Fledgling fantasies The phoenix is the symbol of re-birth, of resurrection. As an image it has, over the ages, been associated with the mythical figure of Prometheus, and Christ the Saviour to the persona of the artist, who dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to re-create, burning to give light to the collective human intellect. Like God, the artist creates cosmos out of chaos. It symbolises an eager soul that is willing to learn, to receive, to soar. For Shukla Chowdhury, the phoenix is her constant companion, an alter-ego that goads her to relentlessly explore the vastness, the plurality of nature’s beauty where all birth, death and re-birth occur. The current series of paintings, titled The Search of the Phoenix, presents on canvas the impulsive moments of intense introspection. Rough and smooth rocks, silver rays of the moon, the gold aura of dusk, lilac meadows fill in her canvas as do the mysterious sands, the darkness of the night and the vibrant passion of the sun. The phoenix, Chowdhury promises, shall inspire us to rise above the ordinary and mundane, and gift ourselves ideas of verve and expression. All works are in acrylic on canvas. Event: A exhibition of paintings by Shukla Chowdhury When: Till October 17; 3 pm - 8 pm Where: Academy of Fine Arts, (North Hall)

art

Till October 17 at Gallery Charu-Karu, 132/Z/1D Raja Rajendralal Mitra Road, #23537783; 5 pm - 9 pm: An exhibition of paintings on Durga by budding artists. Till October 17 at Gallery Kanishka’s, 2/1 Hindusthan Road; 11 am - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings and sketches, titled Works on Paper, featuring well-known contemporary artists Amit Ambalal, Anjolie Ela Menon, F.N. Souza, Ganesh Pyne, Himmat Shah, Jogen Chowdhury, Kartik Chandra Pyne, Prabhakar Kolte, Prakash Karmakar, R.B. Bhaskaran, R.M. Palaniappan, Sakti Burman, Satish Gujral, Shuvaprasanna, Somenath Hore and Sunil Das Till October 17 at Academy of Fine Arts, North Hall; 3 pm - 8 pm: The Search of the Phoenix, an exhibition of paintings by Shukla Chowdhury. Till October 17 at Gallery Yapanchitra, Flat - 12/1A, 3rd floor, Lift no. 2, Stephen Court, 18A Park Street; 11 am - 7 pm: Written Image, solo exhibition by Hiran Mitra. Till October 17 at Masters Collection Art Gallery, G-7 Malayalay Apts, 3 Woodburn Park Road; 11 am - 7 pm: Small is Beautiful 2 — the world of miniature art works. Featuring works of renowned artists. Till October 17 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South ‘A’ & ‘B’; 3 pm - 8 pm: Sixth annual art exhibition by the students of Bengal Fine Arts College, Chandpara, North 24 Parganas. Till October 17 at Chemould Art Gallery, 12F park Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: Expressions of Nature — paintings by Anirban Banerjee. Till October 24 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahar Road, #24752275; 3 pm - 8 pm: Chitrakoot presents an exhibition of paintings and sculptures, Devi Durga. Till October 26 (except October 18 - 21) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, 11 am - 7 pm: Surfaces and Textures — works by Dattatraya Apte, Kishore Shinde, Manjari Chakravarty, Mekhala Bahl, Mithu Sen, Mona Rai, Neha Turakhia, Ranjith Raman, Rooshika Patel, Shobha Broota, Tapati Chowdhury, Yashwant Deshmukh and Yogesh Rawal. Till October 27 at Mon Art Gallery, 6 Picasso Bithi (Hungerford Street), Regency Building, 3rd floor, #22895438; 11.30 am - 7 pm: Three Amigos, an exhibition of abstract paintings by the trio from Goa: Deviprasad C Rao, Suhas Shilker and Swatee Nair. Till October 27 (except Monday) at Bose Pacia Kolkata, 18 Stephen Court, #65459955; 11 am - 7 pm: Equinox Shift — new paintings and works on paper by Joydip Sengupta. Till October 28 (except Sundays) at Gallery Sanskriti, 5C Alipore Park Road; 11 am - 8 pm: An Evening in Paris — experiences of a group of artists as they traversed through various museums and art galleries of Paris, Rome, Venice and London. Till October 31 at Kanvas Art Gallery, 53 Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Shivam Chambers, 2nd floor; 3 pm - 7 pm: A Spiritual Tribute, a duet - lens and brush. Fine art photography by Partha Choudhury, and mystical strokes by Nitya Kundu, Sanjib Roy, Subrata Pal, Subrata Das and Jiban Biswas. Till November 3 (except Sundays) at Tejas Arts Gallery, 11 Mayfair Road, opp. Ice Skating Rink; 3 pm - 7.30 pm: Tejas presents Devi — eighteen artists’ versions of Goddess Durga. Participating artists: Abhijit Ghosh, Anita Gurbaxani, Anirban Seth, Ashok Ganguly, Barun Saha, Biswarup Haldar, Debasish Sen Gupta, Dhiren Sasmal, Goutam Sarkar, Palash Paul, Partha Ray, Ritu Poddar, Runu Misra Banerjee, Samir Aich, Sarbani Ganguly, Shambhu Saha, Sudipto Tiwari, Swapan Kumar Saha, Tarun Chakravorty, Ujjwal Debnath and Buddhadeb Bose.

