Inspired by the landscapes of Santiniketan, and paintings from China and Japan; artists Bratin Khan and Sutapa Khan have conceptualised their recent exhibition. While the husband wife duo have similar background themes, their foreground subjects are different.
While Sutapa’s paintings focus on the female form by focusing on the miniature style of painting on a larger canvas, Bratin focuses on Krishna and Buddha in his ‘Golden Man’ series and is heavily influenced by spirituality and surrealism.
“I wanted to paint someone who lives with values of love, fraternity and purity which are the basic characteristic of the soul. Human beings and animals are more than just bodies. The characters I draw are not man or woman, there is more to them than that,” Bratin explains his works.
While Bratin grew up in a village and was always surrounded by trees, plants, flowers, birds and ponds; Sutapa grew up in a city but always had a love and longing for nature. Hence, both their artworks are heavily inspired by flora and fauna.
Both of them love tempera on canvas. “When we were studying in Santiniketan, tempera was recently introduced and we loved it,” says Bratin.
“I never use a palette because for me the canvas itself is a palette. Seven to eight coats of transparent colour are put on the surface, one after another to get a complete tone. Then I put in lakhs of hatchings and stipples using a very fine brush. This gives my work a grainy texture and a soft, twilight effect. My wife follows the same technique,” he adds.
Artists Bratin Khan and Sutapa Khan Art Exhibition is on at Arushi Arts Gallery,W - 23, Greater Kailash Part -II till November 19, from 11 am to 7 pm.