Every year, the faculty of Visual Arts of the well-known Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata host an exhibition of their work in different parts of the country. This year, they decided to travel with their show to Bangalore. Nikhil Ranjan Pal, earlier a Bangalore based artist, who now teaches at the Rabindra Bharti, got the exhibition together to bring it down to Bangalore. Nikhil  pointed out some differences in working as an artist in both the cities.  

Says Nikhil, “I have been in Bangalore for a very long time and it’s a nice place. But the culture in Kolkata is just great! The kind of support you get in Kolkata is immense and at some point of time you need that kind of cultural and spiritual support and network. Bangalore is good in terms of monetary support and one can become a successful artist here as well. Kolkata doesn’t have that kind  money in art, and yet, the art community there is very  supportive. Big artists wouldn’t mind going to a student’s exhibition to encourage them. Everyone interacts well over there.”

The show has a total of 13 artists featuring their work. The work is like a breath of fresh air, with interesting work and of showcasing a wide variety of styles.

Nikhil’s work consisted of intriguing pencil portraits of women and girls.

A favourite at the show was most definitely Paula Sengupta’s works from the collection ‘the bodices’. Etching and Chine Colle’ works, these are beautiful with the parchment like effect and the contrasting blood red bodices which create a startling piece of art - appropriately made by a professor in the Printmaking department! Dolanchanpa Ganguly’s collages were also a treat to the eye. Reminiscent of Varanasi, these are beautifully made with great attention to detail.

Aditya Prasad Mitra, Krishna Biswas, Adip Dutta, Anindya Pandit, Atanu Basu, Debasih Bhattacharya, Parag Roy, Sandip Chakraborty, Sohini Dhar and Surajit Chanda are the other artists.