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Indigenous sensibilities

SYMBOLISM AT ITS BEST The creations of Apurba and Sukumar

In the era of globalisation, where boundaries have become fluid and osmotic, Indian artists now have the opportunity to access and be stimulated by the visual world of many divergent cultures. But, they could remain grounded within their environmen t or tradition that offer an inexhaustive visual vocabulary.

Six young artists from Kolkata, showcasing their works at Artworld, reflect their engagement with their environment, nuanced with a visual language that articulates modernist tradition subtly. The implication here is that the primitive vigour and the raw sensuousness of lines and colour and the expressionist distortion of human forms, though derivative of modern European traditions, are integral to the pictorial language of Indian folk and miniature traditions.

The artists are Tapan Mitra, Apurba Choudhry, Shuvankar Maitra, Sukhendu Paul, Sukumar Ghosh and Mahua Banerjee. Except for Sukumar, who is a sculptor, the rest have displayed their canvases.

Mahua’s engagement with social issues such as terrorism and dowry is articulated with clarity. Her premise is that the relationship between man and woman and the concept of love can be either fulfilling or heart-breaking. This concept is visualised through the 26/11 terror attacks and two sisters who committed suicide because of dowry. The psychological trauma experienced is suggested through flying bullets and spiky barricades, and the green patch is symbolic of a paddy field that had to be sold to fulfil dowry demands. Yet, Mahua remains an optimist and suggests renewal and freedom symbolised by a boat and a bird. Her colours — red and deep blues — further enhance this. . The former is suggestive of blood, marriage, love and the latter of death and loneliness. Sukumar’s brass sculptures are figurative. His endearing Ganesha form focusses on the head, with a slight suggestion of the body, generally not the norm. The slender accentuation of the form — a saliency of his work — is reflected in other compositions such as “Hearty Relation”. The simplicity of form sans decorative details lends potency to his concepts that are conveyed with clarity.

The two self-taught artists, Apurba and Sukhendu, have created compositions that are organic. While Sukhendu takes the native route, Apurba focusses on sophisticated and surrealistic articulation, and his works are a happy blend of the geometric and organic. His colours are brilliant and lines meticulously sensuous. Sukhendu’s forms are ephemeral without distinct outlines and the colours soft and nuanced; yet, there is an underlying potency. Nature manifests itself realistically and quasi-abstractedly in the works of Shuvankar and Tapan. The former celebrates Nature in all its vibgyoric colours rendered painstakingly. Freshness pervades his approach. There is child-like simplicity in Tapan’s work. The colours are vibrant and, at the same time, pleasant. The show is on at Artworld till August 10.

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