Small, but significant, works by various artists were displayed at the 64th anniversary show of the Society of Contemporary Artists at its B.R. Panesar Gallery. Works by well-known artists like Ganesh Haloi, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Manu Parekh and Aditya Basak were hung next to the paintings of a new generation of practitioners. The most interesting thing about the exhibition was that creations of newcomers looked fresh and appealing next to the over-familiar oeuvre of the seniors.
Bholanath Rudra’s nocturnes with their mysterious light had a touch of magic. The artist’s evocation of darkness and the gleam of luminosity within a small scrap of paper were quite impressive (picture, left). Benares was turned into a dreamscape in David Malakar’s dark and brooding paintings of that ancient city. It seemed to reflect that city’s anguish following its recent makeover, which turned it inside out. Atanu Bhattacharya’s broad calligraphic strokes in sepia were contemplative. Saumen Khamrui’s tempera had a close resemblance to marbled paper in various shades of grey. These were the only two artists who presented abstract pieces. A goat grazing in a forested area was strikingly austere. Rajen Mondal is a skilled and meticulous draughtsman with an eye for fine details.
A painting of the seaside by the watercolourist, Pradip Maitra, stood out for the bright red boats (picture, right). Aditya Basak’s human beings were seemingly awestruck by the beauty of the universe. The night sky was quite striking in its splendour. The subjects of Manoj Mitra’s curiously humorous drawings were clearly drawn from Western myths. One wonders why.
Lalu Prasad Shaw’s bespectacled woman is quite familiar. There is nothing new about Manu Parekh’s hairy outgrowths. Ganesh Haloi reimagined the beauty of his home in undivided Bengal with its huge expanses of greenery and water. He conjured up the lay of the land which had the perfection of geometry, bringing alive its poetry. Niranjan Pradhan’s portrait of mother and child was expectedly elegant. Pankaj Panwar’s wild boar was spunky. Akhil Chandra Das’s humanoid beast radiated power.
