Paintings on display at Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi and visitors at the exhibition in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 1: An art exhibition by young artists from Odisha and Tripura captivated people in the city with interesting perspectives of objects, events and life.

A team of 18 artists of two art groups — Neo Bridge from Odisha and Rider group from Agartala in Tripura — have come together with this ensemble of striking paintings at the Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi. The exhibition takes the visitor through a journey of fresh subjects and imposing techniques of painting.

Each work has a unique appeal making it difficult for the viewer to choose which one is better.

As one enters the gallery, it is Arun Pallur’s ‘Hoooo’ that arrests the eye. Not only has the local artist used an unusual title, but also a novel theme. Pallur offers you a couch with nicely arranged cushions to relax after a tired day’s work.

“The feeling just before crashing into the bed or sinking onto the couch after a tiring day is really special. You already feel relaxed on seeing this arrangement and have tried to use this feeling on your mind as my title for the painting,” said the artist who had used thick layers of paint and portrayed a very spacious and roomy sofa that could tempt anyone.

Agartala-based artist Diptendu Chakroborty plays with perspectives and gives objects such as photocopy machine and drawer ‘larger than life’ images. Presenting interesting proportions of the sizes of the object and people, he has shown how the photocopy machine is a world in itself on which people are immensely dependent.

In his representation of the drawer, the artist expresses the closed space as the world of the labourers who work for us, but are forgotten and are pushed into a confined section. The mix of dry pastel shades with ink and acrylic to depict different elements is interesting.

Smruti Rekha Barik’s series on ‘Umbrella’ lets the viewer enjoy the blend of light hues bringing out the beauty of nature and giving a feel of the monsoons and sunny days in different paintings, with the presence of the umbrella.

Sonali Mishra’s technique of bringing a collage of thick paint dots of different colours and displaying a faint outline of an image in the backdrop makes her series ‘Sun Flower’ intriguing.

Rumki Dutta and Rajesh Bhowmick have displayed works with abstract forms.

Similarly, Parameswar Samal’s work in which he has experimented with spaces on huge canvases, is impressive.

Samal shows you the growing urbanisation in one segment of the canvas that is crammed with either people or machines or with glowing fluorescent patches depicting lights of industries.

The other segment of his work gives you uni-coloured space with only a couple of objects or people, bringing out clearly the stresses of the urban life style.

Senior artists Prabir Dalei and Chandrasekhar Sethi clearly stand out for their finesse in strokes. Two installations, both by Saumya Rajan Nayak, are intensely creative. While one is made out of tiers of glass bottles, another is a huge house of playing cards.

“All works are amazing and innovative. I loved the layer of woollen threads by Priya Ranjan Mohanty and Subhankar Saha’s ‘Too warm Too cool’ that showcases a fire extinguisher,” said Lipsa Mohanty, a visitor.

Among other interesting works are those of Digbijay Ray, Dipanjan Deb and Ganesh Prasad. The exhibition is on till August 3.