Celebration of life and art The aim of every artist is to arrest the dynamic motion of life through his/her creations and capture it for posterity. The art thus born retains its power to come back to life even a hundred years later upon being viewed, preserving every essence of its living original. Freedom, flexibility and expressiveness are the characteristics of true art that life hopelessly tries to replicate. Yet, life and art are inextricably interwoven; any change in life inevitably leads to a new movement in art. Art is simply not a matter of painting visuals of life. Rather, it is about giving life to a painting. Capturing the quintessence of life through their individual art styles, The Pageant of Life, the ongoing exhibition of paintings and sculptures by 15 well-known artists, is a colourful celebration of Indian art traditions. Showcasing visually stunning masterpieces, it brings together works that present life in all its fascinating dimensions. A special feature of the show is the way in which paintings and sculptures have been paired and complemented, each reflecting the unique creative genius of its creator. Participants include Suhas Roy, Prokash Karmakar (a painting by him appears here), Ramananda Bandyopadhyay, Subrata Pal, Bratin Khan, Kartick Pyne, Aditya Basak, Sanatan Dinda, Subroto Gangopadhyay, Gourango Beshai, Sibsaday, Tapas Sardar and Atin Basak. Event: An exhibition of the works of eminent Indian artists When: Till December 31; 11 am - 7 pm Where: Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover 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. Till December 31 at Idiyas Gallery, 15 Dover Road, #6550 8418; 11 am - 7 pm: The Pageant of Life, featuring works by 15 well-known artists. Till December 31 at Bodhi Tree Monastery of Art, 48/44 Swiss Park, #24246534; 2 pm - 7 pm: Bodhi Tree Monastery of Art’s inaugural exhibition of art and sculptures. Till January 1 at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, 55 Gariahat Road, #2475 2275; 3 pm - 8 pm: Soul Search — a solo exhibition of paintings by Priyanka Gupta Agarwal. Till January 3 at Birla Academy of Art & Culture; 3 pm - 8 pm: Rendezvous Hyderabad, an exhibition of the works by 21 artists from Hyderabad. Till January 3 at Academy of Fine Arts, New South Gallery ‘B’; 3 pm - 8 pm: Textural Moment — an exhibition of recent paintings by Tarit Bhattacharjee. Till January 5 (except Sunday) at Galerie 88, 28B Shakespeare Sarani, #2290 2274; 11 am - 7 pm, Monday - 2 pm - 7 pm: Indian Contemporary Art in Palais Benedictine, France. Till January 6 (except Sunday & holidays) at Tejas Gallery; 1 pm - 7.30 pm: An exhibition of artworks by various artists from Calcutta, Santiniketan and Vietnam. The collection includes acrylics, charcoals, woodcuts and small sculptures. Till January 7 (except Sunday) 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 (except Sunday) at Weavers Studio Centre for the Arts, 94 Ballygunge Place, #2460 4245; 10 am - 7 pm: Trace of Time: The Art of Papermaking by Jenny Pinto. Till January 10 (except Monday) at Anant Art Gallery, 18-A Alipore Road, 11am to 7pm: Beyond Convention: A Glimpse of Contemporary Trends in Bengal Art – an exhibition of paintings and sculptures curated by Mrinal Ghosh. Till January 15 at Aakriti Art Gallery, 12/3A Hungerford Street, #32998525, 22893027: Bengal 2009, an exhibition of art works by the city’s eminent artists. Till January 15 (except Sundays) 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 Mondays) 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.

DRAMA FESTIVAL

Till December 31: Aneek’s 11th Ganga Jamuna Natya Utsav, an international drama festival. Today at Purbashree, EZCC; 6 pm: Rarang (Dir: Mamunur Rashid) by Aranyak, Dhaka, at Academy of Fine Arts, 6.30 pm: Kashinama (Dir: Usha Ganguli) by Rangakarmee; at Madhusudan Mancha, 6.30 pm: Aurangzeb (Dir: Harimadhab Mukhopadhyay) by Rangapat; and at Nazrul Shatabarshiki Sadan, Madhyamgram, 6.30 pm: Apsara Theater-er Mamla (Dir: Sabyasachi Chakraborty) by Charbak. Till December 30 at Bijon Theatre; 6.30 pm: Sohan’s 6th Natyamela. Today: Jagakhichuri (Dir: Bibhas Chakraborty) by Anya Theatre; and Cellphone (Dir: Narayan Saha) by Gilotin, Cooch Behar.

