Artist Shuvaprasanna displays his latest body of work, that is very different from his usual style of painting

Long before comedy was a usual affair in your nearby cafes and every other television or OTT channels, one was exposed to its nuances by the King of Comedy – Charlie Chaplin. The actor who created history several times was brought back to the walls of Kolkata through the paintings of artist Shuvaprasanna. From Chaplin’s famous slapstick pose to his iconic on-screen moments in Modern Times as a mechanic or The Kid, or in A Dog’s Life, all hang in frames. Keeping it as real as possible to the original Black and White and silent era, the artworks are made in a monochrome palette with a touch of bright colours in the background. This series of works, aptly titled The Genius is displayed alongside another series called The Common Man at Kolkata Centre for Creativity.

Artist Shuvaprasanna talks about his latest exhibition focussing on Charlie Chaplin's roles as a metaphor to The Common Man

Taking a moment to ponder on the name of the exhibition- The Genius & The Common Man, one would understand that Shuvaprasanna deals with the man beyond the screen. He talks about how, through his craft, Chaplin portrayed the conditions of the common man back then. From poverty to unemployment, from bullying to being left an orphan, his works had them all. And beyond the veil of entertainment, there lay a humanist in Chaplin that made his viewers see the truth around them, often through his satirical presentations.

Shuvaprasanna considers Chaplin a ‘genius’. He goes on to say, “These geniuses are beyond any timelines. They live in the hearts of people across centuries. Keeping him in mind is my latest presentation that focuses on how he perceived society, showed life on –screen, and how personally he was a humanist and an anti-fascist.”

With so many stills brought back directly from the movies, naturally, we had to ask if he had visited them while working on the series, to which he states, “I watched his films earlier in life. Post that I haven’t had a chance to return to them. Whatever remained with me since then, along with other narratives and stories about him, have all been merged in this body of work. The Gold Rush is my favourite, but unfortunately, none of my work is based on it.”

The Common Man series, on the other hand, is completely different in terms of visualisation. It depicts a man in very earthy and rustic shades of brown, closer to today’s idea of people and society.

The entire series is an amalgamation of complexity and contrast linked by the finer threads of humanity, where beyond the beauty and comic relief lies a burdened soul waiting to breathe in a just society.

A Genius & The Common Man is on display at KCC till January 22, 2026  

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