The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
Mihir Paul’s oeuvre trying to revive
traditional Indian art
Garima Pant

‘Ganapati’ Sumitra’s chef-d’oeuvre.

Mihir Paul, Gopal Chowdhury and Subhash Pal organised ‘Exhibitions 2002’ at Rabindra Bhavan. The presentation of paintings was extremely inspiring, tugging at the viewers’ heart-strings. Each work seemed like imprints on canvas, which gave the whole exhibition a distinctive look.

Mihir Paul, one of the three artists, has focused his attention on the traditional Indian works of art. He feels that the traditional Indian paintings are getting lost amidst changing times.

Through his work of art, he is trying to make an attempt to bring it back and survive in the present times. His work titled ‘Heritage’ presents the journey Indian art went through since its origin. Man began depicting art through crude forms in the cave walls in the form of rock carvings. This gradually developed in the paintings of Ajanta and Ellora and so on. But somewhere in the middle, it got lost from its original path and resulted in an abstract form of art as shown in the last part of the painting. It was truly a walk through an entire gamut of our time-honoured Indian art.

Saba Hasan

The Subhash Pal ‘Peace’.

‘Colour Bulwark’ is the title of the solo show by Saba Hasan on at the Triveni Kala Sangam from 8th to 18th August. This show offers the recent works of the artist’s abstract work. She’s been working on them for the past one year experimenting by mixing oil with other media to achieve a wide variety of textural effects.

This Delhi-based abstract artist loves to play around with colour and texture to give varied impressions about the city. She has been working on abstract art for the past 5-6 years but has also done figurative drawings earlier in her career. In all her works, the main impression is about Delhi, the city to which she belongs. She brings contrasting colours on to the forefront and believes that the primary colours are like the city of Delhi itself. All different kinds of people and various elements, belonging to numerous religions and classes, all come and live together and are united as one because of the pleasures of the city. The bright colours used sometimes shock the viewers but some other times they make you aware of the buzz and gives you the feel of the energies stored in this vibrant city.

According to the artist, abstract art suits today’s age as it seeks for the universe. Her work certainly belongs to a new genre of artists’ which has a definite uniqueness to it catching everybody’s attention. According to her, this show is her tribute to those who represent the best of human spirit and its survival against all odds.

Prochesta

A collection of paintings and sculpture work was on display at the Lalit Kala Academy under the title ‘Prochesta’. It was a group exhibition which had numerous artists’ taking part in it like, Jhumpa Nandy, Sumitra Datta Chawdhury, Sanjukta G. Bhattacharya, Sandip Pal, Kausik Gupta and Bharat Das. All these artists belonging to the eastern part of our country, presented a wide array of works. Even the mediums differed like Sumitra Chowdhury’s work ‘Ganapati’ is done by water colours on silk whereas Jhumpa Nandy has done her painting ‘Woman and Birds’ on acrylic.

Navarasa

The Voluntary Health Organization of India (VHAI) organised an exhibition titled ‘Navarasa’ at Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Centre. The exhibition has on display the works of eminent Indian contemporary artists, which explore the feeling of heightened delight and being one with your inner self. The exposition showcases paintings by 30 well-known artists like Anjolie Ela Menon, Anju Dodia, Arpita Singh, Arup Das, Jatin Das, J. Swaminathan, Ramananda, Nand Gopal, Paritosh Sen, Paresh Maity, Sunil Das and many more and was curated by Dr Alka Pande, an art consultant.

VHAI is a health NGO which works in the areas of rural health and rehabilitation. It initiates and supports innovative health and development programmes at the grassroots with active participation of the people. It has worked in every corner of India. It had earlier organised a similar fund-raising exhibition for cyclone-torn Orissa two years ago. This event had been organised as a fund-raiser for the devastated people of Bhuj, where VHAI has extensively worked in the areas of relief and rehabilitation and wanted the efforts to continue.

The event was inaugurated on August 12, 2002 by Mr Vinod Khanna. It was also graced by a small performance by well-known Odissi danseuse Sonal Mansingh based on the theme Navarasa itself. The evening had an impressive gathering with celebrities like Satish Gujaral, Jatin Das, Paresh Maity, Subroto Kundu, VHAI CEO Mr Alok Mukhopadhyay, Shiwani Wazir Pasrich, Malvika Tiwari, Laila Rajpal Khan, Rohit Gandhi, Rahul Khanna, Anurag Mathur and others gracing the occasion with their presence. Navarasa has been chosen as a theme because of the universality of the subject and as it is linked with both the contemporary and the modern world. It’s relevant in this context because Gujarat too is steeped in ancient culture while maintaining its link with the contemporary.

Patchwork Montage, Kutch: A commemorative is being held at the Open Palm Court Area, India Habitat Centre, from August 12 to 21 reflecting the spirit of life so deeply ingrained in Kutch. It is an attempt to showcase the extraordinary and innate talents of the region through carefully chosen and collected artifacts from the land of beautiful hills, historic buildings and primordial flavour. The show has employed strategies of collage, montage, combination of objets d’art as distinguished by the transfer of material from one context to another. It also includes in the same respect a photo collage by photographer Parthiv Shah.