Five decades can change the way an artist looks at the world, and for Shipra Bhattacharya, they have also changed the way the world finds its way onto canvas. Retrospective, presented by Artworld – Sarala’s Art International, brings together paintings, drawings, and sculptures spanning her artistic journey, from her student years to her latest works.
“This show represents my journey of 50 years. I have paintings, drawings and sculptures from my student life to my latest work, so one can see the entire body of work and how it evolved with changing time,” says Shipra.
The exhibition is, in many ways, an encounter with recurring ideas seen through changing eyes. Memory, desire, relationships, everyday life, and introspection run through the works, while women and the human figure remain particularly important presences. Shipra’s earlier works include landscapes, people, and Kolkata scenes, while later paintings become increasingly absorbed in the female figure, desire and the textures of lived experience.
Her women are often caught in moments of contemplation, surrounded by domestic and urban spaces such as terraces, balconies and interiors. From charcoal and tempera to oil, acrylic, bronze and fibre glass, she has worked across forms, choosing according to what an idea demands. “It’s difficult to say why I choose to paint what I paint. But definitely what interests me, what moves me, what makes me curious, came to my paintings mostly; it’s a mix of my subconscious and the visual surroundings, as I have lived my life, what I saw growing up; as I grow old, my perspective has changed and it reflects in my paintings.”
This relationship between life and art becomes especially striking in her recent works, where the body itself becomes a surface carrying memories and symbols. Figures are marked with flora, fauna, text and other imagery, turning the body into a record of experience. When asked about the intention behind, she says, “We live through many experiences in life, I have painted it in the body almost like the tale of their life and the external world it carries within.” She relates the idea to the Bengali tradition of nakshi kantha, where women embroidered their life stories and experiences into pieces of cloth.
For visitors, she leaves the interpretation open. “I like them to see and have their own interpretation. I don’t want them to see it any particular way, just come and see, and share our lived experiences, where I am communicating with them through my images.”
Open to all. On till September 15. 11 am to 7 pm. At Lalit Kala Akademi, Thousand Lights.
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