Kumro Potash is a foodie and a celebrity chef but has high blood sugar and gastroenteritis, Gomratheriam suffers from depression while Hasjaru is a womaniser. That is how designer-illustrator Nilanjan Das has visualised Sukumar Ray's creations.
Abol Tabol in Today's World, a series of X-ray plates with the Abol Tabol characters etched on them by Das, are part of Outliers, an art show by three graphic artists that opened at Studio21 on Friday.
The works of the other two artists - Anirban Ghosh and Ishita Chakraborty - are as striking. Ghosh shows a collection of black-and-white and colour performance photographs interspersed with illustrations of expressive vegetables and Chakraborty presents what looks like a child's art project, full of miniature and matchbox artwork and knick-knacks.
A part of Room I of the studio resembles a doctor's chamber complete with a green partition. This is where Das's X-ray plates with Abol Tabol figures are on display. "I drew these characters on my computer and printed them on transparent films for the X-ray plate effect. This is the first time I have experimented with such a medium. I wanted to fit our favourite Abol Tabol characters in today's context. I turned them all into celebrities with lifestyle diseases," laughed the artist. On a serious note, Das wanted to highlight the modern-day maladies.
Das's second series is on superheroes and just as imaginative. Digital prints on archival paper show Obama and Putin taking selfies with Mickey Mouse and Superman saving the twin towers on 9/11. "This section shows how crime, war and bad blood could have been saved if superheroes were real," he explained.
A small portion of one of the walls in the room has been dedicated to large black-and-white stills of Saddam Hussein having fun at Disneyland and Mao Tse-tung inaugurating Las Vegas. "I used photo illustrations to bring a man and his enemy together," smiled Das as he took visitors on a joyful fantasy ride.
Ghosh takes off from Das. He is waging a war against vegetable terrorism, although artistically. One cannot miss the strong political undertones in Ghosh's works that comprise a collection of black-white and colour performance photographs interspersed with illustrations of "an aggressive capsicum" or an "angry chilli" and other weapons. The theme conveys how vegetarianism is spreading a reign of terror.
Large colour digital prints of the artist dressed as a monarch and posing with a ridge gourd, bottle gourd or jackfruit cover one portion of the wall.
The other half is a collection of monochrome images of the artist force-selling vegetables in markets. In between are illustrations of weapons and angry vegetables. A range of trophies and shields lie waiting for the most obedient subjects who follow rules and eat their greens.
"I took four months to plan this theme. Everywhere I wear a black monkey cap - the badge of the terrorist here," grinned the artist.
The last of the trio, Chakraborty, plays on imagination. "I love collecting interesting objects both from melas and folk artists as well as from day-to-day life. I always try to blend them with my art," said the young Rabindra Bharati graduate.
What catches the eye is an artistic representation of a matchbox cover. Drawn on archival paper, the artwork is the cover of safety matches. The original cover showed a sari-clad woman holding two roses in either hand. Chakraborty has given her illustration a feminist angle. She intersperses the sari-clad model with a new-age woman who also holds roses but wears a bikini.
Chakraborty's Safed Jhut section is all about how deep-rooted the evils and lies in our society are. The composition is a mixture of objects, illustrations and even roots of trees. It almost resembles a child's project but with a poignant undertone.
From interesting key rings and toy furniture to product campaigns from over 30 countries downloaded from the Internet, Chakraborty has used interesting details in her artwork. She has also come up with a book on the history of love and war.
The exhibition will be on till October 9.
