More (1969), Tushar Potdar (1979) and Pandit Bhila Khairnar (1968).

'Recorder of Life, Beauty and Truth': Photographs by T.S. Satyan

Seagull Art & Media Resource Centre                                                 
20 May to 28 May, 2012

T.S. Satyan (1923  2009) was born in Mysore and was educated there. He was among the first to take photojournalism in India and most part of his professional life remained a freelancer doing assignments for national and international publications. Photography was a great passion for him, as he said it was 'at once both an exquisite art form and a means of communication'. Despite being journalistic his black and white photographs were simple, jargonless and aesthetically of high order. They captured life in all its nuances and intrinsic beauty. The exhibition presented by 'Tasveer' showcased 30 of his photographs taken mostly from different parts of India and a few from abroad. In highly naturalistic structural rendering they record various aspects of rituals, ways of life and pleasures and pains of ordinary people. What attracts most is the graphic quality and sharp geometrical spatial division in the contrast of black and white.

'For Nutrition': An Exhibition by Eminent Artists

Oberoi Grand                                                                                    
29 May, 2012

Horlicks Aahar Abhiyan in association with Ananda Bazar Patrika, The Telegraph and Child In Need Institute, Kolkata (CINI) presented this display of paintings and sculpture by 14 eminent artists of Bengal. The participating artists were: Aditya Basak, Atin Basak, Bimal Kundu, Jogen Chowdhury, Kingshuk Sarkar, Partha Dasgupta, Pradip Moitra, Rabin Mondal, Reshmi Bagchi Sarkar, Samir Aich, Sreyashi Chatterjee, Shuvaprasanna, Subrata Gangopadhyay and Sumitro Basak. The event was inaugurated by the celebrated film star Vidya Balan in presence of the artists and various other VIPs. All the art works were sold instantly and the proceeds went towards the CINI for their activities to help the children in need.