Contemporary Art in India

A Star Named Arundhuti

A hurried visit on the opening day of 'A Star Named Arundhuti' at KCC had left me greatly dissatisfied, as this is one Exhibition I had been looking forward to in the Bengal Biennale. Being able to attend the last walkthrough more than compensated for that!

Curators Mrinalini Vasudevan and Tapati Guha-Thakurta gave a very informative and nuanced walkthrough, alternately speaking on the eight sections of the display: A Dhaka Childhood, A Santiniketan Upbringing, Radio and Gramophone Days, Marriage and Motherhood, A Bhadramahila Actress, Life with Tapan Sinha, Forays into Direction and Production, and Lost and Unfinished Legacies.

A Day with Chander Haat

The invitation was long-standing; the intention, longer still. It finally happened on a quiet winter morning -- my first visit to 'Chander Haat'. Operating out of a beautiful space in Sarsuna, it's an art collective that believes in and encourages interdisciplinary and community-based art practice. Founded in 2008, its members include Tarun Dey, Bhabatosh Sutar, Mallika Das Sutar, Pradip Das, Pintu Sikdar, Nirmal Malick and Anjan Das. I could meet only the artist-couple in this collective during my visit earlier this week, apart from Pradip (who showed me around), and got introduced to one of their friends (Sujay Das).

Gopal Ghose

I spent some quality time in the company of Gopal Ghose this weekend: reading two books on him (one, a product of a centenary Exhibition in 2013) and attending the opening of his first retrospective in the city - which had a catalog that could be browsed through; and in addition to walkthroughs, hosted a musical performance inspired by his artworks.

Ganesh Haloi

Ganesh Haloi turns 88 today. It's such a happy coincidence that I'm immersed in a book on him at the moment. I realized this morning that he is exactly my father's age (just a month apart). He has grown on me slowly, very slowly... ever since I translated an autobiographical essay of his a couple of years back (my only such tentative exercise till date).

Jogen Chowdhury

Jogen Chowdhury was born this day, 86 years ago, in Daharpara in Faridpur (now Bangladesh). One of independent India’s most acclaimed artists, his life and art has been moulded by his experience of Partition. Forced to migrate to Calcutta in 1947 with his family when he was only 8 years old, his formative years were imbued with the pain and struggle of reduced circumstances (his father was a landowner in East Bengal) and the descent into poverty and destitution as refugees.

Marc Riboud’s Lens on History

Lucky to have attended the opening of the photographic Exhibition, 'Kolkata to Dhaka1971: Mark Riboud's Lens on History' at KCC last Saturday evening. It was first shown in Dhaka in 2022 and is only apposite that it should have travelled to Kolkata, given the city's involvement with the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Posting some of the exhibits, with captions from the show.

Through the Purple Lens

‘Through the Purple Lens' - a group Exhibition of women artists - is now running at Charubasona, till the 20th.

Rahul Sarkar, Kala Bhavan-MFA

Rahul Sarkar's MFA display at the Student Exhibition of Kala Bhavan, last month, explored his own experience as an androgynous man.

Bhabatosh Sutar’s Ma Durga, in ‘Beej-Angan’

Standing 25 feet tall, with a high ceiling above her head and a huge open space in front of her, she allows the visitor to see her exactly as a sculpture should be seen – walking around it. Most will however get to see her from a raised platform, at a little distance, where her torso will be at their eye-level.

‘Morphology of Water’, Santanu Debnath

I frequently attend Exhibition openings at Emami Art and partake of the energy and excitement that they exude. But what I love more are the rare, quiet visits to the gallery on a weekday afternoon. One such was last Friday, at a time when I accidentally happened to be the sole visitor. The precious solitude it gave me (in what is usually a hyper-active space) couldn't have been more appropriate... since what I went to see was Santanu Debnath's MORPHOLOGY OF WATER. It's a solo that invites contemplation, a slowing down of pace, and stillness.

PSS, The artist as mentor

I paid a surprise visit to Purbachal Shakti Sangha (PSS) on the 8th and was treated to that rare thing: a personalized walk through of a work-in-progress pandal by Partha Dasgupta!