After sixteen long years Artist Goutam Chakraborty makes a comeback since he displayed his last show in Dhaka in 1997.
His ongoing solo titled I am at the Galleri Kaya in Uttara, owned by the artist himself, features 67 artworks including 27 oil paintings, 6 charcoal works, 15 watercolour works, 10 drawings and 10 serigraph prints.
In his earlier four exhibitions, Goutam demonstrated his knack for miniature paintings mainly in watercolour. It is for the first time that he has gone for large canvases and this exhibition also has downright thematic difference from those in the earlier exhibitions, thus creating a sense of uniqueness.
Goutam’s previous series works like Tagore, Teresa, Elephant and Cat are present in the exhibition, but a new series titled Angry Cat is a new addition to the exhibition. The theme of Angry Cat demonstrates the anger against the society suppressed within the individuals of the society.
His Tagore and Teresa series are easily understood as the artist’s depiction of intellect and humanity on canvas. The four works of the Teresa series, done in oil on canvas, poetically project the white sari of Teresa as the symbol of humanity against a dark backdrop that represents the contemporary world.
The five works of Tagore series are varied in colour and contour. So are the seven works of the Elephant series. ‘Tagore represents the intellectual strength and elephant represents the strength of multitude, the commoners,’ said the artist.
‘The artistic persona of Goutam is strongly influenced by his acute social and political awareness of what is happening around him,’ writes Dr Binayak Sen on Chakraborty.
Such awareness is prominent in the attractive series of works The Cat and Angry Cat.
The five artworks of the Cat series show colourful cats cozily lying on carpet with fishbone beside. These cats are representative of the common people who love to be as cozy and are easily satisfied just like the cats.
Inspite of their desire and dream to be in a peaceful state, the harsh reality of the contemporary world forces them to be angry and ferocious. Goutam’s Angry Cat series shows these angry cats whose desire and dream have been hurt and violated.
‘The title of my exhibition ‘I Am’ is not me myself as a man rather it is me in relation to all, in unity with all,’ said Goutam Chakraborty.
‘Goutam has always been a politically conscious artist, but his political consciousness has not lessened the artistic quality of his works,’ said Murtaja Baseer, who inaugurated the exhibition.
The exhibition will be open for all from 11:00am to 7:30pm till October 11.
-With New Age input
