Visitors at the exhibition. Picture by Eastern Projections

Abanta Borah, one of the leading young painters of Assam, finds black and white more appealing than any other colour. Even in colourful compositions, he prefers to underline the content in black and white.

This freshness of approach has helped him carve out a niche for himself in the world of art.

The weeklong exhibition of 21 of his artworks that started on Monday at the State Art Gallery in Rabindra Bhawan is in a way a celebration of life.

Borah’s skill to document passion with brush strokes is praiseworthy.

Of the 21 artworks on display, 20 are in acrylics on canvas and the blackish or whitish impressions are never found missing even from a single one.

One such example is the work titled Waiting for Freedom where a child is trying to get to the other side of a window with an umbrella. The blackish stick of the hazy umbrella is distinct, not to speak of the child’s eyeballs that resemble raindrops.

Hari Om, another of Borah’s masterpieces, depicts his skill in outshining the reddish effect with patches and strokes in white.

The anguished face of an old man with white beard having ash on his cheeks and forehead bears testimony to his artistic skills. The red glow surrounding him underlines the trauma he is going through.

Borah possesses the powerful skill of delving into details using simple methods.

In one of his significant works titled Journey, the profile of three faces of different ages in off white expresses the whole narration.

Rakshyak-II shows the stern but determined face of an old man who is the headman of the village.

The old man’s face covers almost the entire frame while the pair of evil eyes come in a small patch.

Only in Hunter, a terrible impression of a face covered with stains and sketches, the artist has made use of red colour with effortless ease.