DRAMA

December 30 at Rabindra Sadan; 6 pm: Utpla Dutt Foundation and Ranjani Inc. present dance-drama Aikatan (Dir: Subhra Goswami) by artistes of Ranjani Inc. to be followed by PLT’s drama Kirat Parbo (Play: Utpal Dutt; Dir: Asit Bose). December 31 at Academy of Fine Arts; 6.30 pm: Anya Theatre presents Aachhe Aachhe Sthan, with Bibhash Chakraborty in the lead. Direction: Ramaprasad Banik. January 1 at Academy of Fine Arts; 3 pm & 6.30 pm: Charbak presents Apsara Theater-er Mamla (Dir: Sabyasachi Chakraborty) at 3 pm; and Chalo Patol Tuli (Dir: Arindam Ganguly) at 6.30 pm. January 1 at Madhusudan Mancha; 6.30 pm: Purba-Paschim presents Tagore’s Chaturanga. Drama: Sekhar Samaddar. Direction: Bratya Basu. The cast includes Kushal Chakraborty, Debdoot Ghosh, Soumitra Mitra, Shyamal Chakraborty and Chaiti Ghosal. January 2 at Girish Mancha; 6.30 pm: Purba-Paschim presents Manik Bandyopadhyay’s Diba Ratrir Kabya. Drama & direction: Arun Mukhopadhyay. Main cast: Piyush Ganguly, Soumitra Mitra, Rina Jana, Suranjana Dasgupta, Malay Saha, Mishka Halim and Writa Dutta Chakraborty.

PERFORMING ARTS

December 30 at Kala Mandir; 5 pm: Sangvee Moments ’08 — an evening filled with some sizzling dance performances with Jazz, Salsa, Hiphop, Rock ’n’ Roll, Jive and Modern. December 30 at Satyajit Ray Auditorium, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, ICCR, 9A Harrington Street; 6.30 pm: Open Doors and Padatik Dance Centre, in collaboration with EZCC and ICCR, present Jayant Kastuar in a Kathak performance to celebrate 60 years of Kathak maestro Pandit Durga Lal. December 30 at Star Theatre; 6 pm: Dance shows by students of schools and colleges as part of Priya Entertainments Pvt. Ltd’s year-end festivities.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Till December 31 at The Photographers’ Gallery, 59A Southend Park, Gol Park, #98301 70166; 3 pm - 8 pm: Third Eye presents an exhibition of photographs by Debanjan Das Gupta. Till January 3 at Academy of Fine Arts, South Gallery; 3 pm - 8 pm: Nature Environment and Wildlife Society (NEWS) presents Inheritance — an exposition of nature and wildlife through an exhibition of photographs, a display of mwildlife-related stamps and a presentation of handcrafted owls by its members. 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.

TALK

December 30 at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Shivananda Hall; 6 pm: Pradyot Kumar Mukhopadhyay will speak in Bengali on Dharma, Darshan O Vijnan. December 30 at Ramakrishna Vedanta Math, 19B Raja Rajkrishna Street; 7 pm: Swami Atmabodhananda will discuss in Bengali Sri Sri Mayer Katha.

FELICITATION

January 3 at G.D. Birla Sabhagar; 6 pm: London-based cultural organisation The Tagoreans will felicitate distinguished Rabindrasangeet exponent and teacher Maya Sen to mark her 80th birthday. On this occasion, Anandadhara, a CD of live recording of Maya Sen’s concert in London in 1984, will be formally released. Members of The Tagoreans will present From Sriniketan to Dartington - Phirey Chal Matir Taane, a composite programme of Tagore songs with dance.

EXHIBITION

Till December 30 at 8/2 Loudon Street, 2nd floor, Loudon Manor, #9830257819; 11 am - 8 pm: Earthy Myths introduces a unique range of saris both prêt and diffusion designed by Sucheta V. Merh. Also, in-house collection of outfits, bags and select silver jewellery. Till December 31 at Central Cottage Industries Corporation of India Ltd, 7 Jawaharlal Nehru Road: Cottage showcases various handmade art object items made of brass, marble, bronze, silver, copper, wood, cloth, wall hangings, paintings from Jaipur and Orissa, wooden figurines from Tamil Nadu, Mysore and Kerala, and ethnic dokra items from West Bengal. Till January 1 at Artisana, 13 Chowringhee Terrace, #22239422; 11 am - 7 pm: Crafts Council of West Bengal host its Christmas collection. Till January 7 (except Sundays) 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 12 (except Tuesdays) 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 20 at Genesis Art Gallery, 8B Middleton Street; 2 pm - 7 pm: An exhibition of Chinese ceramic works and paintings by Asit Patnaik, Bhagat Singh, Gautam Mukherjee, Shyamal Mukherjee, Seema Kohli, Harish Kumar, Phalguni Dasgupta, Dhananjay Mukherjee, Gosto Kumar and others.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