Artists from Bengal

Oil On Canvas

Octavia — a group of eight artists from Kolkata held an exhibition in the City at Chitrakala Parishat recently. Different styles of painting and a collection of metal sculptures made the show interesting and eclectic. Pinti Sikder had created unique sculptures out of nuts and pieces of metal welded together into formations which caught the eye. An apple like structure with male figures rising out of its core represented the female womb and the male bond to it, a large feeding bottle nipple with children scuplted around the tip, a human ear with letters of the alphabet streaming in representing the intrusion of noise, the nest of a bottle bird hanging from a tree, the sculptures were lacquered and finished with a golden glow that gave his work a rich look.

Sujay Datta’s oils on canvas were stark, simple and uncluttered but very compelling.

A rickshaw puller’s back against an open road, a street girl standing hungry and alone, hands crossed behind her back holding an empty plate, an old derelict house with its windows flapping open uselessly were among some of his works on display.

Nandini Das used acrylics to create forms and textures quite evocatively ranging from silhouettes to figures and profiles of men and women. “Relationships are endlessly complicated and male-female dynamics can always be explored in new and different ways,” she said. Linking her past and her present or reliving memories on canvas, Nandini’s work was a mix of semi abstract with a textured feel that gave it an added depth and representational work. Suranjit Giri had intense pen and ink drawings with water colour pencils that covered characters out of a sci-fi movie to creatures from a dream or nightmare.

The detailing was very strong and he favoured the use of birds in most of his work, a throwback from his days spent in the countryside. “Technology dominates our life and overshadows almost every aspect of it. I am especially inspired by Salvatore Dali, the Spanish artist best known for the striking and bizarre images in his surrealist work,” he said.

The other artists were Sanjay Datta with his mixed media on paper, Nabanita Datta with his acrylics on paper, Sangita Sarkar and Sucharita Nath with their acrylics on canvas.