Sujata Chakraborty’s Neera on Canvas (February 24 to March 2) fell imaginatively well short of Sunil Gangopadhyay’s Neera. All Chakraborty has done is to copy — word by word, syllable by syllable — some lines from Gangopadhyay’s poetry into images. And that too without much aesthetic perception. The elusive Neera of the poet has turned into a vigorously colourful but rather boring female figure on the artist’s canvas.

Translating a figure so much a part of Bengal’s literary culture as Neera into images includes, on the one hand, the possibility of a drastic departure from the poet’s portrayal, and, on the other, the danger of the figure’s poetic aura eclipsing the visual representation. It seems that Chakraborty is bogged down by both these fears. She declares that her paintings display her own interpretation of Neera — they only draw inspiration from the poetry — and builds her argument on the lines of the ‘death of the author’ idea. But what she does on canvas is an obediently literal translation. Lines from the poems accompany each painting. “Neera ebong Neerar pashe tinti chhaya (Neera and three shadows beside her)” has the accompanying image of a brightly coloured figure with three darkish ones in the background; “Choshma-khola mukhkhani brishtijole dhuye… (the face with glasses off washed with rain)” has with it a painting in which Neera is removing her glasses (picture). Chakraborty’s paintings give the impression that she is trying to recite the poetry through her paintings. That she has drawn inspiration from the verses is an understatement.

Although Chakraborty’s earlier work showed European modernist influences, in this series, she seems to have shifted to a home-grown formula and adapted a Jamini Roy-influenced style. She seems to have overcome her weakness in line drawing and edgy use of colour. In Neera on Canvas, she comes across as more confident in both aspects.

But what makes her art look particularly flat is her lack of innovation. She appears to have tried to invest her female figures with sexual power. But sexuality in her Neera, at least, takes the form of repression rather than celebration. Chakraborty’s art is yet to mature. Gangopadhyay’s Neera deserved a better artist.