Of late, the Odisha government has been giving prominence to Bengali artists by showcasing their works through exhibitions. After the successful solo show of Bimal Kundu’s sketches and sculptures last year, recently, Bhubaneswar witnessed another solo show of paintings, titled Dissolving the Surface, by an eminent contemporary artist from Bengal, Chandra Bhattacharjee. The exhibition started on March 29 and continued till April 14 at the Odisha State Museum, Bhubaneswar. The show was inaugurated by the chief secretary of the state of Odisha, Pradip Kumar Jena (IAS) and eminent poet Rajendra Panda.
Chandra Bhattacharjee had graduated from Indian College of Art and Draughtmanship as a topper in 1986, receiving gold medal from Rabindra Bharati University for excellence in fine arts. In last three decades he had participated in a number of shows, both solo and group, in different states of India and abroad.
The exhibition showcased some of the latest creations of Chandra, ranging from large (15ft/5.5ft) to small (1.5ft/1ft) ones, both on canvas and paper. Dissolving the Surface is all about interplay of light and darkness. The paintings are more metaphorical and conveyed the inter-relationship of body and soul. His subjects are very common elements that we see in our day-to-day life, trees, animals, birds, rocks, fire, lightning, human beings, and so on. The artist had creatively played with light and darkness, lingering grey and sepia with splashes of subdued, cool light creating a reverberating calmness while forcing the viewer to deeper thinking and understanding of the soul. Issues of ecology, preservation of the Earth, concerns for the destruction of the natural vegetation and loss of species have always been with Chandra. Along with these anxieties are the hidden, subconscious rhythms, the slow penetration of the artist’s mind and his quiet fervour — so much so that the surface of both the canvas and the individual consciousness stand unveiled for that evanescent moment when the viewer’s eye goes deep into the artwork. This leads to a realisation that not all is a simple dualism, not all is surface and depth. Sometimes, depth can be revealed in the surface. It is this perception that marks the series Dissolving the Surface.
Chandra Bhattacharjee
Pradeep Jena (right) and Rajendra Panda light the inaugural lamp at the exhibition
Pradeep Jena and Rajendra Panda admire one of the paintings
“I allow the so-called little things to seep in, accumulate, construct their own spaces and echoes. My work offers me an opportunity to make sense of these inputs. The thin line between the paper’s surface and my reflections dissolves in the process,” said Chandra.
Chandra’s paintings partake of many photographic effects like chiaroscuro and spotlight brilliantly combining his interest in black-and-white films with the boyhood memories of unrestrained nature in his village. The empty spotlight is another visual symbol or perhaps a metaphor that Chandra uses in many of his works. Layers of colour and effects of grey tone wash bestow a porosity, a tactility, and the fine mesh-like effects rendered with brushstrokes hearken to a window, perhaps a glance into deeper worlds, as if this porosity is a surface itself that is dissolving towards an elusive revelation.
After the successful solo show of Bimal Kundu’s sculptures and sketches in August-September 2022, this is supposed to be the second drive of the Odisha State Museum and Arun Kumar Bera of Gallery Artistmindz, with a vision to bring the artists of Odisha in touch of the modern trend of contemporary art. The key person behind this initiative is Pradip Kumar Jena (IAS). Being a bureaucrat, Jena has a deep love and keen perception about art, both traditional and modern. He feels that the state of Odisha is very rich in traditional art but it needs more to come in light of modernity that had evolved in Bengal in the early 20th century with Rabindranath Tagore, Nandalal Bose, Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore, Sailoz Mookherjee, Benode Behari Mukherjee, Ramkinkar Baij and had spread across India in due course of time.