A work by Mahmud Husain

Sex ceased to be a dirty word ever since Sigmund Freud linked it to almost all our actions, conscious or unconscious. Contemporary Indian artists took the cue from the West — their own uninhibited heritage of erotic art is ancient history today — and never turned their back to sex. We see references to it — overt or covert — in the works of many artists considered masters today.

Sex — often of the weirdest and kinkiest variety — comes on strong at the current exhibition titled Young Contemporaries 2007 curated by Jogen Chowdhury at Aakriti Art Gallery. Most of these artists have something in common — they are mostly from Visva-Bharati’s arts faculty.

Mahmud Husain’s large gouache on paper work could remind viewers of Rousseau but this young artist sure has a way of depicting everything from necrophilia to bestiality in a graphic manner. He employs techniques associated with representations of esoteric cults in these paintings. Ram Das’s paintings of skinned feral creatures with tongue hanging out, too, are suggestive of unspeakable acts.

Goutam Khamaru’s dry pastel and watercolour drawings of something that looks like a cross between an elephant and a frog are quite intriguing. Sumitava Maity has created a striking image of a black tongue-like thing sticking into the sky with half naked indigenous men carrying bows and arrows under it. It is a simple idea and has been executed with competence.

Reji Arackal is from Kerala and he uses charcoal and dry pastel to create these large — 72” x 48” — images of massive men on the line of sumo wrestlers — engaged in unnerving activities such as blowing a condom in the bathroom (don’t miss soap case in the wall) or embracing each other with beatific smiles writ large on their mouths sewn tight.

The exhibition has some interesting sculptures. Of these the most striking are by Amiya Nimai Dhara. His Kali with four stunted hands sticking out from her head is a remarkable attempt at concision. The anchor with human heads is equally eye-catching.

The same adjective can be used for Nantu Behari Das’s sculpture. But that’s about all. He uses plastic bottles and resin to create a human figure and milk pouches to construct a cow. But besides novelty of material there is little that is new about such ideas.