Academy Of Fine Arts is hosting an exhibition of photographs, paintings, lithographs and an art installation by four artists from Paris at their North gallery, starting today. Curated by art critic Manasi Majumder, the exhibition will showcase the works of Ashim Roy, Sakti Barman, Utpal Chakraborty, and Madhu Mangal Basu over a week.
The exhibition has 22 photographs of Ashim Roy, which are mostly in black and white, with nine of them in colour. The earliest captured portrait of Sakti Chattopadhyay in black and white dates back to 1991 while there are others, like Beach with a horse and La-photographe, which have been taken post-2007. Roy’s photographs explore interesting compositions with portraits, landscapes, and human beings as their subjects. “In composition, I personally look for a unique choice of colours, light, and shade, and also the story, if there is one,” says Roy who has worked with photography for almost 70 years now, but this is his first exhibition ever.
Alongside, there is Utpal Chakraborty’s single work, based on the Vietnam War. A huge panel made of different parts collectively called Our King, Queens, Emperors, Dictators, Presidents and Me. The work which is still in progress has been created by using existing images of painting, photographs, and sculptures, which are selected by Chakraborty, and composed and modified with the use of acrylic on canvas.
“The work is a reflection on world leaders who with their position, power, lies, and brainwashing start wars, in which only the innocent population has to face the line of fire,” says Chakraborty.
The panel shows a naked girl rescued from the war, which is flanked by the image of men on horseback and then two naked leaders, wearing only a military cap and boots. It shows how throughout human history, different countries and leaders have followed the same ideals of terror and war. The dark colours, like black and red, evokes the grimness of war and brutality, the duplication of which, through several panels signifies the universal message that- despite all the loft motivations, war itself is absurd.
“To enhance the visual reality of the subject, I would like to project a video sequence on war, lasting up to 10-15 seconds, on the painting. If we are able to execute it, this would be the first synchronisation experiment between painting and video,” adds Chakraborty.
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Another art installation by Madhu Mangal Basu, called Headoffice, is a representation of the brain on fiberglass, covered with gold foil. “I wanted to convey that whatever we create in our life comes from the brain, so how would it look if I create artwork in its shape itself. I want to see how people feel about the seat of intelligence and all mental faculty exhibited as an artwork.” Basu has also decided to supply blank paper to the visitors to know their opinion in writing.
Sakti Barman's lithograph works which combine the aesthetics of both Indian and western arts is also a part of the exhibition. Barman uses marbling techniques; using oil and acrylics to created fresco-like works. The theme of his 15 works in this exhibition is ‘an idyllic world of blissful humanity’, which combines Hindu as well as European mythology.
The exhibition of four Bengali artists from Paris at the Academy of Fine Arts will be open till April 1.