Nature’s bounty is inexhaustible — this misguided idea is what has led to its decimation. Art has usually responded to this crisis by representing human depredations on nature. But the artists featured in Garden of Infinite Desires (the exhibition was hosted by Emami Art recently) chose to portray nature in its idyllic, abundant glory to remind viewers not just of what has been lost but also of what can be saved.
Kartick Chandra Pyne’s works conjure up a world that hovers somewhere between reality and fantasy — like Joan Miró (one of Pyne’s inspirations), his canvases are colourful, playful and seemingly childlike. But Pyne also interrogates established ideas of art and expression and questions the definitions of what is real and what is fantastic in his works.
In stark contrast to Pyne’s surrealism is Manas Naskar, whose charcoal sketches of the verdant countryside are shorn of human presence. His works have an almost photographic quality about them for the fine detail with which he captured nature. Santanu Debnath’s depiction of nature, on the other hand, is populated with peoplewho live in harmony with the world around them.His detailing when it comes to painting fields and foliage is incredible.
Arunima Chowdhury has been working for long with botanic colours on handmade paper. She makes the colours from flowers, vegetables and seeds, giving her work freshness and a rare organic feel. The infectious radiance of her naturescapes also comes from the simplification of form to its purest (picture). Mrinal Kanti Gayen opts for realistic bronze sculptures of vegetation with buds, leaves, creepers and insects. The solidity of the metal is belied by the fluid, lyrical shapes of the flora.
But then, idyllic arcadias are not the complete story: Puja Mondal and Ghana Shyam Latua strike a warning note. Mondal’s tiny canvases are as rich in colours as they are in meaning — the woods are deep and dark, but not with natural mysteries; an anthropogenic shadow looms over them. Latua’s work is as mesmerising as ever in its painstaking detailing. In Excoriated Land, a yawning wound on the earth’s surface confronts the viewers; the pinpricks and fine mesh of ink lines leave them with gooseflesh.
