Back to basics The fundamental dichotomy between portraying social reality and formal expressiveness is sought to be addressed in Bridging Art and Reality, the ongoing show of recent works by Shuvaprasanna. For artists of the early years immediately following Independence, the conflict was between being true to social realities and being committed to the modernist values of the autonomy of art. Shuvaprasanna, who emerged into the art scene at the end of the ’70s, married the two opposites — social reality and formal expressiveness, to become one of India’s most prolific and powerful painters. A large part of his preoccupation is the life of the urban environs. An artist with concerns of the realities of the common man, his works stop at being didactic by his meticulous adherence to the technical and formal means of painting. His work does not deliver to the viewer, a dry and conceptualist perspective of art. At a time when artists use cow-dung and electric-bulb as easily as the brush and camera, Shuvaprasanna reminds us of the beauty of a painterly medium. Whether it is a human portrait or a crow, owl or a feline figure; or an insect; or a still life object, the intensity of the aesthetic qualities of his art gives Shuvaprasanna’s work a mystical strain. In this show, the artist returns to art, the meditative pleasures of colour, form, paint and expressive abstraction. Event: An exhibition of recent works by Shuvaprasanna When: Till April 14 (except Sunday and holidays); 2pm - 7pm; Monday: 3pm - 7pmWhere: CIMA Gallery, Sunny Tower, 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue, 2nd floor

ART

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 and others. Till April 10 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3pm - 8pm: Kolkata Chaturangasabha presents artworks by Rajat Sen, Pallab Das, Parag Roy and Somkumar Deb. Till April 12 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: Nikhilesh and Buddies present an exhibition of paintings by Nikhilesh Das, Tapan Mitra, Susanta Chakraborty, Alay K. Ghoshal and Dipankar Ray. Till April 13 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3pm - 8pm: An exhibition of paintings by International School of Art. 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: 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 and others.

DRAMA

Till April 10 at Sarat Sadan, Howrah Maidan: Natadha presents 11th Janopriyo Nataker Mela. Today, 6.30pm: Bisarjan, presented by Tritiyo Sutra and directed by Suman Mukhopadhyay. Tomorrow, 6.30pm: Madhabi, a Nandikar production, directed by Swatilekha Sengupta. April 9 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30pm: Choop Katha will stage Antar Hote Udasi (Hindi) directed by Dolly Basu. April 9 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Arghya presents Michael Madhusudan Dutt’s Meghnadbadh Kabya. Direction: Manish Mitra. April 9 at Padatik’s Buildwell Theatre, 6/7 AJC Bose Road; 7pm: Nirbas, a Sandarbha production. Direction & acting: Soumitra Basu. April 10 at Academy of Fine Arts; 10.30am: Ganakrishti will stage its latest production, Ekhon Antigone. Drama: Evald Flishar. Translated and directed by Amitava Dutta. April 10 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30pm: Pancham Vaidic will stage Poshu Khamar, based on George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Translated, dramatised and directed by Arpita Ghosh. April 10 at Gyan Manch; 6pm: Proscenium presents Ek Ajnabi Mehmaan, based on Agatha Christie’s Unexpected Guest. Hindi adaptation by Dr Bindu Jaiswal. Direction: Sheo Kr Jhunjhunwala.

pERFORMING ARTS

April 9 at Calcutta School of Music, 6B Sunny Park; 7.30pm: To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Indo-Jazz fusion band Karma, Siddha Group, in association with The Calcutta School of Music, presents Subhen Chatterjee (picture here) and other musicians in Bandish Fusion Live in Concert hosted by Calcutta Classical Guitar Society. April 9 at Gyan Manch; 6.30pm: Samikshan presents Kajer Majhe Ghurey Berai: Gaane Gaane Tilottama Majumdar and Kaushik-Antara. April 10 at Rabindra Sadan; 6pm: To mark Tagore’s 150th birth anniversary, Surangama presents dance-drama Premero-Jowarey, based on Tagore’s Chitrangada, Chandalika and Shyama. Concept: Sarmistha Dasgupta. Dance direction: Purnima Ghosh. Music direction: Urmila Ghosh. Recitation: Pankaj Saha and Sarmistha Dasgupta. 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. April 10 at Science City Auditorium; 6.30pm: Calcutta South India Club is organising a concert by Shankar Mahadevan & troupe in aid of charities.

