Today, February 24, Kolkata has a new feast of art to gobble up, when Richa Agarwal, chairperson of Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC), refills the five-storey Emami art house off the EM Bypass with three fresh art exhibitions, a packed crafts show and a programme of events. The centre was founded in 2018 to promote all artistic creativity, especially in eastern India, and Richa credits its success to her “fantastic team” who “all share a passion”.
The exhibitions kick off with Bhu-Tatva: Elements of Earth which fills the ground floor. In this collaboration with Gujarati sculptor, ceramicist and installation artist Falguni Bhatt, works by Bhatt and a dozen others push the barriers of the terracotta medium — one of India’s most ancient forms of art expression.
Shilpa Sharma’s ‘Lustrous Grasp’ (2020)
Shilpa Sharma’s exquisite Lustrous Grasp (2020), made in Santiniketan, is a technical feat of flowerheads strewn inside three paper-thin quills, all made of stoneware metallic matte glaze over natural fibre pulp. A wall-piece comprises baked bricks in golden earth tones of great beauty and restfulness, with a provocative title suggesting these are the colours to be found in heaven. Credible, but who knows? My own optimistic dream of heaven is colour-drenched.
‘Tree of Life’ on tapestry, SG Vasudevan
Upstairs, there is plenty of colour and a dramatic switch of medium to soft tapestry. Here, the influence and legacy of 82-year-old artist SG Vasudev — who emerged from Chennai’s art school to join the group of pioneering artists who formed the seaside Cholamandal Artists’ Village near Chennai — are celebrated in some of his lyrical tapestries woven in Bengaluru, where he now lives. A green elephant just fits into its scarlet frame, a Maithuna composition looks to Chagall tapestries, a tree of life has a wrap-around ladder. He has talked about his preferred themes: “One of them is ‘Vriksha’ or the Tree of Life…. (I) painted many pictures with the tree juxtaposed with other elements. Gradually the tree moved to the centre of the stage and started absorbing various elements and forms; just like the gigantic banyan tree which is so amorphous and protective.”
L-R: ‘Maithuna’ and ‘Elephant and man’ in Vasudevan’s tapestries
This weekend (February 25-26) there are two special performances in the auditorium near Vasudev’s tapestries. Italian dancer-choreographer Stefano Fardelli and his troupe perform the world premiere of ‘Om Mani Padme Hum’, about rituals of the Tibetan Buddhist Yellow Hat Order, and then one of his acclaimed historic pieces, the duet ‘Svarupa-Vyakta’.
Up on the fifth floor, the third art show is again a complete contrast, this time switching to paintings in watercolour by Indrapramit Roy. He calls his show ‘Soliloquy’ because he made the paintings during the pandemic, alone, as conversation pieces. They are dreamy, calm, watery, gently-flowing, in contrast to the turmoil and fears the pandemic engendered.
Indrapramit Roy’s ‘Soliloquy’
Emami Art will be complementing all three art shows with talks, seminars, conversations with artists, and more. But that is not all to find at the centre’s new iteration. A whole floor has been given over to stalls for craftspeople. KCC does not charge stall-holders and takes no commission on their sales, all profits go to the craftspeople.
The fifth floor of the 70,000 square-foot building building houses Indrapramit Roy’s ‘Soliloquy’
It seems that the best thing to do is get there early and plan to leave late. For, the 70,000 square-foot building designed by Pinakin Patel also houses a walk-in art library, cafe, lifestyle store, and runs a rich programme of film, performance art and symposia, as well as artist residences. Here’s a tip: KCC is about to launch a friends membership programme; it’s sure to be good.
Louise Nicholson is a British art historian, journalist and writer who has focused her studies on India since 1978 and brings the curious to India. She has written 27 books, and writes a monthly wellness blog to inspire slow travel in India: https://www.louisenicholsonindia.com/#wellness
