COLOURS OF FRIENDSHIP
A weeklong Indian Art extravaganza, titled “Colours of Friendship” complete with 70 artworks, closed on September 18 at Dhaka Art Centre. It includes major Indian artists -- Laxman Alley, Kazi Anirban (relative of Kazi Nazrul), Babu Xavier from Kerala, Dhiraj Chowdhry, Krishnendu Gupta from Kolkata and Prakash Karmaker. All of them are well-known artists in Bangladesh, as they frequently visit the country on cultural exchanges.
Laxman Alley presents his “Song of the Village”, acrylic, pen, ink on canvas. A woman with her shopping passes by dressed in a sari with floral lotus motifs. Alongside her is a man with a hitched up lungi, bearing a white cane.
Atanu Bhattacharya “Mind in red” is an abstract work in acrylic and ink on paper. There are red, blue and green forms crossing over, mixing with blue and white. The lines appear to have a life of their own.
Babu Xavier has a mother and child in acrylic on canvas. With baby pink backdrop there is an elephant in green and orange. A tiny bird in blue and black forms the eye of the elephant. The baby elephant with curls and loops design forms its body. This linked with the mother. This unframed artwork is from Kerala.
Kazi Anirban uses mixed media on acid free paper. Here is a woman with a piece of cloth between her lips. Pink cheeks and lipstick plus her jewelry speak of her being an actress. The three guns at the back—red white and ochre—tell of a movie. She must resort to makeup to get away from the world that bothers and bewilders her.
Krishnendu Gupta from Kolkata uses mixed media, bringing the head of a pale horse and a fair woman with a necklace and a red sari.
Manoj Matara with “White lotus” has mixed media on papers. There are four lotus flowers -- seen from all angles. A beautiful girl merges with the flowers. Her beaded necklace in orange and green mingles well with the rest of the composition.
Viakuntam has “Telengana Woman,” charcoal on canvas, chocolate brown on yellow, in mature strokes that delineate portraiture. Prakash Karmaker's “Untitled” is mixed media on paper. The face has a large “nath” (nose pin), “teep” (decoration for forehead), while the image of a horse has the tongue and teeth exposed.
In his work, Wasim Kapoor brings in the face of Christ. It is charcoal on paper and the artist is a celebrity from Kolkata. There are two twigs of thorny sprays, with suggestion of beard and hair.
Jayashree Chakravarty art work is acrylic and ink on paper. There are faces with a bird. The artist is well-established,
Malay Das reveals sunrise on acrylic paper. There is the night shadow with black clumps of trees. There is white iridescent light and dots of white, where the light filters in through the leaves and branches of the trees at night. There is then the bridge and the arc of the green trees.
Zargar Zahoor brings in the Kashmir Valley with his acrylic on canvas. The yellow and purple, with their floating, fleecy clouds, skies are impressionistic. The flower in bloom is present in a way that brings Constable's “Hawaiian” to mind. Turner is also remembered in the sweeps of the artist's strokes.
Shayamal Mukerjee from Kolkata is here with the “Babu and Bibi” oil on acrylic sheet, which are much in demand. The couple is presented with glasses, gold necklace, finger rings, vanity bag and painted nails. This is sported with bright green black “kurta”, dotted red, green and yellow sari.
Dhiraj Krishna has mixed media on printed canvas. There is “Maa” with a lotus flower, fish, cranes and cat, at the left side. There is the tree and moon at the back to heighten the romantic and idyllic effect. The mother is shown as nursing a dark but cute baby wearing a talisman.
In “Krishna and Radha” there are white flowers in the delicate hands of Radha. While Krishna is green Radha is fair, wearing two sets of necklaces, green and black, which set off her black polka dotted sari.
Bratin Khan has “She” in mixed media on canvas. There is a hint of red on her full lips. Her eyes are large and luminous. Her hair is like a black fountain; there are bubbles of white all over the grey and black.
Bibhuti Chakravarty has “Conversation” where people are out of an Aztec painting in yellow ochre, with blue bangles and necklace. The individuals have thick lips and big teeth. The painter's “Footnotes” has a man crouching on the ground with blue and red on the body and buildings rising at the back.
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