Features: Magazine | Literary Review | Life | Metro Plus | Open Page | Education Plus | Book Review | Business | SciTech | Friday Review | Cinema Plus | Young World | Property Plus | Quest | Folio |

Eye of the artist One of Shuvaprasanna’s works from “Night Watch”.

Apart from that, his spectacular drawings on birds, animals, flowers, high-rise buildings, silent creepy roads, etc., also found a significant space.

The exhibition titled Night Watch that concluded at Art Alive Gallery this week was significant for two reasons: one, the works made strong statements against the existing political and social unrest, especially in West Bengal, and second, this was the first time he showed both two-dimensional and three-dimensional works.

Most people think of him as South Indian because of his name.

But he says, “My full name is Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharya and I hail from Kolkata. People think that I belong to Kerala as I look like a South Indian too. But an art critic friend of mine suggested I use only my first name, as my full name becomes too big.”

About Night Watch, that shows various birds and animals vigilant and wary of some fateful incidents, the artist says, “Though my works earlier never had any connection with politics, this time, when I saw innocent farmers dying of hunger and in police firing — the rape of socialism and technology in Bengal, I couldn’t close my eyes to it.”

And hence in his works, his night watchers such as cats, owls, crows and dogs are alert.

They roam around the fearful, deserted streets and keep an eye on anti-social elements in uniform, so that they could announce their arrival before they break into the houses.

Also a writer, Shuvaprasanna took to art against his parents’ wishes. His father was a physician and wanted him to take up medicine. Ironically, his father’s clinic became his first learning ground for art.

“As a kid I used to draw sketches of his patients and show them. They used to love it and pamper me a lot. It would boost my morale and I would end up making sketches in public places too. When I was in class fifth, I drew a portrait of Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan who had come to visit our school. He was known for not signing autographs but he signed on my portrait. That portrait was later bought by Birla Academy for Rs.75.”

When he decided to take up art as a profession, he was shown the door by his father.

But soon after graduation (in 1969 from Rabindra Bharati University), he got to show his works at the Birla Academy, the show that changed his life forever.

“A director of the World Health Organisation from Germany saw my works and invited me to do a solo show there. I was puzzled, but Mrinal Sen (the filmmaker and his friend) coaxed me to go, for such invitations were rare those days,” recalls the veteran adding,

“From that time onwards, I never looked back.”

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail