Tradition and trend in modern Bengal art In the context of art and, in fact, all creative fields, ‘convention’ has played a curious role in shaping its practice in any given era. Though traditional styles of creativity have usually gained acceptance in society, those that departed from convention have made a more remarkable impact on the popular psyche. Approaches to art that are original, innovative and do not depend on the influences of the past have attracted the imagination in a way that traditional art forms have not. Yet, anything that goes beyond convention is not necessarily unconventional. Cubism, once considered as an unconventional art style, has an intrinsic connection with primitive tradition and is now an accepted ‘convention’. Convention also refers to established norms. As art becomes conventional, it loses its uniqueness and sharpness and must invariably yield its place to the new. This shift of paradigm is essential to the progress of art. Featuring works by 15 painters and five sculptors, Beyond Convention: A Glimpse of Contemporary Trends in Bengal Art attempts to highlight how new paradigms have been shaped from post-colonial and modern concepts of the last century. It shows the way in which the influences of the past are simultaneously at work with a persistent search for the new. Participants: Partha Pratim Deb, Arunima Chowdhury, Chhatrapati Dutta, Kazi Nasir, Pankaj Panwar and others. Curated by Mrinal Ghosh. Event: An exhibition of contemporary art works of Bengal When: Till January 10; 11 am - 7 pm Where: Anant Art Gallery, 18-A Alipore Road

art

Till January 24 (except Sundays & holidays) at CIMA Gallery; 3 pm - 7 pm (Mondays) 2 pm - 7 pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays): Review, an exhibition of artworks that aspires to redefine our perception and understanding of art of the 20th century. Participating artists: Abir Karmakar, Alok Bal, Debraj Goswami, Farhad Hussain, Jogen Chowdhury, Kingshuk Sarkar, Mayank Kumar Shyam, Mithu Sen, Paresh Maity, Partha Pratim Deb, Rashmi Bagchi Sarkar, Samit Das, Santosh More, Sumitro Basak and Swarna Chitrakar. January 7 - 18 (except Saturdays) at Galerie La Mère, 3 Regent Park; 4 pm - 8 pm: Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture presents La Mère Annual, an exhibition of paintings and drawings. Inauguration today at 6 pm by Dr Anuradha Mookherjee, director, EZCC. Till January 7 at Artline, 125 Rashbehari Avenue, 1st floor; 12 noon - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings by Suhas Roy, Subimalendu Bikas Sinha, Samir Roy, Sumon Roy, Tapos Sardar and Sabyasachi Guha. Till January 7 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #2460 4245; 10 am - 7 pm: Wheel and Kiln, an exhibition of ceramic works by Indian and Japanese artists. Till January 8 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street: Sensation Kolkata — a solo exhibition of recent works by Dilip Chaudhury. Till January 8 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Art & Craft exhibition organised by Nandalal Art Academy, Sapling Academic Centre. Till January 10 at Academy of Fine Arts, Gallery South ‘A’; 3 pm - 8 pm: An exhibition of sculptures by Chandrashekhar Das. Till January 10 at Academy of Fine Arts, West Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Beyond the Surface, a solo exhibition of paintings by Joydeep Chatterjee Till January 10 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: A group exhibition of paintings. Organised by College Street Pentagon. Till January 10 at G.C. Laha Centenary Fine Arts Gallery, 7 Chittaranjan Avenue, #2228 9651: Scribble Artists Together presents an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and graphic prints. Till January 15 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahat Road, #24752275, 24618812; 3 pm - 8 pm: Pata — paintings of Bengal (Santhal Pat, Vishnupur Pat, Kalighat type Pat and others) from the collection of C.K. Kejriwal. Till January 15 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #22893027: Bengal 2009, an exhibition of art works by the city’s eminent artists. Till January 15 (except Sunday) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, #2465 3212; 11 am - 7 pm: sEe, an abstract solo show of Deepak Tandon in three versions: painting, photographs and video. Till January 17 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia, Stephen’s Court, 18 Park Street, #40010148; 11 am - 7 pm: Recent works of Bari Kumar: Foreign Bodies. Till January 31 (weekdays only) at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G-7 Malalay Apartments, 3 Woodburn Park Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Small is Beautiful 3, an exhibition of miniature artworks by some of the greatest living legends along with some of the exciting new talents. Till January 31 (except Mondays) at Shree Art Gallery, 11 Gurusaday Road, Kusum Apartment, Flat no. 61, #9903235566; 3 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of paintings, titled Festive Hues, featuring works by B.R. Panesar, Debabrata Chakrabarti, Dhiren Sasmal, Ratan Acharya, Samir Paul, Subrata Das, Sukanta Das, Soumitra Kar, Ritu Singh, Milanendu Mandal, Atin Mitra, Anirban Seth and others.

