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| Artist Tarakant Parida’s (in picture top) paintings on display at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. Telegraph pictures |
Bhubaneswar, April 20: Artist Tarakant Parida captivated visitors at a recent exhibition held at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi, giving an insight into surreal reflections as well as concerns of the real world. The paintings illustrated striking techniques in the exhibited works.
Of the 17 paintings exhibited at the art show, each was unique in its presentation. Parida’s works belong to different series of paintings that he has been working on for the past few years.
Thrusting on the growing consumerism in the Indian society, his series, Kamadhenu, depicted conceptual art in which Parida represented the legendary “wish-fulfilling” cow from Hindu mythology as the aspiration of people today.
“The Kamadhenu could give its devotee whatever he asked for. In my painting, I tried to give a theoretical prediction of what all people would wish for from the magical cow today since they want branded commodities,” said Parida. “This series got a rave response from art enthusiasts in Delhi. Three paintings of the Kamadhenu series were bought at the exhibition,” he said.
Another ensemble of paintings by Parida was the Doorway series. Here, the artist compelled visitors to look beyond the doorway of their thoughts and aspirations and at the same time judge whether they were standing at the right door.
“I used symbolic images in this series that depict the path and the destination of a traveller of life at the doorway he has chosen,” said Parida.
The four paintings in the collection, Immortality, were a brilliant collage of geometrical shapes and the exploration of space as well as impressive techniques of the brush. The paintings portrayed the complex world within the mind. The works used a pattern of figures such as triangles, squares and circles with black patches and bubbled textures in the backdrop.
“Since I am a graphic artist, I use my print making techniques on the canvas. This brings out a unique effect in the art work and attracts the viewer,” said the artist.
Parida’s concern for the environment was reflected in the Queen series, in which he presented the misery of elephants that were once killed for their ivory to make ornaments and artefacts for queens.
The change in lifestyle from leisure to no-time-to-stand-and-stare was visible in his much-appreciated painting that featured a lotus pond in a tea cup.
“The younger generation will never be able to see the scenic beauty of nature that even my generation had experienced. They can only see smaller replicas of a fish pond or lotus pond in a miniature decoration at home,” said Parida.