ART CONNECT

20^th January 2020, 5.30 pm saw the coming together of 20 artists of Unique Society of Panchkula at recently opened underpass connecting sector 17, Chandigarh to the Rose garden. The paintings exhibited on easels were of varied themes and styles.

‘Untitled’ Vinod Arora’s compositions on a square format has an inter play of the  primary colours red , yellow , blue and daubs of green in varied tones ,the white spaces in between creating an intersection of  different planes . The subtle textures add an area of interest to the painting. ‘Towards the light’ by Vishwakarma with entwined forms of the tree trunk rendered in scarlet colour, seem to be  grounded on earth, surging  upward for release,  is it from the clutches of the unending cycle  of time .

Arika Kapur’s water with fishes frolicking in a pond of water lilies with an oriental background in contrast of reds and green creates visual depth. Bharti Sharma’s ‘Afternoon in Blue ’has melancholy overtones. A bespectacled figure seated looks up from his daily newspaper, in a background of Blue with the figure done in monochrome. The deep yellow of the frame and the rod in the foreground bring a perspective depth in the painting. ‘Leap forward’ by Ritu has a frog in white silhouette all poised to leap from its marshy green depths. Horse done in shades of umber by Kohli gallops forth, breaking the bonds of the mesh in the background. Jugdeep Jolly’s sculpture golden violinist adds an air of gaiety, its notes an harbinger of many a gala event.                   

The new underpass provides a much needed platform for the city artists to showcase their art works. It is a novel way of converting an otherwise dreary, lonely underpass to a colourful livened up vista. More so it takes the artists close to the audience who shy away from the formal display in public art galleries, providing a much needed informal display, resulting in close encounters with the audience. Hopefully it will open new horizons to the artists of Chandigarh to harness potential art lovers and provide an art connect.

Ranjan Dream Scapes

  14th December, 2019 saw the opening of exhibition of painting and drawing by Ranjan Kumar Malik.

Ranjan’s painting on canvas take you to a dream world. The images exhibit realism and are juxtaposed with other elements; at times a giraffe, a flamingo or a still life study. The images seem to be frozen in their tracks, indifferent in their attitude; in the same picture frame but engrossed in their own worlds. There is a certain stillness in the composition, even though the colours are bright and striking and add certain vibrancy to the painting .The artist shows great skill in the rendering and the colour strokes.

His series in monochrome show great spontaneity of execution, the various tones created by the cursory brushwork create images that have an enigmatic appeal.

His works remind you of lines of Bernard Shaw

‘You see things and say ‘Why’?

But I dream things and that never were, and I say why not.’

Ranjan Kumar Mallik has done BFA painting from Utkal University Bhubaneswar, MFA in Painting and M.Phil in History of Art from Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University, in 2013 and Ph.D in Jain Art by Chitrakoot University in 2014.

At present he is Dean at Chitkara School of Art and Design , Chitkara University ,Punjab, India.

THE COLORFUL WORLD OF PARESH MAITY

5^th December, 2019, Chandigarh Lalit Kala organised an audio visual presentation by Paresh Maity at the auditorium of Govt. Museum and Art Gallery.

The presentation began with the screening of a film made by him on Rajasthan. This was a Rajasthan as viewed by Paresh from the lens of a camera portraying the love for this desert land and inspiration of his numerous paintings. The people and their daily life ;fairs, festival  in all its vividness and bright colours is brought forth to the audience, showing astute sense of observation in capturing the details of this rustic, romantic landscape. What strikes you is this man who does not miss even the minutest of detail; manages so skilfully to portray in brevity, the essence of his vision on the canvas.

Paresh Maity started his journey into the world of art with water colours.  Later an urge to undertake art works at a much larger scale, he made a shift to canvas painting, the small size of water colour paper being a limitation to his creative process.

 The artist being a sensitive soul is ever influenced by the surroundings. It was a visit to Rajasthan that took him to an odyssey of colour. His earlier water colours of lush green fields and water bodies of Bengal were taken over the bright colours of this land, the red, yellows and blue. Along with the colour came the sights and sounds, the camel, the horse …all moved into his canvas frame; Illuminated by his favourite lantern - the celebrations, the fairs and life of the people, and to depict all that he saw; the human figure took centre stage in his art work.

His art seemingly is an extension of him, his persona reflecting in all its brilliance on his canvas, depicting ‘The Colourful World of Paresh Maity’.