Visitors at a painting exhibition titled Bijayaa at Lalit Kala Akademi in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, May 28: Ansuman Pati’s artworks reflect something more than expressions and bold strokes. His facile paintings go beyond the realm of being ornamental pieces to portraits that tell hidden stories.

It was this unusual charm of Pati’s work that caught the viewers’ eye in his first solo exhibition Bijayaa.

A glance at the 36 artistic pieces that adorned the walls of Rashtriya Lalit Kala Akademi made it evident that the painter loves faces, not necessarily of humans. What made it even more interesting was Pati’s effort to bring out the expressions on the faces through various mediums of art — paper cut, acrylic, pencil sketch to water colour.

His acrylic work of an old man looking at a kitten has beautifully captured the friendly expressions of both the man and the cat. The unassuming smile that was seen on the faces of both his subjects was undoubtedly the best of the lot.

A man with his face hidden under his bowler hat and smoking a cigarette was another intriguing picture that reminded one of Sherlock Holmes. Pati had even tried to capture his own self, as he claimed, on a huge canvas showing a man in a drunken state, taking a nap in a chair with one of his feet rested on a table. The painter had also drawn a bottle of wine on the table. “This is me when I am not painting. And I always dreamt of getting a cowboy look, that is why the hat and boots. It took me almost 17 days to complete the painting,” said Pati.

But, Pati’s self-portrait is not one of his personal favourite. It is the Truth of Soul, showing a meditating Buddha face in the middle of a tree trunk. Through this painting Pati tries to convey that truth can never be hidden.

There is no denying of Pati’s skill to perfectly infuse colours with paper-cuts and bring out a collage of fascinating imageries.

Even his simple pencil sketches of animal countenances have a certain appeal. Apart from paintings, Pati has also tried his hands at sculpting vases of various shapes and design.

“My art forms mostly target to appeal home interiors. I chose to keep it simple without too much abstract works because people in general are more found of things they can understand and relate to,” said Pati.

The artist, a former web graphic designer, had changed his profession a couple of years ago and is now focused more towards interior designing. After reviewing his artworks, art enthusiast Niharika Panda said: “It was an interesting collection, something people will love to adorn their house with. I especially liked his black and white paintings.” The five-day exhibition concluded on Sunday.