Italian consul-general in Calcutta Agostino Pinna at a preview of works by Sergio Barletta. Picture by Amit Datta

?It is the greatest thing since the Rodin show,? said Archana Roy, director, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, where an exhibition of paintings by Sergio Barletta opens on Thursday. Barletta may or may not measure up to Rodin, but the works of this contemporary Italian artist may well evoke a similar public response.

With Barletta, one is on familiar ground. And that is not just because he has been to India several times, photographing in Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Ladakh, Madurai and interacting with pilgrims in Varanasi. Barletta is very much a man from here and now. During his long painting career, since the 1950s, Barletta has been as an illustrator, cartoonist, display designer and photographer. So his works are an attractive blend of figurative, realistic, surrealistic, pop and informal, which take the viewers into confidence.

Along with the references to Picasso, Man Ray, Francis Bacon, Dali and others, one finds daily objects and concepts. The artist wants the viewer to respond as a friend both with the heart and the mind. Take his introductory lines in the brochure: ?Just for a start my friends, here we are in front of canvasses and treated papers. Treated with images...? Quoting Krishna, he exhorts them to ?close your eyes and you will see?.

Whimsical, meditative, sensuous and teasing, Barletta?s images lead viewers through an introspective journey where one looks beyond the ephemeral world of Maya and discovers a quest other than which occupies a society that is ?in a clear state of decomposition, opulent and voracious?.

In ?Body and Soul?, a beautiful young woman looks at her own inverted image. If this fragmented reflection is her soul, it appears more alive. ?Our life is a journey during which our soul grows and, if we work on it, it may also mature,? the artist explains.

Elsewhere one encounters puppets, clowns, the body commodity and faceless beauties. The show is on till January 1.