TALK

April 9 at Jibanananda Sabhaghar, Paschimbanga Bangla Academi; 2pm: Samik Bandyopadhyay will deliver the Ashin Dasgupta Memorial Lecture 2011 on Sanskritir Rajniti. Organised by Paschimbanga Itihas Samsad. April 9 at the lecture hall of Institute of Historical Studies, 8/1 Loudon Street; 3.30pm: Professor N. Subrahmanian Endowment Lecture 2010-11: Dr Tushar Chakraborty will speak on Natural History of Genes. April 9 at Ramakrishna Mission Saradapitha, Belur Math; 6pm: Swami Atmapriyananda will speak on Kathopanishad. April 9 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Vivekananda Hall; 6pm: Swami Sarvapriyananda will speak in Bengali on Vartaman Yoge Swamijir Vedanta Chintar Prayojaniyata. April 9 at Ramakrishna Math, Baranagar; 6.45pm: Discourse on Sri Ma Sarada Punthi by Swami Snehamayananda. April 9 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math; 7pm: Prof. Samir Kumar Basu will speak on Amar Jivan Katha.

PHOTOGRAPHS

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

EXHIBITION

April 11 - 13 at Milan Mela AC Hall; 10am - 8pm: Rotary Club of Calcutta Chowrenghee, in association with The Telegraph, presents Parampara 2011: an ensemble of lifestyle, fashion, crafts and accessories. A special preview show on Sunday, April 10, 5.30pm - 7.30pm. April 9 - 16 at Rabindranath Tagore Centre (ICCR), 9A Ho Chi Minh Sarani, 2282-0763/64; 10am - 7pm: Kamala, the retail outlet of Crafts Council of India, presents its spring collection of textiles for Poila Baisakh. Inauguration by Sharmila Biswas today at 11am. April 9 - 16 (except Sunday) at Aranya’s new showroom, F-56 (first floor) Dakshinapan; 11am - 8pm: Alo, an exhibition of handmade paper lampshades. Till April 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 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 9 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace, 22239422, 65155185; 11am - 7pm: Crafts Council of West Bengal presents Baishakhi featuring fascinating weaves (from across the country) and accessories. Till April 9 at Co Op Hall (near Bazar Kolkata), 16/3 Gariahat Road, 11am - 9pm: Tilottama (23352092) presents 25 Boutiques’ Meet: A designer exhibition of saris, dress material, salwar suit, kurtas, bedcovers, leather bags, jewellery and home-made food. 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 Sienna, City Centre I; 11am - 8pm: Baishakhi Mela, featuring an exciting range of saris including south cottons, mangalgiris and maheshwaris, plus a wide array of earthenware and other handicrafts. Till April 15 at Sasha, 27 Mirza Ghalib Street, 2252-1586/0422; Monday - Saturday: 10am - 7pm, Sunday: 10am - 1pm: Sasha presents Indian Summer, an exhibition of exclusive saris, garments, jewellery and home furnishings in cool cottons, khadis, chanderis, mangalgiris, kasida embroidery, natural dyes & prints.

ALBUM LAUNCH

April 9 at the residence of Sunil Gangopadhyay; 11am - 11.30am: Sunil Gangopadhyay will release Alor Pathajatri Rabindranath, an album of Tagore songs rendered by Sunanda Ghosh.

book LAUNCH

April 9 at Thema, 46 Satish Mukherjee Road, 6.30pm: Thema hosts the formal release of Hindi Theatre in Kolkata: Shyamanand Jalan and His Times, published jointly with Natya Shodh Sansthan, Calcutta.

---

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