Kurchi Dasgupta

Biography: An MA in Comparative Literature and a former CEO of the Society for the Preservation of Satyajit Ray Films, Kurchi Dasgupta (b. 1974) has also done brief publishing of books and CDs combining arts. She has done illustration and written screenplays. She has done two novels into English from Bengali, among others, and has finally returned to painting. Based in Calcutta, working out of Kathmandu, she specialises in abstracts and miniatures; in gouache. "In all my efforts I have tried to recontextualise everyday reality by drilling into the depths of the ‘sub’ or ‘Ur’ conscious, and try and provide the viewer/participator with a new set of tools with which s/he can perceive and interpret existence. Painting, to me, represents more a journey into the ‘self’ and its socio-political location, than most other things. It is an effort to detect and crystallize those common elements that form the basis of our selves across borders. I am currently working towards developing a more exact and laden visual language that would help me recreate my perceptions (of this very chaotic world and therefore, an equally troubled self) for the viewer/participator in a more easily accessible and relevant manner." Country: India Birthyear: 1974 Media: other, gouache Style: abstract Subjects: landscapes and nature

Devajyoti Ray

Devajyoti Ray

1974 Gulbarga, Karnataka, India

Artwork By Devajyoti Ray

Devajyoti Ray’s work does not require any external help to view, a triumph of simplicity yet lucid in its presentation, the images wait to enter into a dialogue with the viewer. Though it appears simple, the depth of his understanding is visible in the vivid portrayal of his images springing out from the canvases in poetic fervors. The use of colors to bring out the subtlety of his work is outstanding. His experiences with different mediums and styles over a period of time, experimentations and maturity as a thinking artist enabled him to create his works in the style of pseudo realism, where he is at total ease to express to the viewer.... the captured nuances set in daily life evoking nostalgic memories. The composition of jugalbandi where the flautist and the accompanist attain a perfection that is cherished by the aesthete. The compassion of the couple for the goat, the contemplation of the young girl, so common to be identified with, the conversation of the two adults, the transcending of the mridangam player all bear testimony to these unique works combining simplicity with a vivid sensitivity and a visual treat for the viewer. Devajyoti’s pseudo realistic works is definitely a fresh infuse in the art scenario.

Robinson
Art Appreciator

Devajyoti is one of the emerging talents, who had started under the tutelage of Shri B R Panesar in Kolkata (1993). He has since then diversified into many streams doing water colours, oil on canvas, installations and now acrylic on canvas. However, what has propelled him to the forefront of Indian art-scene is his new style of Pseudo realism where colours of fantasy mingle into offbeat shapes to create a realistic illusion. His Pseudo realistic works have been widely appreciated by various art critics in print media.

My primary preoccupation is with colours and shapes. I have painted on various issues that concern today’s generation. Yet every time I approached a subject, I always tried to give it a pseudo real perspective.
Pseudo realism is not just a way of approaching reality via abstraction; it is also a commentary on today’s world. Everything around us in way is pseudo real. Sartre had said, "year after year, a monkey’s mask on a monkey’s face". Sarte had not survived till 2000. Otherwise he would have added, “and now monkeys want other monkeys to believe that they are monkeys."
The world had always been real, but pseudo real is the world of our imagination, where we love to stay, project our ideas and thrive. I paint that reality.
I use colours of my choice, which happens often to be the choice of my viewers. Yet with such abstract bold colours, I aim to create to believable comprehendible reality. I hope I am successful in what I want to do.

