Untold tales of life Romanticism is a common trait of the art and poetry of any era. Such works may celebrate nature, sing praises of the miracle of life, or simply convey the artist’s or poet’s feelings of love for his beloved. The works of Subrata Acharya, however, seem to deliberately avoid being placed in this category. Innocent and childlike though they may appear at first glance, they are clearly shorn of any influence from or resemblance to fantasy and myth. His canvases speak of wisdom and insight that have certainly been born of personal experience. Memory attached.., the ongoing show of his paintings, features works that are deceptively simple in form and design but carry a depth of meaning and significance. Some of them are silent, eerie and haunting, while others shock the viewer into realisation. Similar to a child’s irrational sketches, Acharya’s paintings are astonishingly bold and stark in terms of presentation, yet touched with a realism that is far removed from being a vapid imitation of life. In fact, they articulate certain obvious, timeless truths of life that are often forgotten in the midst of its uncertainties. They narrate the mundane, little details of life that are important enough to hold in themselves the crux of our existence. Event: An exhibition of paintings by Subrata Acharya When: Till August 6; 2 pm - 7 pm Where: Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street

Art

August 3 - 8 at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G-7 Malayalay Apts, 3 Woodburn Park, #30534053; 11 am - 6 pm: Meditative Beauty — a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Tanuj Sardar. August 3 - 9 at The Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal; 10 am - 11 pm: The 11th solo exhibition of paintings by Sujata Chakraborty. The artist will be painting live from 3 pm to 6 pm. August 3 - 12 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahat Road, #2475 2275; 3 pm - 8 pm: Chitrakoot presents Rare Glimpse of Rare Art, featuring works by Jamini Roy, Tagores, Roerich, Nandalal and Gopal Ghosh, and of early Bengal. August 3 - 14 (except Sunday) at G.C. Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery, Laha Paint House, 1st floor, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Alakananda Mukerji, professor, Studio Art Dept, Manhattanville College, NY, USA. Shuvaprasanna will inaugurate the show today at 6 pm. August 3 - 14 (except Sunday) at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #2289 3027/ 5041; 12 noon - 7 pm: Leela — an exhibition of paintings by Kartick Chandra Pyne and Partha Pratim Deb. Curated by Pranabranjan Ray. Preview this evening at 6. Till August 7 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘A’ Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A solo exhibition of paintings by Asim Goswami. Till August 7 at Academy of Fine Arts, Central Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Vision 8 — a group exhibition of paintings by eight artists. Participating artists: Subir Dey, Tapas Das, Mihir Kayal, Kajol Mondal, Nibedita Basu, Shibdeb Sarkar, Jatisankar Bhowmik and Chandra Nath Saha. Till August 8 at Karma Galerie, P-505 Keyatola Road; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of drawings and paintings by Tapan Kar, Tapan Chattopadhyay, Tapati Sarkar, Prasanta Niyogi, Pratyusha Mukherjee, Kousik Roy and Bhaskar Hazarika. Till August 15 at The Art Walk, Emami Chisel Arts, South City Mall; 12 noon - 8 pm: A solo exhibition of paintings by Dr Jayasmita Chatterjee. Till August 15 (except Sundays) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #2465 3212; 11 am - 7 pm: Eternal Landscape — a group show of landscape art featuring works by Manisha Dey, Ramlal Dhar, Sohini Dhar, Gopal Ghose, Mrinal Mondol, Surya Prakash and Sandip Roy.

DRAMA

August 3 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30 pm: Belghoria Ethic presents its latest production, Sthananka(n), written and directed by Debasis Sengupta. August 5 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Durgadas Smrity Sangha will stage its latest production, Amla-Madhur, a play by Harimadhav Mukhopadhyay and directed by Tirthankar Chattopadhyay. August 5 & 6 at Sisir Mancha; 5.30 pm: Uhinee Kolkata has organised the 2nd Ananta Keya Bikel to mark the 67th birth anniversary of renowned theatre personality late Keya Chakrabarti. Featuring memorial lecture, seminar and plays. August 6 at Kala Mandir; 6.45 pm: Bratyajan presents Ruddha Sangeet. Drama & direction: Bratya Basu. August 7 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Hattamela Natya Gosthi will stage Hetamgore Hoi Choi. Direction: Gurudas Bandyopadhyay. August 7 at Bijon Theatre; 6.30 pm: Drishya Katha presents Dhoa Dhulo Nakshatra. Direction: Debabrata Dasgupta. August 8 at Ramgopal Mancha; 6.30 pm: Natadha will stage Swapner Chhayachhobi. Direction: Shib Mukhopadhyay. August 8 at Tollygunge Club, Shamiana on Main Lawn; 7.30 pm: Tollygunge Club and Open Doors present Checkmate, a period thriller in English, set in the turbulent Calcutta of the early 1970s. Direction: Srijit Mukherji. August 8 at Tapan Theatre; 6.30 pm: Swapnasoochana presents Biddho Aakash, directed by Sudipto Sarkar. August 9 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Gandhar presents Kachher Manush, with Debshankar Haldar and Bijoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Direction: Gautam Haldar, filmmaker.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till August 5 at Gaganendra Pradarshashala; 2 pm - 8 pm: Homage — the second solo exhibition of photographs by Aniruddha Pal.

