The ability to enjoy older and currently unfashionable works of art is a human faculty not easily understood. Is it sheer nostalgia or something more substantive that works at the back of one’s mind when one stops before a well-executed piece of Indian-style painting — to show it not merely respect for something belonging to the mighty past, but also a profound appreciation for it? A visit to the Gaganendra Pradarshanshala, where an exhibition of paintings by Rabi Roy who descends from the line of Nandalal Bose, raises this intriguing question once again. Roy’s oeuvre consists of works selected from his variegated output involving several styles, including some landscapes executed with a pronounced Japanese/ Chinese slant. A couple of paintings shows a mix of Western and Eastern concepts and imagery. Purnimaar Raat and Raktim Sringa are among them.
Samir Dasgupta
It was a rare sight to watch Jayant Kastaur, the secretary of Sangeet Natak Akademi, performing the Jaipur style of Kathak at Gyan Manch on April 9. A disciple of Pt Durga Lal (the founder of the Jaipur gharana), Jayant began with the guruvandana and moved on to parans. Here, the tala (beat) was beautifully intercepted by him through laya (tempo). The suppleness of his torso, neck and face, resembled motifs of Rajasthani paintings. Kastaur presented an improvised Pallavi where he occasionally blended amorous sentiment with that of wrath (ugra), which added a unique dimension to the otherwise gentle tenor of the evening. While rendering a Vidyapati poem, he transcended the ornate court convention of Kathak and entered the very dynamism of life itself.
Sulagna Mukhopadhyay
A four-person exhibition, currently on view at Good Time Reading and Art Shop (27 Shakespeare Sarani) includes sculptural works, paintings and graphics by Malia Bhattacharjee, Rajat Sen, Raju Bose and Satyajit Roy — all of them products of Rabindra Bharati University. Bhattacharjee’s brass and mixed metal creations are simple but exquisite, especially because of the delicate patina touch applied to lotus leaves in one instance. Sen has offered a set of non-representational visions laid out in landscape form in which he demonstrates his skill in mixed media. Bose’s compositions (also in mixed media) are cerebral and well-structured, while Roy’s linecut-and-acrylic pieces are endowed with contemporary visual jargon.
SDG