DRAMA

October 17 at Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, Salt Lake; 10.30 am: Tagore’s Totakahini, a Nandikar production for children. Direction: Parthapratim Deb. Organised by Samatat, Uttarpara. October 17 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Natasena presents Gorur Garir Headlight. Written and directed by Saroj Roy. October 17 at Rabindra Sadan; 6.30 pm: Insititute of Factual Theatre (IFTA) presents Sacrifice. Direction: Debasish Dutta. October 17 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Samikshan presents its latest production, Anya Bhuban. Drama: Ujjwal Chattopadhyay. Direction: Pankaj Munshi. October 18 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Sansriti presents its two new productions, Sorjo-Pora Chai (dir: Debesh Chattopadhyay) and Mouna-Mukhar (dir: Satya Bhadury). October 18 (at 6.30 pm) and October 19 (at 3 pm & 6.30 pm) at Tapan Theatre: Lok-Krishti presents Krishna Gahvar. Drama, direction & acting: Bratya Basu. October 20 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm: Nandikar presents Abanindranath Tagore’s Bappaditya. Main performance: Sohini Sengupta. Music & direction: Goutam Halder. October 20 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Nandikar presents its new production, Nana Ranger Din (Drama: Anton Chekov/Ajitesh Bandyopadhyay; Performance: Prathapratim Deb and Rudraprasad Sengupta; Dir: Rudraprasad Sengupta) and Chokh Gyalo (Story: Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay; Main performance: Swatilekha Sengupta; Dir: Goutam Halder).

PERFOrMING ARTS

October 17 at Bharatiyam Cultural Multiplex, Salt Lake; 6 pm: Pujar Gaan, an evening of Bengali songs by Teetas, a group of women singers. October 17 at Sisir Mancha; 6 pm: Shilpi Jajabar presents Ananda Oei Elo Dware, an evening of Bengali songs and recitation. Participants: Chitralekha Dutta, Sumita Das, Suman Panthi, Irabati Basu, Madhabi Dutta, Anuradha Goswami, Debasree Biswas, Nilanjana Ghosh Dastidar, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Ruma Singha, Mousumi Sarkar, Ranajaybrato Roy and Kaberi Basu in songs, and Reshmi Choudhury, Basudeb Nandy, Swapan Basu and Nayan Basu in recitation. October 18 at Dum Dum Sanskriti Mancha; 7 pm: An evening of Kathak dance by Soma Ghosh and her troupe.

FESTIVAL

Till October 21 at Sringeri Sri Sarada Peetham Sankara Hall, 93 Southern Avenue, #24661767: Sri Sarada Navarathri Celebrations 2007. Today: Pooja, Archana and Devi Mahatmya Parayanam at 7 am; Lalitha Sahasranama Archana and recitation of slokas at 6 pm, and Sangeeta Sabha - Tiruppugazh Bhajan by Tiruppugazh Anbargal at 6.45 pm.

EXHIBITION

Till October 17 at CIMA Gallery; 11 am - 8 pm: Art in Life, an exhibition of fashion wear, T-shirts, decorative art, masks, exculsive textiles, stoles and scarves, tribal art, jewellery, wall hangings, books, carpets, linens, brass items, embroidered bags and dhurries. Till October 18 at Cottage Industries, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road; 10 am - 7 pm: Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Ltd hosts a saree and ready-to-wear exhibition. Till October 18 at P 249 Purna Das Road: Darbari hosts Sharadiya Shimeeta Sankhya - A Limited Edition Affair, an exhibition featuring saris, suits, kurtis, patialas, tunics, skirts and leather accessories. Till October 25 at Utopia, 94C Bakul Bagan Road, Paddapukur; 10 am - 6 pm: An exhibition of lifestyle products comprising platters, candles, boxes, mats, trays, vases, ornate mirrors.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