Pradip Chowdhury and Chinmoy Chakborti?s recent presentation at Metropolitan Art Salon constituted a kind of visual duet performed by two mature painters who have had no formal training in art. Both have gained immensely, though, from their regular visits to the studios of various artists. This writer for one feels that the fact of the two painters having chosen the path of autodidacticism has stood them in good stead. Chakraborti is given to abstractionism consisting almost exclusively in the logical interplay of complementary and contrasting colours that make thematic interpretation of images irrelevant. Chowdhury seems unwilling to lose touch with cognisable reality, whether it acts as only a symbolic link between the concrete and the abstract or as a decorative ambience.
Samir Dasgupta
Love, hope, peace and values that are eternal was the central theme of Chirantan, the latest dance production of Ananda Shankar Centre for Performing Arts, presented at Kala Mandir on December 11. Enthusiastic, vigorously trained dancers presented the number Prachanda garjane with verve and energy; however, the choreography appeared to be limited in some respects. Though packaged with unbelievable movements, Tanusree Shankar?s thoughtful content and Amitabh Bachchan?s recitation, it could not reveal the Tagorean insight. The dynamics of several bodies, the most exciting part of a group choreography, which leads to a whole new vocabulary, was missing in the presentation. It reflected symmetry devoid of meaningful interpretations.
Sharmila Basu Thakur
Sudip Banerjee?s intricately textured paintings, executed in the acrylic medium, bear the stamp of the artist?s personality. What distinguishes his strongly coloured figural images is that he resorts to such colours only to suit particular themes and expressions, but for decorative purposes. He paints heavily made-up street walkers, or a gourmand gobbling up sizzling goodies in passionate colours, but delineates his still lifes or wistful rural damsels in subdued tones. A well-crafted piece, Fashion Show, displayed at the artist?s current exhibition at Chemould Gallery, is a departure from gaudy adumbrations, since most of the ambience is supposed to be immersed in dim light. Some feminine forms, interestingly, are projected in textured setting in psychedelic swirling patterns.
SDG
