Perhaps the Society of Contemporary Artists has stood the test of time not only because of the infusion of young talent but also, more importantly, owing to the openness of older members to reinvent themselves. As is borne out by their recent annual show at Birla Academy, this ensures an engaging diversity.

The first artist to take note of is Atanu Bhattacharjee, ready to spring a surprise on the accustomed eye. The avalanche of dark, splintering dust colour and acrylic that comes hurtling down mossy green slopes into a glen in his untitled work is a kind of action painting at 10 feet x 5.5 feet, heaving with explosive energy. But his senior, Ganesh Haloi, can still play with fanciful permutations of diagrammatic sections, shifting planes and accidental scatters of frayed colour. Saumen Khamrui, on the other hand, teases tempera into a bleak topography of arid, eroded segments.

Aditya Basak’s vision continues to be dark with premonitions of the apocalypse as pollution, deadly conflicts and a bonfire of skulls turn the world into an effulgent chrome yellow (picture, left). The colour becomes more sinister in the way David Malakar profiles night in Calcutta, combining it with a red sky that hints at alarming fires beyond the horizon. Colours are crucial in Manu Parekh’s ploy of light tones dazzling in the dark.

Pradip Maitra is adept at layering watercolour in transparent stains that evoke apparitions drifting across each other (picture, right). Another watercolourist of subtle tones is Bholanath Rudra who summons up an elusive strangeness of atmosphere. While Atin Basak seems to have changed his style with a series of white and pale-tinted etchings, Manoj Dutta’s quaint, childlike faces had a refreshing simplicity.

If Akhil Das’ bronze figure of concentrated litheness and poise declared his masterly skill, Bimal Kundu’s boxes and Pankaj Panwar’s toy-like horse spoke of wry humour. There were two invited artists as well: Subrata Biswas and Ashis Chowdhury. The former’s folkish abbreviation of form and the latter’s impressive ceramic installations whetted the viewer’s appetite for more.