Reba Hore’s centenary exhibition in Kolkata spotlights her art of dizziness of the daily

At a time when art exhibitions were curated within the boundaries of well-lit and calm ambiances of art galleries, The Waypoint café was perhaps one of the first in Kolkata to bring art to a café. And now it has become a norm. This popular Kolkata café has since the past five years hosted several notable artists including KG Subramanyan and now it’s time for Reba Hore. Celebrating her centenary, and in association with Seagull, the café is hosting the ongoing exhibition Spring Time.

Why should you make a stop at this Reba Hore’s exhibition in Kolkata?

As you enter the space, the rust and off white walls adorn framed masterpieces of the late artist. One look at the vibrant canvases all you would see are bright colours, figures, and a lot of haziness. This stems from her distinct style of works which can be described best as the ‘ dizziness of the daily’. The scenes depicted are regular ones found all around us and yet there is a sense of hurriedness, abstraction and furiousness in the strokes. One can almost feel as if the human figures are shadows of their own self and there is deep emotion hidden in the frames.

Naveen Kishore of Seagull had a chance to have conversation with Reba years ago where he asked, “I look at your art and I ask myself ‘For whom does she weep’? Do you? Weep? And if so, for whom?” The response was short, simple and yet held extreme weight. “That weeping is inside, perhaps. When it comes out in my work there is release, relief, even joy.” That is exactly what viewers can see when they actually ‘read’ the frames and stop merely looking at them, for they see the works of a humanist-artist, for whom art was instinctive, compassionate, colour and movement.

Reba Hore was a student of Calcutta University, Calcutta College of Art and worked across New Delhi, Calcutta and Santiniketan. Most of her artworks belong to collections and archives of Lalit Kala Academy, Art Heritage, Netherlands Embassy, Punjab Museum and private collections of art connoisseurs in India and abroad.

Spring Time is on display till May 24 and one must not miss out on the opportunity to see it. The chance of having access to them in a cosy public setting where you can sip your favourite cuppa and take your time to go through the paintings, makes you interact with it more and understand the creative genius that was Reba Hore. Making her art accessible at a modern café is also a brilliant way to make the next generations acquainted with her works.

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