Gurcharan Singh’s exhibition at Aakriti Art Gallery, A World Made Visible (it is on view till December 6 and has been curated by Prayag Shukla), is faithful to its title for it reveals a colourful world crowded with humans and non-humans without any apparent disharmony or disjuncture. Singh introduces divinities and animals amidst a field full of folk without thinking twice as if that is the natural order of things. Unlike some of his other works where Singh, who was born in Patiala in 1949, shows the darker and sleazy side of life with its prostitutes and pimps, here the mood is warm and convivial. In the pieces on display at this exhibition, musicians and revelers make merry. The children with their pets add to the joyfulness.
As in his previous paintings, these are ordinary folk and although, at first glance, his compositions, with their tightly-knit figures, animals and architectural elements that defy perspectival rules, may appear chaotic, the artist has complete control over the elements that he enlarges or minimises at will. He weaves together vignettes of people in close communion, irrespective of their faith. For we see the orange Hindu god, Ganesh, riding a pink steed (picture, left) and Jesus, and Muslim musicians as well in Singh’s inclusive vision.
On display are strong line drawings filled in with rainbow colours. These are scenes that he had witnessed in his hometown. As Singh has written: “People around me are my inspiration…” These paintings are complemented by a series of superb monochromatic (Conté and pencil) drawings. He displays his mastery over figuration. With some notable exceptions that are spare and contemplative, the pencil drawings are as busy as his paintings.
A recent exhibition, Through Echoes and Tides, organised by Gallery Sanskriti to celebrate its 35th year of existence, was curated by Radhika Agarwala and held in the huge amphitheatre of the Kolkata Centre for Creativity. The gallery seems to have emptied out everything in its holding for this exhibition. It included masters of Bengal, some rarely seen today. There were 41 artists in all.
However, the cumulative effect was not something to write home about for a bit of this and that was strewn all over the sprawling floor and the walls. Some superb drawings by Ganesh Pyne and other Bengal artists like Somnath Hore, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Paritosh Sen, Dharmanarayan Dasgupta, Ganesh Haloi (picture,top right), Lalu Prasad Shaw, Jogen Chowdhury and Shuvaprasanna were there for all to see. The newer generation of Bengal artists was represented by Jayashree Chakravarty and Paresh Maity. Maity’s landscape, in which all details had been done away with, veered towards abstraction.
Paintings by Bikash Bhattacharjee, Paritosh Sen, Dharmanarayan Dasgupta and Shyamal Dutta Ray rarely figure in exhibitions these days. While that enriched the exhibition, there was no effort to either make a statement or tell a story about Bengal art. A lot of pottery was displayed on the steps of the amphitheatre, too far away to be viewed properly.
Amidst this morass, the one work that stood out was Nantu Behari Das’s spiky red fruit made of fiberglass (picture, bottom right). It could have been a showstopper if its size had been increased several times. Gallery Sanskriti has been around ever since the gallery movement took shape in Calcutta. Next time, its anniversary exhibition should be better organised.
