What lies beneath Blessed with a profound understanding of the principles of abstraction, Nobina Gupta views her art as much a means of communication as a creative adventure and experience. Though complexly-designed, her compositions have an organised resonance and unity of form and colour. She appears to develop her imagery by working out various ideas and then connecting them to a single theme or image. Her paper-relief works exemplify her commitment to the fundamental elements of three-dimensional design. In Beneath the Surface, the ongoing show of her recent works, she balances negative and positive space, large elements and small elements, and broad but separate areas of the pictorial surface. Her images are about emotions and landscape, about the placing of pictorial elements; yet ultimately about the locating of self within the wider context of the world. Her cross-reference of colours is akin to the glow of footlights in the real drama of nature. The texture of her works is assertive; it draws attention to itself and, to some extent, it becomes the action of the work. Another remarkable quality about her works is that they appear to draw strength from the apparent contradictions within them. Through her works, the artist seems to remind us that our lives depend on the fundamental inter-connectedness of all things. It is just a matter of seeking beneath the surface. Event: An exhibition of recent art works by Nobina Gupta When: Till April 14 (except Sunday); 11am - 8pm Where: Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road

ART

Till April 14 (except Sundays & public holidays) at CIMA Gallery, Sunny Tower, 2nd floor; Mondays: 3pm - 7pm, Tuesdays - Saturdays: 2pm - 7pm: An exhibition of recent works by Shuvaprasanna. Till April 6 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: The first solo exhibition of paintings by Swapan Roy. Till April 6 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: Members of Feelings, a group of artists from Siliguri, present an exhibition of their paintings. Till April 8 at Chemould, 12F Park Street; 2pm - 7pm: A solo exhibition of recent works by Biplab Dalai. Till April 10 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 2nd floor; 4pm - 8pm: A group exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the members of Brushing. Participants: Swati Tarafder, Debrup Gangopadhyay, Amit Ghosh, Anindita Mittra (Raka), Shibaji Dey, Madhumita Mitra, Susanta Kumar Biswas, Senjuti Ray, Samir Mondal, Soma Saha, Anjan Coomar, Poushali Sarkar, Manas Mondal, Prasenjit Sanyal, Partha Pratim Malik, Nilanjan Das and Sudipta Basu. Till April 10 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3pm - 8pm: Kolkata Chaturangasabha presents an exhibition of artworks by Rajat Sen, Pallab Das, Parag Roy and Somkumar Deb. Till April 14 (except Sunday) at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road, 24484925, 24497931; 11am - 8pm: Recent works by Nobina Gupta. Till April 14 at Gallery Image Kraft, 56E, Block D, New Alipore; 11am - 8pm: Expression of Colours — an exhibition of paintings by Atin Basak, Debashis Podder, Dilip Choudhury, Diptish Ghosh Dastidar, Khudiram Maity, M. Rahman, Manoj Mitra, Nirmal Dutta, Pradip Rakshit, Sarojit Sarkar, Satyabrata Karmakar, Sekhar Kar, Sonali, Suman Roy, Shyamkanu Borthakur and Tapati Sarkar. Till April 15 at ECA Art Walk, South City Mall; 12noon - 8pm: An exhibition of paintings by Mintu Naiya and Sriparna Roy. Till April 20 at Nandalal Bose Gallery, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani; 11am - 7pm: Ghat by Ghat — a painting exhibition of the ghats of Varanasi by Australian artist Terry Burrows. Till April 23 (except Sundays & holidays) at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture; 10am - 1pm & 2.30pm - 7pm: Annual Art Exhibition: Pilgrim of Eternity, an exhibition of watercolour miniatures by Bireswar Sen. Till April 30 (except Mondays) at Bodhi Tree Monastery of Art, 48/44 Swiss Park, 24246534; 4pm - 7pm: Bodhi Tree Monastery of Art presents Annual Exhibition 2011. Till April 30 (Sundays by appointment) at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, 65508418; 10.30am - 6.30pm: The Rapture of Form — paintings by Suhas Roy, Prokash Karmakar, Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Sanatan Dinda, Atin Basak, Bratin Khan, Gourango Beshai, Sibsaday Chaudhuri, Subrata Das, Sanir Paul, Sukanta Das and others.

