Contemporary artists continue centuries-long conversation in this Kolkata-Patna collaborative exhibition

Long ago, when civilisations were different, and art, music, and crafts were not only predominant in a region but spilled over the boundaries to celebrate their shared existence, Eastern India saw Bihar and Bengal flourish, maybe in a different name, at a different time. One cannot also overlook the existence of the seat of Knowledge in Nalanda, Bihar and Santiniketan, Bengal, centuries apart, yet both striving towards the same goal – imparting knowledge through simple lessons. Carrying forward this idea, Emami Art and the Kolkata Centre for Creativity in collaboration with the Patna Museum present Vichitra, a group exhibition by 14 artists.

From paintings to sculptures and photographs, what to expect from this exhibition?

Ushmita Sahu, director and head curator, Emami Art, mentions, “The temptation with a show like this is to tidy it into a single story of two regions and one harmonious exchange. Vichitra resists that, and the word itself instructs us to. It names the variegated and the intricate, the plurality that will not resolve into one view. What gathers these fourteen artists is not a shared style. It is not even a shared generation. It is a common instinct: to begin from something small and near at hand, a material, a gesture, a life the larger histories pass over, and to treat it as the place where the real questions live. Placed together in Patna, their works continue the long conversation between these regions rather than illustrating it, with all its unevenness intact.”

Participating artists include Arindam Chatterjee , Anjan Modak , Arunima Choudhury , Kartick Chandra Pyne , Kushal Ray , Lalit Mohan Sen , Partha Pratim Deb , Pradip Das , Prasanta Sahu , Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri , Soma Das , Suman Dey , Tapas Biswas and Ujjal Dey. All of them across three generations of art practice, multiple mediums, and using a variety of techniques weave a cumulative narrative which draws from both Patna and Bengal aesthetics and carries forward the shared dialogue on arts that started centuries ago.

Displaying diversity

The artworks are spread across painting, sculptures, textiles, prints and photography, giving the audience a glimpse of most modern forms of art. What is interesting is the diversity in the practice of each of the artists. None of them belong to the same School of art or pursue the same practice and yet string together the perfect creative dialogue. They turn to objects, instances, memories or expressions that are right beside them. They pay attention to the nuances often overlooked like labour, materials, gestures and stories that history often seems to give a pass.

In the exhibition, one can see modernists like Lalit Mohan Sen and Kartick Chandra Pyne merge with contemporary artists like Anjan Modak depicting migrant workers, Soma Das showcasing household labour, or Ujjal Dey magnifying ecology through his frames. While artists like Arindam Chatterjee, Arunima Choudhury, Partha Pratim Deb, Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri and Suman Dey explore the world of abstracts, colour, figures, textiles and forms; Tapas Biswas displays bronze sculptures. Kushal Ray displays stories through photographs often forgotten by society; Pradip Das brings afresh Partition memories through acid-etched iron and found objects while Prasanta Sahu documents generational knowledge of craftsmen and farmers.

What: Vichitra/विचित्र – An Ensemble Exhibition 

Where: Temporary Gallery, Bihar Museum, Patna, Bihar

When: till July 21, 2026

Timings: 10 am – 5 pm (daily)

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