At a time when most travel plans have been put on hold owing to the new variant of COVID-19, a new art show in the city is attempting to bring popular cities alive through its watercolour paintings. Titled Travel Chronicles, the exhibition is a solo show by artist Nirupam Konwar who has travelled extensively across Europe and India.
His paintings feature countries such as France, Switzerland, India and Malta and cities like Paris, Prague and Bengaluru. From Bengaluru’s Vidhana Soudha and Eiffel Tower in Paris to the streets of Lisbon, the artist explores different landscapes in his works. “I enjoy painting landscapes and all my work has been done on location. You can’t get the real feeling in your painting by sitting in a room and working. I have travelled to all these places that I have painted,” says Nirupam. He follows the 19th-century French approach of Plein air landscape painting which means the artist goes to the location to capture it in his creation. This style of painting had become the central feature of French impressionism. The uniqueness of Nirupam’s paintings is that his artworks appear like images from a dream. The cloudy effect he uses gives them this aesthetic.
“I always carry vinegar and use it to create this effect. Vinegar breaks the pigment and gives a foggy effect to the paintings,” he reveals. The artist’s colour palette is quite limited and Nirupam says he has deliberately kept it this way. “I stick to a mix of a few warm and cool colours, usually yellow and blue shades. I try to create a monochromatic effect like in Hollywood and European movies. I feel my limited colour palette adds a mysterious feel to my paintings,” he says. Although most of his work explores landscapes, some of Nirupam’s paintings also highlight the romantic element of the locations by capturing people, particularly couples around these locations and cityscapes.
Until January 23. At MKF Museum of Art, Lavelle Road
ayeshatabassum@newindianexpress.com
@aishatax