DRAMA

Till April 10 at Sarat Sadan, Howrah Maidan: Natadha presents 11th Janopriyo Nataker Mela. Today, 6.30pm: Homa Pakhi, presented by Mukhomukhi. Direction & performance: Soumitra Chatterjee. April 6 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Rangapat will stage Mohit Chattopadhyay’s Tusher Aagun. April 6 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30pm: Paschimbanga Natya Academy, department of information & cultural affairs, Government of West Bengal presents Tagore’s Jogajog. Direction: Ashok Mukhopadhyay. April 7 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30pm: Nandimukh will stage its latest production, Heyro No. 1. Drama: Sumitro Bandyopadhyay. Direction: Ashok Chattopadhyay. April 7 at Girish Mancha; 6pm: Eso Natak Shikhi will stage three one-acts: Juta Aabiskar (Invention of Show), Ajob Hanri (Magic Handi) and Dalchhut (The Strays). Direction: Dr Tapas Das. April 7 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Little Thespian presents Katha Collage. Design & direction: Uma Jhunjhunwala. April 8 at Sisir Mancha; 6.30pm: Shilpi Sangha will stage Kokil Sir, written by Prochet Gupta, scripted by Rudraprasad Chakraborty and directed by Soumitra Basu. April 9 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30pm: Choop Katha will stage Antar Hote Udasi, a play in Hindi directed by Dolly Basu.

pERFORMING ARTS

April 6 at Rabindra Sadan; 5.45pm: Sarathi presents Robi’r Aalokey Joy, an evening of recitation and elocution of Joy Goswami’s poetry and launch of CD, He Rajan, a selection of works of Tagore, recited by Partha Mukhopadhyay and Sucharita Bandyopadhyay. The CD will be launched by Joy Goswami. Participants: Joy Goswami, Partha Mukhopadhyay, Soumitra Mitra, Sucharita Bandyopadhyay, Medha Bandyopadhyay, Antara Das, Ishita Das Adhikari, Natasha Dasgupta, Shantanu Talukhdar, Tapas Mondal, Jayanta Ghosh, Barnali Sarkar, Anindita Das Sengupta, Subhamoy Mukhopadhyay, Jyotirkana Barman and Ayanika Roy April 8 at Padatik’s Buildwell Theatre, 6/7 AJC Bose Road; 7pm: Padatik Dance Centre presents a Kathak recital by Sriyanka Mali, disciple of Madhumita Roy. April 10 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6pm: Bhavna presents an evening of Tagore songs and readings. Participants: Rakhi Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee, Sarbani Sanyal, Swapan Basu, Paroma and Sasha. Tickets at hall (11am - 6pm) / 24557845.TALK April 6 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6pm: Swami Divyananda will speak on Satkatha. April 6 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6.15pm: Swami Somatmananda will speak in Bengali on Sri Sri Mayer Katha. April 6 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30pm: Sanskriti Sagar hosts a lecture in English by Jaya Row on Bhagavad Gita - Ch. XI. April 6 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake City; 7pm: Gorachand Mukhopadhyay will speak on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita. April 6 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7pm: Parimal Chakrabortty will speak on Sri Sri Ramakrishna Kathamrita.

LAUNCH

April 6 at Hotel Hindusthan International; 12.30pm: Launch of a revamped Lakme Sananda Club, one of the largest and most glamorous women’s clubs in eastern India. Actor Locket Chatterjee and fashion designer Agnimitra Paul will grace the occasion.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till April 16 (except Sunday) at The Harrington Street Arts Centre, Harrington Mansions, Suit 5+25B, 2nd floor, 8 Ho Chi Minh Sarani, 22829220/1; 2pm - 7pm: Goethe-Institut / Max Muekller Bhavan Calcutta, in collaboration with The Harrington Street Arts Centre, presents Frozen in Time, an exhibition of photographs on dance.

