Deeply influenced by the Bengal Famine, violence-torn years of Calcutta in the 1960s, suffering of the poor, and personal illness, artist Rabin Mondal’s works are anything but a pretty picture.
The images are grotesque and the artist uses these to convey what he has seen living in Howrah.
His works show the darkness in society and touch upon themes of politics, corruption, power suffering, and tyranny.
ADVERTISEMENT
Mr. Mondal says, “Painting is not for pleasure and my works are not for an audience that wants to look at beauty.”
His works are on display at Delhi Art Gallery, in an exhibition titled Kingdom of Exile: A Rabin Mondal Retrospective.
Mr. Mondal says he is a self-taught artist and started painting at the age of 12 when due to a knee injury he was forced to stay at home.
ADVERTISEMENT
He says politics and the ambience in Kolkata have continued to influence him over the years and his works would not have been possible had he been living in any other city.
He continues to paint even at an old age and speaks about the trouble in his city with such detail that you feel it happened only yesterday.
He has rejected market demands and popular trends to carve a unique niche for himself to express his views on society.
The exhibition is on till February 15, 2015, at Delhi Art Gallery, 11 Hauz Khas Village.