Paritosh Sen at work on the Regency rooftop. Picture by Aranya Sen

What could be a better venue for an art meet than a rooftop garden overlooking a tank hemmed in by the Calcutta skyline? The terrace of Regency House, on Hungerford Street, has a carpet of green grass, dotted with a champak tree, flower beds and shrubs and a pavilion.

This is where 15 artists, mostly young, met from Thursday to Sunday on invitation from Deepak Khullar, who along with his wife, run Akshar, a school where special children are treated on the same footing as any other kid.

Senior artists like Paritosh Sen and Veena Bhargava had suggested to Khullar that he organise an art meet where the participants could exchange views on art and, perhaps, interact with artists from other disciplines.

There was, however, too little time for that, although the participants did work seriously over a span of four days. The camp did afford artists the opportunity to hold dialogues, but there was also the pressure of finishing their projects within limited time.

The two senior artists present were Paritosh Sen, who did a drawing of a boy at play, and Partha Pratim Deb, who characteristically did an installation with make-belief labels playing on names and pet names.

The others were much younger artists. They have shown promise but have not been able to find a foothold yet. The artists appreciated the warmth and cordial behaviour of the host. Samir Roy did fantasy creatures with charcoal and pencil on canvas. Using canvas and conti, Arindam Chatterjee created two non-figurative works that could have been inspired by storm clouds.

Tapas Konar explored certain metaphysical questions about human personality through his two canvases with the minimum of colour. A large pair of scissors standing for divisions covered Chhatrapati Dutta?s diptych.

Chandrima Bhattacharya, known for her fine drawings, had created a rather garish work. Sk Sahajahan?s drawing-based work was all about the domination of women. Photo-realism encountered an illusory surface in Kazi Nasir?s canvas.

There were some sculptures and installations, too. Sanchayan Ghosh used digital photographs of ?unofficial drawing? or graffiti and billboards for his take on cityscape. Adip Dutta initiated dialogue through the conjunction of a head with a telephone receiver and a pair of scissors, all moulded with fibreglass.

Amitabha Dhar?s painted head in a square black box was in reaction to Dutta?s sculpture. Debanjan Roy created a body mould with fibreglass and painted it over with darkish saffron, as if it had emerged from a tandoor. That is how Roy reacts to terrorism, that has found its way into our everyday lives. Shyamal Roy?s terracotta rooster crows triumphantly. Courage in the face of avian flu.

Perhaps next time, the artists will be allowed to work less and talk more.