Tradition in contemporary art The single most fundamental continuity in the artistic tradition of Bengal is, perhaps, the art of its patuas, whose interpretations of religious myths and popular legends reflect the hopes and fears of the common man even to this day. The Frame, the ongoing group exhibition of recent works by contemporary artists, showcases creations that are all, at some level, influenced by this tradition. Ancient Indian literature, with its epics, legends and myths, have deeply influenced the works of Soumitra Kar (a painting by him appears here), which finds expression in his portrayal of folk and religious festivals. The works of Bhaskar Bhattacharjee are not restricted by tradition. But his swift black outlines give his figures an expressiveness that is very similar to that found in Kalighat paintings. Simplicity is the main criterion of the paintings of Debashis Samanta which are rooted in ancient and folk art of Bengal. The paintings of Prangopal Ghosh explore his feelings about nature and the seasons at a metaphysical level. Themes that focus on the problems of urban life find expression in the works of Chayan Roy. Spiritual quest as an escape from human desire forms the core of Biswajit Saha’s paintings. The works of Sandhyakar Kayal explore the philosophy of co-existence of the physical world with the one that lies beyond it. Event: An exhibition of paintings by a group of artists When: Till February 15; 4 pm - 8 pm Where: Birla Academy of Art & Culture

art

Till February 10 at Samokal Art Gallery, 23 Gariahat Road, Gol Park; 4 pm - 8 pm: Exposition ’09, an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Asim Basu, Aloke Bhattacharjee, Biman Das, Chandrasekhar Acharya, Hiran Mitra, Partha Pratim Deb, Ramaprasad Ghatak, Ratan Banerjee, Swapnendu Bhowmick, Swapnesh Chowdhury and Tapas Sankar Basu. February 10 -15 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 4 pm - 8 pm: The Frame presents its 14th Painting Exhibition 2009. Participating artists: Bhaskar Bhattacharjee, Biswajit Saha, Chayan Roy, Debashis Samanta, Prangopal Ghosh, Sandhyakar Kayal and Soumitra Kar. Inauguration today at 4 pm by Ganesh Haloi. Till February 12 at The Art Gallery, ITC Sonar; 11 am - 7.30 pm: Verandah Art Gallery presents Monochrome, an exhibition of recent paintings by Kanchanmala Ghosh. Till February 12 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F Park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Subhendu Das’ seventh solo exhibition of paintings. Till February 12 at Srimati Art Gallery, Baitanik, 4 Elgin Road; 4 pm - 8 pm: Fragmented Tradition 3, an exhibition of paintings by Aloke Paul. Till February 15 at The Promenade Lounge, Taj Bengal: An exhibition of paintings by renowned artists from Paris Olaf Van Cleef. Till February 15 at Academy of Fine Arts; 12 noon - 8 pm: The 73rd Annual All India Fine Arts Exhibition 2008-09. Till February 19 (except Sunday) at Gallery Exposure, 54B Mahanirban Road, #40031668; 3 pm - 8 pm: Paintings by Jonaki Pal. Till February 21 (except Sunday) at Gallery Kolkata, 41 Shakespeare Sarani, Buckback House, #22873377; 11 am - 7 pm: Kollection — paintings and sculptures by leading modern and contemporary artists. Participating artists: K.G. Subramanyan, Akbar Padamsee, Jogen Chowdhury, Suhas Roy, Dipak Banerjee, S. Harsha Vardhana, Amitava Das, Sunil Gawde, Prabhakar Kolte, Ganesh Haloi, Prakash Karmakar, Bijon Chowdhury, Kartick Chandra Pyne, Amitabh Sengupta, Prasanta Sahu, Atin Basak, Kazi Nasir, Subrata Saha, Ashok Mullick, Sekhar Kar, Yugal Kishore Sharma, Chandrima Bhattacharya, K.S. Radhakrishnan and Subrata Biswas. Till February 22 at Monastery of Art, 48/44 Swiss Park, #24246534; 2 pm - 7 pm: Paintings and photographs by Sara and Joy Bhaduri. Till February 28 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #65508418; 10.30 am - 7.30 pm: The Masters of Imagination — an exhibition of the works by Kartick Pyne, Atin Basak, Tapas Sardar, Prokash Karmakar, Suhas Roy, Sanatan Dinda, Sukanta Das, Bratin Khan, Aditya Basak, Sibsaday, Subroto Das and others. Till February 28 (except Sundays) at CIMA Gallery; Mondays (3 pm - 7 pm), Tuesdays - Saturdays (2 pm - 7 pm): Shall Return Again... — recent works by Paramjit Singh. Till February 28 (except Sundays) at Mon Art Gallerie, 6 Hungerford Street, Regency, 3rd floor, #2289 5438; 11 am - 6.30 pm: Gods, Icons, Masses — an exhibition of paintings and sculptures curated by Anirudh Chari. Participating artists: Satyajit Das, Jotirmoy De, Snehasis Maity, Lalt Kishor Pradhan and Debanjan Roy.

