- Saturday, April 20, 2024
By: PTI
A grand exhibition featuring 20 modern and contemporary artists from West Bengal and Bangladesh will pay homage to the region’s rich art heritage in New Delhi from Saturday (26).
Presented by Gallery Art Positive and curated by Ina Puri, the art show, “Bengal-Nama”, at Bikaner House will aim to highlight the social questions and cultural histories of Bengal.
The exhibition also features works of eminent veteran artists whose work continues to be critically relevant to understanding Bengal’s pioneering role through history, including the likes of Jogen Chowdhury, Lalu Prasad Shaw, KG Subramanyan, Reba Hore, Paritosh Sen and Shyamal Dutta Ray.
Talking about the upcoming show, Puri said the show pays tribute to art practitioners who approach a range of diverse subjects. “Be it about alienation or issues of resistance; radical criticism of the socio-political systems or playful irony and banter about the ‘bhadralok’, you find a rich diversity and multiplicity in the image-making emerging from the region.
“The artists bring alive through the terrestrial prism a glimpse of ideas and movements that are vitally relevant to our times, historically and politically from the past to now,” Puri said in a statement.
The artists explore a wide array of subjects from migration to geopolitics, and mythology to the ecological and social critique of existing crises like climate change. It will showcase artists from across borders who have been working in a diverse range of media, including textiles, paintings, photography, ceramics, installations, sculptures and collages.
While textile artist Bappaditya Biswas will showcase his work with indigo, given its importance during the ‘Swadeshi Movement’, artist Sudipta Das’ doll-like figurines make sharp artistic commentary on society.
“Given my experience in textiles, I thought of contributing something unique to the show, my experiment with indigo which was such an important movement during Swadeshi times. The indigo weave made in the same process has been made to look modern while the technique remains true to the original method,” Biswas said.
The exhibition will come to a close on December 4.
