Mystical realism As the exhibition’s title suggests, Bridging Art and Reality is about the tension between depicting social reality and formal expressiveness. More precisely, it is the argument between representation and abstraction. During the socially turbulent ’60s and ’70s, modernism shifted its emphasis from character to personality. For artists of the early years immediately after 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 foremost and powerful painters. A large part of his preoccupation is the life of the urban environs. An artist with concerns for the realities of the common man, his work stops at being didactic by his meticulous adherence to the technical and formal means of painting. Whether it is a human portrait or a crow, owl or a feline figure, or an insect, or even still life, the intensity of the aesthetic qualities of his art makes Shuvaprasanna’s work possess a mystical strain. In this series, the artist returns to art, the meditative pleasures of colour, form, paint and expressive abstraction. Inauguration today at 6.30pm. Event: An exhibition of recent works by Shuvaprasanna When: March 18 - April 14 (except Sundays and holidays); 2pm - 7pm, Mondays, 3pm - 7pm Where: CIMA Gallery, Sunny Tower, 2nd floor, 43 Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue

ART

Till March 18 at Studio 21, 17L Dover Terrace, 24866735; 11am - 7pm: Asthir: Art on the move, an exhibition of recent digital works by Amrita Bagchi and Priyanka Majumdar. Till March 31 (except Mondays) in the Portrait Gallery of Victoria Memorial; 10am - 5pm: To celebrate the birth centenary of Mother Teresa, Victoria Memorial Hall hosts twenty 20 Paintings, an exhibition of paintings on Mother by M.F. Husain and Sunita Kumar. Till March 18 at The Spanish Café, 7 Sudder Street; 10 am - 8 pm: An exhibition of prints and paintings by Babita Das. Till March 20 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, 4th floor, International Hall; 4 pm - 8 pm: Roymans Art Studio presents Aviskar 2011 - East meets West, the 5th annual international exhibition of contemporaty paintings and sculptures. Showcasing works by Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Jogen Chowdhury, Neil Lawson Baker, Alexander Tokarev, Christian Schutz, Wasim R. Kapoor, Samir Aich, Manas Roy, Renee Middelkoop, Dyne Mieth, Lynne Davies, Dripta G. Roy, Sunil Chandra Pal, Manish Moitra, Vishal Sabley, Joyotee Ray Chaudhury, Aruna Samivelu and Tarun Purkait. Till March 20 at Gallery 79, 79 Raja Basanta Roy Road; 3pm - 8pm: Journey, an exhibition of paintings by three young talents Buddhadev Karmakar, Priyanka Parbat and Sudipta Ghosh. Till March 26 at Gallery Kolkata, 2nd floor, Duckback House, 41 Shakespeare Sarani, 22873377; 11 am - 7 pm: An exhibition of drawings, paintings and sculptures by Sunil Das. Till March 31 (except Sundays) at Aakriti Art Gallery, Orbit Enclave, 1st floor, 12/3A Hungerford Street, 22893027/5041; 12noon - 7pm: Re-Vision, an exhibition of recent works by Birendra Pani. Till March 31 at St Thomas’ Chapel, Bishop’s College, 224 AJC Bose Road; 2 pm - 8 pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts, in association with Bishop’s College, Calcutta, presents The Last Supper, a series of reverse paintings on acrylic by Madhvi Parekh. Till March 31 at ECA Art Walk, South City Mall, 40113182-3; 12 noon - 8 pm: An exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Ashok Kumar Dey and Chandan Roy. Till March 31 (except Sundays) at Ahuja Museum for Arts, 26 Lee Road, 40034974, 22894745; 10.30 am - 7 pm: World Art – with a focus on France, an exhibition of paintings by artists from France, Argentina, Brazil, the UK, Congo, Italy, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Singapore and the US from the Museum’s collection. Till April 4 (except Sundays) at Ganges Art Gallery, 33A Jatin Das Road, 24653212; 11 am - 7 pm: Unwrapping India, an exhibition of recent works by Anne Vilsboll. 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.

DRAMA

March 18 at Gyan Manch; 7pm: Ranan presents Equus, staging of Peter Shaffer’s landmark play. For more details, contact 9831256730 / Email: rananindia@gmail.com March 18 at Academy of Fine Arts & March 20 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Nandikar will stage Madhabi. Drama: Bhisma Sahni. Adaptation, music & direction: Swatilekha Sengupta. Performers: Rudraprasad Sengupta, Debshankar Halder, Parthapratim Deb, Sumanta Ganguly and Sohini Sengupta. March 18 at Minerva Theatre; 6.30 pm: Belghoria Hatey Khori will stage its maiden production, Pratipaksha. Direction: Debashis Ghosh Dastidar.