DRAMA

February 10 at Academy of Fine Arts, 6.30 pm: Chetana presents Manik Bandyopadhyay’s Putul Nacher Itikatha. Dramatised and directed by Arun Mukhopadhyay. February 10 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Natasena presents Fata Gopal. Direction: Durga Chakraborty. February 12 at Academy of Fine Arts, 6.30 pm: Kalindi Natyasrijan presents Pannya Bitangsya. Direction: Bilwadal Chattopadhyay. February 13 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Theatre Workshop will stage its latest production, Jadiyo Galpo. Drama: Sudipto Bhowmick. Direction: Ashok Mukhopadhyay. February 13 at Madhusudan Mancha; 7 pm: Rangakarmee presents Boorhi Kaki. Direction: Goutam Halder. February 15 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Gandhar will stage Kachher Manush, with Debsankar Halder and Bejoylakshmi Barman in the lead. Direction: Gautam Haldar (filmmaker). February 15 at Girish Mancha; 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.

PERFORMING ARTS

February 10 at Rabindra Sadan; 5.30 pm: Rupmanjari’s 33rd anniversary programme features a solo recital of Bengali songs by Ramanuj Dasgupta; audio plays Tagore’s Karna-Kunti Sambad (Participants: Suchitra Mitra and Rajarshi Roy) and Buddhadeva Bose’s Pata Jhorey Jaye (Participants: Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, and Chitra Lahiri); and recitation by Krishnakali Basu. February 10 - 12 at 6 pm & February 13 (8 pm onwards, night-long) at Kala Mandir: Indo Occidental Symbiosis & Juhu Cultural Association (Mumbai) present Jugalbandi Utsav, a festival of classical music in duets. Today: Ali Ahmed Hussain (shehnai) and Sohanlal Sharma (harmonium) with Biplab Bhattacharya (tabla); Ritesh Mishra (vocal) and Rajneesh Mishra (vocal) with Prasanta Dey Roy (tabla) and Sumit Mishta (harmonium); Tabla lahara by Anindo Chatterjee and Anubrata Chatterjee with Ramesh Mishra (sarangi) and Hiranmoy Mitra (harmonium); Purbayan Chatterjee (sitar) and Rakesh Chourasia (flute) with Sandip Das (tabla). February 10 at Sisir Mancha; 6 pm: Katha-Nadi’s inaugural programme features an evening of audio-play. Concept & direction: Urmimala Basu. February 10 at Sri Aurobindo Bhavan; 6.30 pm: Kabitar Kachhe — an evening of reading and recitation by Aurobindo Basu, Sukriti Lahari and Debashis Mitra. February 11 at Bangla Akademi; 6 pm: Katha-Nadi’s second venture: Shruti-Sandhya to be presented by Urmimala Basu. Her students will participate in a programme of reading and recitation. February 14 at Kala Mandir; 6 pm: Chinton presents How do I Love Thee: Bhalobasay Bholabo, a tapestry of of Tagore and D.L. Roy songs interlaced with immortal European and Indian love poems. Recitations by Parambrata Chatterjee and Debleena Dutt, and songs by Sounak Chattopadhyay and Shreya Guhathakurta.

FILM SHOW

February 11 at Aikatan, IA 290 Salt Lake; 6 pm: Krishna Yatra and Puruliar Chhau — screening of two documentaries, directed by Dhananjay Mondal and produced by EZCC. February 11 - 13 at Gorky Sadan; 6 pm: Gorky Sadan and Eisenstein Cine Club presents Inner Eye - Cinema Awakens, a film trilogy in commemoration of the 85th birth anniversary of Tenghiz Abuladze. Feb. 11: Wishing Tree. Feb. 12: Malba. Feb. 13: Repentance. February 11 at Max Mueller Bhavan; 6.30 pm: Docu-Forum Raja Hinduthani (King of India). Director: Arvind Sinha. February 13 at Max Mueller Bhavan; 5 pm: Screening of two documentary films by artist Stefan Roemer — Boulevard of Illusions and Conceptual Paradise.

Symposium

February 10 at the Vivekananda Hall of Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Gol Park; 5.30 pm: A symposium in English, Bengali and Hindi on Life and Teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Participants: Swami Atmajnananda, Swami Umakantananda, Swami Vedaswarupananda and Swami Vimohananda. To be presided by Swami Sarvabhutananda.

seminar

February 10 at Pascimbanga Bangla Akademi, 6 pm: Kalindi Natyasrijan hosts a seminar on theatre. Topics: Brecht’s thoughts on theatre (speaker: Tirthankar Chanda) and Theatre and the mind of the audience (speaker: Kaushik Chattopadhyay).

EXHIBITION

February 10 - 13 at 8/2 Loudon Street, 2nd floor, #22811524: Earthy Myth’s bi-annual show on ecoprinted saris and outfits. Till February 15 at Asutosh Birth Centenary Hall; 11 am - 5 pm: An exhibition on Indian Musical Instruments through the Ages to mark the 195th anniversary of Indian Museum. Till February 17 at Weavers Studio, 5/1 Anil Moitra Road, Ballygunge Place, #2440 8926; 10 am - 6 pm: An exhibition of Indigo on textile. Till February 17 (except Sunday) at Micasa, 229 AJC Bose Road, Crscent Tower, 6th floor; 11.30 am - 6 pm: An exhibition of affordable art by young, contemporary artists. Till February 20 at Stanley Boutique, Level 3, Mirania Gardens, 11F East Topsia Road, Calcutta 46; 11 am - 7 pm: Stanley Boutique, in association with Jagriti Art Initiative, presents a furniture and art show.

ART CAMP

Till February 12 at Lalit Kala Akademi, Regional Centre, 361 Keyatala Lane: Artist in Residence & regional Bronze Casting Camp.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