A painting by Sanjay Bhattacharyya

Poetry has inspired the colour and texture of painting by occupying the mental space of the artist and vice versa. Even Picasso, who cared little about how fellow artists reacted to his work, waited eagerly for his poet friend Eluard to visit his studio and offer frank comments on his latest painting.

The enigmatic example of Sanjay Bhattacharyya having two different roles or interpretations is, however, a case apart. A reader of his recently released book of poems, Crossing the Hurdle, will discover little direct association between the many sensitively worded lines and the artist?s concurrently done paintings. The only common trait seems to be the creator?s eye for detail. In Bhattacharyya?s case the poet and the painter are but independent denizens of the same social milieu.

The Delhi-based artist?s retrospective, currently on view at the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, contains select specimens of creative expression at various stages of his career ? one flowing not so smoothly or logically into the next. His art college years of rigorous academicity apart, the fruits of Bhattacharyya?s subsequent quests are singularly delectable but seldom eccentric or anarchic. Never gimmicky, his palette is sombre, while his draughtsmanship strong but deferential to time-honoured conventions.

Senior artist Shanu Lahiri is currently holding a solo show of her works, mostly executed in her favourite medium, oil colour, and partly in acrylic. Her oeuvre includes fairly recent works and does not contain some of her earlier accoutrements like round and flat wooden trays (barkosh).

With as many as 43 exhibits mounted in the Academy of Fine Arts? West Gallery and 35 items displayed in the North Gallery, of which four were smaller paintings (including a Kali image), the exhibition was a feast for the eye.

Those who had long been used to imagining that Lahiri was already bogged down in her Paris past must have been enthralled by the artist?s turn towards a perception of contemporary realities. Quite a few of the paintings on view spoke of her perception of social conditions that are not beautiful in the traditional sense, but because they are eloquent with the absence of tranquillity. The current offerings excel in their visual appeal in instances where the works have been done in black and white.