BIRTH ANNIVERSARY

March 18 at Rabindra Sarovar Stadiu m, Block-2, Room no. 5; 5pm: The 101st birth anniversary celebration of ‘Moumachhi’ (Bimal Ghosh), well-known author who wrote for children. On this occasion, Moumachhi Trust, in association with Manimela Mahakendra will install a bust of the author.

pERFORMING ARTS

March 18 at Indian Museum courtyard; 4.30pm: Indian Museum, Calcutta & Association of Tourism Service Providers of Bengal present Vasanta Utsav 2011 with the participation of the city’s foreign tourists. On this occasion, Amita Dutt and her troupe will perform the Holi dance. March 18 at Rabindra Sadan; 6pm: Anubhav Foundation presents Sroter Bhela featuring a dance programme by the students of Anubhav, folk songs by Dohar and recitation by Medha Bandyopadhyay. March 18 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6pm: A programme of songs and poems featuring Rajeshwar Bhattacharya, Abhirup Guha Thakurta, Achin Mukhopadhyay, Parthapratim Bhowmick, Suchhanda Ghosh, Irabati Basu, Bidisha Dutta Bakshi, Sathi Dasgupta, Bela Sadhukhan, Chayanika Deb, Ishita Das Adhikary, Arunava Biswas and Denashis Dey. March 18 at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts; 6.30pm: An evening of Jazz featuring Pradyumna Manot, Asha McCarthy and Chanelle Grosser. March 18 at Padatik’s Buildwell Theatre, 6/7 AJC Bose Road; 7 pm: Padatik Dance Centre presents a Kathak recital by Amartyya Chatterjee. March 18 at Tollygunge Club, HSBC Hall; 7pm: Patton and Tollygunge Club, in association with Open Doors, present Prem Kahini (based on Tagore’s perspective on love and to be interpreted through his immortal compositions and through dance) by Srijani. Direction and organisation: Rita Roy, script: Subha Pal, choreography: Susmita Banerjee and music direction: Deepankar Pal. March 20 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 5pm: Swarganga is organising its 8th annual festival, Holi Milan, as a tribute to the Thumri Samrat, Pandit Mahadev Prasad Mishra. Performers: Indrani Mukherjee (khayal), with Ustad Roshan Ali (sarangi) and Subroto Gupta (tabla); Swapna Naha (thumri & dadra), with Ustad Roshan Ali (sarangi) and Subroto Gupta (tabla); Vidushi Purnima Chaudhuri (thumri & dadra), with Ustad Roshan Ali (sarangi) and Kuber Nath Misra (tabla); Pandit Anindo Chatterjee & Anubrata Chatterjee (tabla lahara), with Hiranmay Mitra (harmonium); and Pandit Venkatesh Kumar (vocal), with Samar Saha (tabla) and Jyoti Goho (harmonium).

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till March 21 at Seagull Arts and Media Resource Centre, 36C S.P. Mukherjee Road; 2pm - 6pm: The Seagull Foundation for the Arts & Tasveer, in association with Ganjam, present Transmigrations (Fables and India Song), an exhibition of photographs by Karen Knorr. Till March 31 (except Mondays & national holidays) in the Central Hall of Victoria Memorial Hall; 10am - 5pm: An exhibition of photographs on Mother Teresa by Sunil K Dutt.

TALK

March 18 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Swami Tattwavidananda will speak in Sanskrit on Adhyatma Ramayana. March 18 at Bidhannagar Ramakrishna Vivekananda Kendra, DD-44 Salt Lake City: 36th annual festival, 4.30 am onwards. At 3.30 pm: Prabrajika Nityashuddhaprana and Prabrajika Tanmayaprana will speak on Sarada Devir Anudhyan. March 18 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, Abhedananda Memorial Lecture Hall; 7 pm: Dr Sashanka Bhusan Bandyopadhyay will speak on Kathopanishad.

EXHIBITION

Till March 26 at Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Ltd, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road: An indoor exhibition-cum-sale of furniture. Till March 28 (except Sundays) at Azura, CNK Tower, 3 Royd Street, 22272219, 22298651; Monday - Friday: 11am - 6pm, Saturday: 11am - 4pm: Fashion designer Farhana Chowdhury showcases Tunic Bazaar, which includes a range of tunics in intricate cuts and distinct styles in an exclusive colour palette befitting season from floral to abstract tones. Till March 31 at 175 Block G, New Alipore, 40608060; 11am - 7.30pm, Sunday: 12noon - 6pm: V Style Voyage, the fashion and lifestyle boutique, exhibits wooden artefacts, vases, platters, home decor items, table mats, designer kidswear by Little Angels, designer garments, bags, footwear and accessories. 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.

WORKSHOP

March 20 & 27 at Eduzone, 112 Southern Avenue: Eduzone offers SAT, GRE, GMAT, IELTS, TOEFL free diagnostic tests. Registrations are on for a total 16 classes certification crash courses in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Sanskrit, public speaking, personality enhancement . E-mail eduzoneindia@gmail.com to register or call 9830020277, 9230613528 Details: www.eduzoneindia.com March 21 - 30 & April 2 - 15 at 27B Camac Street, 9836665651: Theatrecian will conduct a theatre workshop on voice modulation, stage and cinema acting, and script writing for the age groups, 7 yrs to 13 yrs (March 21-30) and 14 yrs to 60 yrs (April 2-15). March 21 onwards at Smart Tree, 514A Block M, New Alipore: Introducing ‘The Cool School’ Theatre Academy for theatre workshops and regular classes conducted by Theatrecian and culminating into a production for 8 - 18 year-olds. For details, call 9830863300, 64991496. March 26 - 30 at Happy Hours, CD-69 Salt Lake, 9830227778: A photography workshop, to be conducted by Sujoy Das, will cover technical sessions, photo shoots, photo critique, and editing.

technology

Till March 20 at IIT Kharagpur campus: Yahoo! India R&D is hosting HACK U — the University Hack Day event for IIT Kharagpur students. Students will interact with Yahoo! web experts, receive hacking tips and hands-on exposure to cutting-edge applications and technologies.

---

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