PERFORMING ARTS

August 3 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Abhinandan presents an evening of reading, poetry and songs for the needy children. Participants: Chiranjeet, Rokeya Roy, Soumitra Chattopadhyay, Swagatalakshmi Dasgupta and Arjun Chakraborty. Till August 5 at Jhulanbari of Ramkanai Adhicary, 1 Baburam Sil Lane (near Bowbazar-Amherst Street crossing); 7 pm: Jhulanjatra Music Festival 2009. Today: Harasankar Bhattacharya and Deepsankar Bhattacharya (sitar), with Biplab Bhattacharya (tabla). August 4 & 5 at Uttam Mancha; 6 pm: The Dover Lane Music Conference presents two sessions of classical music in memory of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. August 9 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Sanskriti Sagar hosts a Bhajan Sandhya by Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj.

ALBUM LAUNCH

August 3 at Bangla Akademi; 6 pm: Bhavna Records & Cassettes presents the launch of Jeeboner Janyo, an audio CD of a selection of poems by Anil Sarkar of Tripura and rendered by Partha Ghosh and Gouri Ghosh. Amitabha Chowdhury, Anunoy Chattopadhyay, Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Meera Bhattacharya and a number of leading personalities from the fields of literature and music will be present on the occasion.

TALK

August 3 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6 pm: Swami Idyananda will speak on Sri Sri Mayer Smritikatha. August 3 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Vishnudevananda will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Ramakrishna-Punthi. August 3 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Prof. Amalendu Chakraborty will speak in Bengali on Paschatye Swami Abhedananda. August 3 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake; 7 pm: Gorachand Mukherjee will speak on Mahabharat Katha.

INTER-SCHOOL FIESTA

August 3 & 4 at Science City auditorium; 9.30 am onwards: Around 200,000 students from over 1350 schools across 21 Indian cities and three countries compete in the sixth edition of Horlicks WizKids 2009.

EXHIBITION

Till August 3 at Prakash Bhavan, Rotary Club, DD-18/3 Salt Lake (near City Centre petrol pump); 11 am - 8 pm: Disha hosts Festive Fiesta 2009, an exhibition of designer sarees, salwar suits, kurtis, tops, kids wear, night wear, jewellery, artefacts, bed linens, kitchenware and home-made cakes, cookies and chocolates. August 3 - 5 at Senbati, 3A mandeville Gardens, #98300 54718; 11 am - 8.30 pm: Joyita’s Selection presents a boutique festival featuring designer sarees, readymade salw suits, ladies and gents kurtas and kurtis, kids’ wear, home linen, tupperwear, designer bags, Lucknow chikan and costume jewellery. August 3 - 5 at Senbati (opp. Gariahat Pantaloons), #98361 32620; 11 am - 8 pm: SS Collection presents embroidered bedcovers, bedsheets, dinner sets and dohars. August 3 - 8 at Anusthan Bhavan, 132 Rashebhari Avenue, #98310 93115: Sundari Silks Chennai hosts an exhibition of silk and cotton sarees from weavers of south India. August 3 - 8 at P-58 Dr Sarat Banerjee Road, Calcutta 29; 4 pm - 9 pm: Sreemayee is exhibiting its festive collection of sarees. Till August 5 at South City Mall ground floor atrium, second floor & lower basement; 12 noon - 10 pm: South City Mall organises Monsoon Mela, a flea market exhibiting handicrafts products, home decor items, handmade jewellery and ethic saris from West Bengal.. Till September 24 at Darbari, P-249 Purna Das Road, #2464 4027; 11 am - 8 pm: An exhibition showcasing exclusive hand-embroidered, printed and woven ladies and men’s wear.All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to: Time out, The Telegraph,6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001; Fax: 2234-8244

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All those who wish events to be included in this column should write not less than a week ahead to:

Time out, The Telegraph, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta-700 001;
Fax: 2234-8244