Different folks, different strokes
SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
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Artists portray themes as different as power struggle and women empowerment.
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ART SPEAK Durga Prasad Das. PHOTOS: SHYAMHARI CHAKRA
Tata Steel made its foray into
Orissa's art activities this
month by hosting a regional
art camp and exhibition in
Bhubaneswar. The event,
which the Tatas have promised
to make a national affair
next year here, featured 24
artists - both veterans and
the promising - from Orissa,
Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar
Pradesh and Delhi. The thrust
being on promotion of Orissan
artists, most of the artists
were from Orissa.
Veteran Oriya artists featured
in the four-day camp
that concluded with an exhibition
of the works created
during the camp included
Durga Prasad Das, D.N. Rao,
Siba Panigrahi, Baladev Maharatha
and Byomakesh Mohanty.
Das, formerly
principal of the prestigious
Khallikote Government College
of Art, had a brilliant
portrayal of the Spanish bull
fight in his work to show
power struggle in the society
and how the common man
watches it helplessly. The
beauty of his work was the
force that Das could poignantly
portray in the still
image of an animal on canvas.
Similarly, Maharatha's
portrayal of women's exploitation
- a subject closer to
his heart - that painted a
woman juxtaposed with the
ferocious face of a tiger.
The painting that stood
out for its instant appeal was
the portrait of a woman by
Benaras-based acclaimed
artist S. Pranam Singh. Singh
simply attempted to paint
the beauty and innocence of
a simple Indian woman and
that was the hallmark of his
work. The graphic art of Yusuf
from Bharat Bhawan,
Bhopal were also impressive.
Delhi-based Tapan Das and
Milan Das from Patna were
the two other noted painters
whose works were well appreciated.
The event showcased several
promising artists like
Kshetrabasi Mohanta who
specialises on painting of
tribal life and intelligently
uses scripts of the Santhali
tribal language as his motifs
in each of the works. One,
however, wondered why this
exhibition did not feature
any women artist from the
state. The lone women painter
was Shubhra Chand from
Delhi whose abstract work of
art was a part of her series on
aerial view nature.
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