EXHIBITION

April 6 - 9 at Weavers Studio, 5/1 Anil Moitra Road, 24408926/27; 9.30am - 6.30pm: Weavers Studio presents an exhibition of handwoven, hand-printed saris, sets, tunics, fabrics & scarves. Till April 6 at Avenue House, 107 Southern Avenue, Flat 5B, next to Lake Kali Bari; 11am - 8pm: Rupa Mukherjee presents Offbeat’s summer collection of designer saris for day, night and party wear, and kaftan. Till April 7 at Kaushik Hall, Nari Seva Sangha, Jodhpur Park; 12noon - 7pm: Nari Seva Sangha presents its summer sale of cotton printed & batik saris, children’s clothes, handicrafts, stationery, preserves, spices, frozen vegetables and snacks. Till April 9 at 265 Jodhpur Park, 1st floor, 9330997647; 4.30pm - 8pm: Bharati Datta presents pre-Naba Barsha exhibition of saris in cotton, chiffon and tussar. Till April 10 at Ekdalia Banquet Hall, 9836898328; 11am - 8.30pm: Sampurna presents pre-Naba Barsha exhibition of various designer wear and costume jewellery. Till April 12 at Sanskriti, 12 Jamir Lane, Ballygunge, 65222434; 10am - 9pm: Exhibition of block-printed saris in cotton, tussar, ghicha, maheswari and supernet along with kurtis for summer wear. Till April 13 at 20B Gariahat Road South, opp. Wallpaper, Dhakuria bus stop; 11am - 8pm: Ananya and Salankara present Baishakhi Mela, an exhibition of designer saris, kurtis and a wide range of silver costume jewellery. Till April 14 at Design, 1st floor, 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road, 24664315; 11am - 7.30pm: Paramita Viswanathan’s summer collection of cotton and silk saris. Till April 15 at Indian Silk House Exclusives, P-92 Lake Road; 11am - 7pm: Kavita Samsukha of Indian Silk House Exclusives is exhibiting a cool summer collection which includes an exciting range of saris and salwar suits in Maheshwari, Chanderi Kota, Kachi Cotton, Coimbatore Cotton, Gadhwal, Super Nets, Benarasi Cotton.

WORKSHOP

April 7 - 10 at Smart Tree, New Alipore: Back to Nature workshop for children between 5yrs - 12 yrs. Activities include nature excursion games, art and craft, non gas cooking, PD seminar and lots more. For details, contact 9830863300 or 64991496/97. April 7 - 14 at Mahila Parishad, 15 Balaram Dey Street, 2259-0347/0489: A dance workshop imparting a comparative training in Bharata Natyam, Odissi and Kathak by Dr Sudha Dutt, disciple of Kelucharan Mahapatra. April 8 at The Saturday Club; 7pm: Dhyan Foundation hosts a workshop on yoga by Yogi Ashwini. He will discuss the physical, metaphysical and everything in-between, including a number of miraculous experiences chronicled in the book, Sanatan Kriya 51 Miracles. For more details, contact Anjali Burman (9831093133). April 8 at 836, New Alipore, 9836090947 / 9331059555; 11.30am - 3.30pm: Cookery workshop on Italian cuisine. Learn innovative chef’s special recipes of Italian soups, starters, main course and side dishes and more. April 8 - May 30 at Art in Me, 7 Loudon Street, 9831387078: Creative English Grammar Workshops. Choose any 15 days. April 9 at 8 Camac Street, Santiniketan Building; 4pm - 6pm: Zee Institute of Creative Arts is organising a workshop on paper collage art. For registration, contact 22820123, 9331720675.

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