DRAMA

January 7 at Girish Mancha, 6.30 pm; January 8 at Academy of Fine Arts, 3 pm; January 10 at Academy of Fine Arts, 6.30 pm: Ajnatobass — Nandikar’s latest production, directed by Sumanta Gangopadhyay. Story: Sukanta Gangopadhyay. The cast includes Sohini Sengupta, Sumana Mukherjee, Swatilekha Sengupta, Sumanta Gangopadhyay, Swajan Srijan Mukherjee and Rudraprasad Sengupta. Directorial adviser: Rudraprasad Sengupta. January 7 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Nandipat presents its latest production, Aapad. Direction: Bimal Chakraborty. January 8 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Gandhar will stage Kachher Manush, with Debshankar Halder and Bijoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Play: Dr Shirish Athawale. Translated by Kamal Sanyal and Bijoylakshmi Barman. Direction: Gautam Haldar. January 10 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Abhaash will stage Bhalobasha Bharatbarsho. Direction: Sekhar Samaddar.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till January 15 at Earthcare Books and Resource Centre, 10 Middleton Street; 11 am - 7 pm: Calcutta! — an exhibition of black-and-white photographs taken by Thomas Patrick Kiernan.

PERFORMING ARTS

Till January 11 at Barisha High School ground, Behala Chourasta; 6.30 pm: Behala Milanotsav 2009, organised by Barisha Behala Sarsuna Thakurpukur Krira Sanskritik Kendra. Today: Drama Byaram Biram (Dir: Seema Mukhopadhyay) produced by Rang Roop; a programme of dance by Indrani Dutta and her troupe; and recitation by Parna Kangshabanik, Sarmistha Halder, Indrira Ganguly and Sourish Mustafi. January 7 at Aikatan, IB 290 Salt Lake; 6 pm: EZCC's Pratibha Utsav will feature talented, young performing artistes who are Government of India scholarship holders: folk singer Abhijit Acharjee (bhatiyali, jhumur and tusu folk songs of Bengal), and artistes of Swastikam Kalakendra (folk songs and dances). January 7 at Rotary Sadan, 94/2 Jawaharlal Nehru Road; 6.30 am: Rotary Club of Calcutta Metro City is organising a fund-raising musical evening, Transcendence, for its polio eradication programme. Featuring Pandit Tarun Bhattacharya (satatantri veena) and American guitarist Prof. Fred Hamilton from University of North Texas. The duo will be supported by Sohini Roychoudhury (classical vocal) and Krosswindz lead guitarist Vikramjit (Tuki) Banerjee. Artist Aloke Paul will portray the emotions thus generated on canvas. By invitation only January 10 at Mohitlal Majumdar Mancha, Barisha High School ground, Behala Chourasta; 6 pm: Recitation by Partha Ghosh, Gouri Ghosh, Bratati Bandyopadhyay and Soumitra Chattopadhyay; Tagore songs by Manoj Murali Nair, Manisha Murali Nair and Gopa Roy.

TALK

January 7 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 5.30 pm: Swami Shastrajnananda will speak on Vivek Chudamoni. January 7 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6.15 pm: Swami Sarvabhutananda will speak in Hindi on Manas mein Sri Rama ka Charitra. January 7 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6.30 pm: Swami Parthasarathy will speak in English on The Fall of the Human Intellect. Organised by Vedanta Cultural Foundation. January 7 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Buddhatmananda will speak in Bengali on Bani O Bichar.

EXHIBITION

Till January 7 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #2460 4245; 10 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of ceramic works by Indian and Japanese artists. Till January 11 at 46 Satish Mukherjee Road (near Rashbehari crossing), #24556942/43; 2 pm - 8 pm: Confetti Exports presents Hand That Feed, an exhibition of ceramics sculptures, studio pottery, terracotta and high-temperature earthenware by Suchismito Ghosh and traditional potters of Birbhum. Till January 11 at Finesse Gallery, 11/1B New Road, Alipore: Sujata Sarawgi showcases The Queen of Textiles - silk sesuous in any form. Featuring mulbury, munga and tussar; the show stealers are Matka Ghicha saree, Eri Ghicha saree and Dupione/katiya saree. Till January 12 at Halo Heritage Art Shop, 26 Ritchie Road, #24190133; 11.30 am - 9 pm: In collaboration with Soumya’s Creation, Halo Heritage presents an exhibition of textiles, jewellery and home accessories. Till January 15 at Design, 108 Raja Basanta Roy Road, #2466 4315: Paramita Viswanathan’s annual exhibition of silks from West Bengal and south India. Till January 20 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8B Middleton Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Symphony: An exhibition of Canvas and Chinese Ceramics. Featuring cermaic works and paintings by Asit Patnaik, Bhagat Singh, Gautam Mukherjee, Shyamal Mukherjee, Seema Kohli, Harish Kumar, Phalguni Dasgupta, Dhananjay Mukherjee, Gosto Kumar and others.

QUIZ

January 11 at Ballygunge Bayam Samity, 36/B Bondel Road, Ballygunge Phari; 2 pm onwards: An open-to-all sports quiz for three-member teams Quizmaster: Jayanta Chakraborty. Details with Anup Dasgupta (9432211807).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