A painting by Dwijen Gupta

The Calcutta Painters? current exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts showcases a vigorous plurality of aesthetic expression which is by no means unmarked by a unity of outlook or a convergence of the personal ethos of the artists. Barun Roy and Dwijen Gupta are among the group?s newest members, both of whom have evinced interesting chan-ges from their earlier styles. Colour still constitutes the pictorial idiom of Roy, while experiments with the surface material (tussar and canvas) are an important part of the medium that Gupta chooses for his water-colour constructions.

Anita Roy Chowdhury, a founder-member of the group, shows her adherence to an archetypal landscapic pattern she has been improvising on, while her contemporary Dhiraj Chow-dhury is busy elaborating on his familiar pictorial design involving women and floral patterns.

Bijan Chowdhury is one of the most untiring searchers for a permanent form which could be associated with Bengal?s traditional socio-cultural roots. Jog-en Chowdhury?s self-contained drawings stand apart in terms of their strong linearity, while Prokash Karmakar?s new-look landscapes, Rabin Mondal?s primitive modernism, and Wasim Kapoor?s ardent devotion to the Christ image, link them together in a timeless frame. Bipin Gosw-ami and Surajit Das have thrown in some outstanding pieces of their sculptural creations. Isha Mahammad?s oeuvre indicates a welcome twist in the abstract direction. Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri?s experiments with non-objective configurations open up newer directions of pure design.

Those who have watched Salil Sahani grow into one of the country?s most capable graphicists wonder why he waited for at least a decade before mounting his first solo exhibition, currently on view at the Birla Academy. His pleasantly intricate, multicolour-mixed prints stand in sharp contrast to the many black-and-white prints from his formative years. Simple as they were, such early essays did not fail, however, to find their way into respectable collections.

The exhibition includes excellent prints involving sensitively drawn monochromatic etchings. The latest offerings of the young print-maker are too in love with the idyllic environs of Santiniketan to budge out of it. His more mature works hardly indicate that he would gain much by spending a year or two in some Western atelier.