Shilpadrishti and Swapnaneer

Atanu Basu

Academy of Fine Arts showcased an exhibition by 7 artists, a few months back. This slim exhibition set its tune through the photography in black and white of Anirban Basu. A cogent use of light, along with faint ash colour generates a feeling of lamp-lit milieu; in this backdrop, one could spot a few thin creepers here, a few thin bushes there.

Nandini Das Gupta presented a series, using a number of small panels bound together. Overuse of brown colour might repel their viewers. She also used Pen and Ink and coffee. Accolades to her for her small drawings.

The abstract collages, presented by Shibani Maity, are quite good. But the works presented by Ayati Ghosh are not up to the mark; she will have to go a few leagues more to make a mark.

The paintings of Sourav Bose are quite significant, particularly the ones that are done in oil. The other ones, not in oil medium, did not do justice to him—his niche area lies in oil medium.

The works presented by Tulika Mukherjee displayed, from time to time, the influence of Russian miniature. Her acrylic on canvas displayed a textural quality, interspersed with decorative pattern, and at times rendered it to confer an ornamental quality. It merges smoothly into fairy tales, sometimes with pure illustrations, even collage—these works are worth remembering.

Pratyusha Jana used very fine dots for her drawings to give a shape to her objects. Her works are very much promising.

This group had undergone an art appreciation course in 2017, and then they decided to hold a group exhibition. The current exhibition presented a total of 38 works. All of them are in many forms and media. This exhibition attracted many art lovers from the city.

Swapnaneer
Swapnaneer is an old-age Home located in Subhas Nagar in Dum Dum Cantonment area, which presented their works created by a workshop done for this purpose. Famous sculptor Tarak Garai was invited for this purpose. 20 residents were creating their pieces in Shri Garai’s presence. Interestingly, the age of those residents varies between 58 and 85. They want an escape route to transcend beyond their daily monotony and chores by connecting to meaningful life by devoting a part of their time to art. The prime-mover of this endeavour was Shri Jit Ganguly. Under his auspices, this fantastic undertaking had been implemented on the second floor of the building housing the Home, Swapnoneer. The primary objective of this unusual exhibition was to give a break to the inmates of the Home. The residents having some painting talents presented 14 drawings; other inmates with a mixed age group exhibited 6 paintings. The residents enjoyed the event immensely. The viewers got a feeling that these efforts should be replicated here and elsewhere—more the better.

Back to Home Page

Frontier
Vol 57, No. 47, May 18 - 24, 2025