We have a little bit of art in all of us. Some choose to pursue that language of art , while in others, creativity gets buried in the crevices of the subconscious in pursuit of alternative careers. Yet the artistic side, more often than not, rears its head in one form or another. The Centre of International Modern Art’s (CIMA) latest exhibition, Outsider Art, projects the spotlight on a few such luminaries, past and present, who had all the potential of an artist but nurtured it as a hobby to pursue something else.
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In this regard, Pratiti Basu Sarkar, Chief Administrator, CIMA, defines the artist as “one who has a passion to paint, to create and express it unabashedly. They have an awareness and skill in the methods, but are not formally trained in practising them, and do not earn from them.” Rakhi Sarkar, Director and curator, CIMA adds, “In the present group, we encounter individuals — many illustrious in their own right — who have pursued visual art with deep passion, often guided by an inner urge to express and communicate.”
Participants include Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Amala Shankar (dancer), Ayaan Ali Bangash (instrumentalist), Aparna Sen (actor-director), Bobo Calcutta (fashion designer), Moon Moon Sen, Riya Sen, Late Soumitra Chatterjee ( actors) , Upendrakishore Raychaudhuri (writer/ inventer, Hydraulic Printing Press), Ruchira Gupta (writer- activist), Saba Ali Khan (jewellery designer), Amartya Mukherjee (Chartered Accountant ) , Anjana Dutt (writer), Dr. Sanjay Ghosh (Dermatologist), Dilip De (entrepreneur), Lalit Mohan (Marine engineer ) , Dr. Kanak Sharma (Microbiologist), Ranjitsinh Gaekwad (Royal family of Baroda), Ranajit Ray (cinematographer), and Pradip Bothra (corporate leadership).
Rakhi mentions, “Their lives as politicians, business leaders, actors, dancers, academics, and musicians have shaped their creative expressions,allowing them to reveal new facets of their inner worlds. Free from the constraints of formal training, they engage with form and colour instinctively, playfully and organically. This unrestrained engagement is what makes Outsider Art so compelling for a gallery such as ours, which typically operates within the framework of art history and established artistic practice.”
Since amateur and untrained artists often break the cardinal rules, are they viewed through a different lens? Pratiti reveals, “At CIMA, we not only acknowledge those who have formal art education, but also that Art is a form of human expression and is not bound by external factors. Also, much of contemporary art is opinionated, which, in many ways, limits it. Art is an expression of reflections of reality.”
Outsider Art is on display till May 2.
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