Devajyoti Ray

Paritosh Sen

Paritosh Sen Paritosh Sen was born in Dhaka, now in Bangladesh, in 1918 in a noted Ayurved's family The world of nature, colour, movement fascinated him from his childhood as is clear from his collection of autobiographical vignettes, Jindabahar Lane, named after his Dhaka address. After finishing school, Sen ran away from home to join the Madras Art School headed by Devi Prosad Roy Chowdhury. His fellow-students their were K.C.S. Panicker, Prodosh Dasgupta, Gopal Ghosh and others. After finishing art school, Sen taught art at the Daly college in Indore. In 1943, he along with his friends formed the Calcutta group. In 1949, Sen left for Europe. In Paris, he studied at Andre Lhote's school, Academie Grand Chaumier, Ecole des Beaux Arts and Ecole des Louvre where he studied the history of painting. The sojourn abroad provided an exciting exposure. A meeting with Picasso left a deep impression in 1954, he returned to Calcutta. To earn a living, he joined the Netarhat School in Palamau, near Ranchi, as an art teacher. After a short stint there, Sen returned to Calcutta. He joined the newly opened school of printing technology as professor of design and layout. In the early '60s, he went abroad to England and France. He was commissioned by the French government to design Bengali typography based on the script of Rabindranath Tagore. This was an interest that surfaced once again in the '80s. between 1970-7 1, he received the Rockefeller grant and went to New York. On his return, he created an installation on violence. Between 1981-82, Sen had been Artist-in-Residence at Maryland Institute of Art, Baltimore. In 1985, Sen was invited by the National Institute of design at Ahmedbad to be an artist- in-residence. He taught a course in illustration. During his stay there he used the English translation of a piece from Jindabahar Lane call A Tree in My Village and made a folio-sized publication from it. It was a stimulating experiment where he wrote and illustrated the piece in ink on sensitised paper which acted as a negative and thereby excluded the negative film. It was one of the most fascinating exercises in 'marrying text with image. In the course of his career, Sen's style of painting has undergone many changes. From the stylized to the voluminous, expressionist figures, he has traversed a long way. But there are continuities. For example, the drawing with bold, vigorous strokes, the use of volume m the figuration and sharp irony have been impressive elements in his work. Since 199 1, his work has become more sensuous and he uses more exuberant colors. Paritosh Sen lives and works in Calcutta.

Protesh Sen The guessing game Acrylic on paper 1995 Protesh Sen Young Boy chopping chicken Acrylic on paper 39" x 39" 1983 Protesh Sen Music Lovers Oil on paper 60" x 60" 1982

 

Jitish Kallat

Born 1974 in Mumbai, India
Work and lives in Mumbai, India

Jitish Kallat’s practice combines painting, photography, and collage, as well as large-scale sculptures and multi-media installations. Jitish graduated from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai, in 1996, part of a group of precocious and ambitious young artists who have been instrumental in globalising Indian contemporary art. Kallat honed his interest in painting through embracing abstraction within the tenants of high modernism, learning to exploit colour to elicite an emotive response. Audacious and self confident, Kallat firmly rejected abstraction and any loyalty to high modernism by the time of his first solo show, within two years out of art school. Entitled PTO, the show was the first in a series of exhibitions which co-opted the allegiance of multiple gallery spaces, in this case spanning north and south Mumbai.

Kallat’s early works incorporated references to the style, form and thematic concerns of urban billboards, which were interwoven with popular culture, news stories, media events and the socio-economic and political anxieties of the citizens of Mumbai. Jitish has since been widely recognised for figurative paintings highlighting the convergences of cultural dualities of Mumbai. Kallat’s pieces are large-scale, ambitious presenting a sleek portrayal of the politics, poverty, dirt and grime of Mumbai. Dystopic narratives of urban life, are portrayed as romantic or heroic to achieve the high gloss of globally acceptable contemporary art.

With his series Rickshawpolis in 2005, Kallat initiated his engagement with vehicles and snarled traffic as metaphors for modern cities like Mumbai, Shanghai and Dubai. For Kallat rickshaws have become a recurring motif for city dwellers and urban dissonance. For his suite of photographs titled 365 Lives, he documented dented skeletal remains of vehicles, each dent corresponding to a wound. His bold, somewhat confrontational style recalls the energy and audacity of his native Mumbai whilst his signature works contain an underlying edge of brutality.

Kallat’s use of lenticular prints began with Death of Distance, 2006, a photographic series that critiques the vast, insatiable twenty four hour news channels broadcast in India. A giant rupee coin stands on edge next to a series of lenticular prints juxtaposing two news reports shifting from one text to another depending on the viewer's position. One reports the launch of a new telecommunications plan, announcing "call anywhere in India for one rupee"; the other recounts the story of a young Indian girl who committed suicide because her mother could not give her one rupee to buy a school meal.

A lenticular print displays a succession of images within a single frame. A change in the viewing angle can convey the illusion of three dimensionality creating a sense of animation. The truth is not in any single image but is situated somewhere in between. In the photo pieces Cenotaph (A Deed Of Transfer), 2007, Kallat documents the demolition of a row of illegally built slum dwellings which were situated on the Tulsi Pipe Road, part of his childhood drive to and from school. The slum dwellers were re-located as a result of widening roads and adding pavements while modernising Mumbai. Cenotaph documents the stages of the removal of the slum-dwellers which when viewed from different angles, extends the narrative. In turn the documentation itself may be viewed as an optimistic part of urban development, better infrastructure, wider and cleaner roads or it may be viewed as an act of brutality and violence against voiceless individuals who are deemed to stand in the way of urban progress.

Savita Apte