The all-encompassing circle of art
RANA SIDDIQUI
|
Art lovers can see `inspired works' at Habiart Gallery and Arpana Fine Arts
|
LADY WITH WATER LILY Amit Bhar's watercolour creation displayed at Habiart Gallery.
Without the guru the knowledge remains half-gained. But there are those who take lessons from a guru who is physically not there to teach but leaves a strong imprint on the disciple's mind. Such gurus are conspicuous by their absence, in the works of those they inspire. The watercolour creations of nature and everyday life on the canvases of Amit Bhar, a Kolkata-born artist, come in that category. Bhar's works bear strong resemblance to Bikash Bhattacharya and Suhas Roy's creations: Those lonely boats at the Hoogly ghats waiting for their owners to come back and sail them home, that girl lost in thought, gathering water lilies from the river, the vast riverside.
Admits Amit, whose works along with another young artist Ashok Choudhury are on view at the Habiart Gallery under the title Romantic Journey, "I started painting when I was in class II and I was greatly inspired by Bipaskh and Suhas Roy. That way they are my gurus. But I never tried to imitate them. It is just the devotion to them that invariably creeps into my works."
Bhar differentiates his creations from Bhattacharya on the grounds of his use of watercolour and wash technique (while Bhattacharya's medium is oil), charcoal to highlight his subjects and a foggy effect to create mystery. His women's figures are much inspired by Suhas Roy. "All my works are on the on-the-spot creations on the banks of the river Hoogly near which I live," says the artist who has had a few shows in Kolkata and Bangalore. This is his first show in Delhi.
An odyssey
In Ashok's watercolours women seem to dominate and the themes include some historical and mythological characters drawn in contemporary contexts.
In Shifali Niti Mehra's Odyssey 2005 mounted at Arpana Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts and Literature, her "human forms merging into nature" and a communication between "heaven and earth" also bear a resemblance to the works of Om Pal Sansanwal and his guru Neeraj Goswami.
Mehra, a product of the College of Art, Delhi, also admits that Ompal taught her in her college days while she was trained under Professor Vijay Mohan and Rajeev Lochan. "People do say that my works resemble Neeraj's, but my works are actually more about the spiritual journey inspired by a quote from Vincent Vangogh, who said, `I am a pilgrim whose whole life is a journey from earth to heaven.' I meditate a lot and that invariably comes in my creations. I have been told that my figures resemble those drawn in European paintings and so I am going to London to study their works on human figures," says Mehra, who believes that art is not a replication of reality. "Art is something that artists create, to deviate from mundane life," she asserts.
Well, many may not agree with her but art is, an individual expression too. Odyssey 2005 is on view till September 3, while Romantic Journey remains till September 7.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
