In an art-filled weekend, Shreya Chaudhuri reports on the exhibitions attended – styles and techniques of the two distinguished artists as well as touching upon the all-pervasive facets of art.
Shillong is home to many evolving, practicing and established artists. Artists who pursue their creative bent of mind are in search of a curator or art gallery to take note of their talent and represent them. With scarce, shrinking and almost non-existent art and cultural spaces in our everyday lives, practising artists in this part of the region are left to self-organise exhibits to display their body of work. However, the last weekend in the city surprisingly became a visual treat for most art lovers who could venture into dedicated spaces to feast on art. At two such painting exhibitions held over the November 22-24 weekend in Shillong, art connoisseurs were able to indulge in the artistry of two different artists with their own individual styles of painting.
The first show was Ranjan Choudhury’s work on landscapes titled Echoes From Within held at Yalana Hotel, Laitumkhrah from November 22-23. Choudhury, a self-taught artist was raised in Shillong and now lives in Guwahati, studied at St.Edmund’s School and took up Fine Arts as a subject to clear his final examinations. He spent a chunk of his early life in the city before moving to the national capital to pursue his graduation at St. Stephen’s College. “As a child, in my years in Shillong, I was impressed by the rolling hills, trees and small brooks which have been ingrained in my mind”, says the artist. While pondering over his engagement with the visual arts, Choudhury recalls meeting and interacting with M.F. Husain, the late celebrated Indian modernist artist in Delhi when he was painting cinema billboards. “I am inspired by his Cubist style, his use of bright colours. Van Gogh and Picasso are also my other favourite artists”, he emphasised.
Choudhury, who dabbles mostly in oil paintings, boasts of 600 works, mostly oil paintings, in his collection. Dedicated to his family business for most of his life, Choudhury’s penchant for the creative arts was again foregrounded in his later life during the pandemic from 2020-21. Being home-bound, he found the time to revive and rekindle his interest towards the arts which then paved the way for him to pursue a few online courses to augment his skills to a greater extent.
With five solo exhibitions already in his artistic pool, Choudhury’s walkthrough at his latest show of his paintings essentially underscored the genre of landscapes explored holistically in colour, form and technique while also throwing light on his understanding of nature and life. Bright suns, lofty mountains, lush fields, gurgling rivers and clear skies were elements in his paintings that piece together the exhibition. His vibrant and vivid colour palette with earthy hues of green, reds, yellows, the infusion of rich blues and orange imbued with pronounced brush strokes made the paintings stand out from each other. His play with textures and shapes of trees, hills, fields and jagged horizons using thick paint on the canvas to create luminous panoramic views of nature. Having traversed in different parts of the Northeast, the artist’s paintings invoke both memory and imagination to evoke an essence of personal intimacy through his chosen subjects.
Although, the common thread tying the show was nature and radiant landscape elements, the brushstrokes were experimental in each one of the works. “I have indeed used a lot of different types of brushes, experimenting more with the ones that work for me. I also learnt the use of palette knives especially with oil colours to create impasto types of work, besides impressionist landscapes.”, says Choudhury while highlighting his creative exercise with varied mediums such as acrylics, coloured pens and pencils, watercolours and oil pastels.
Out of all the paintings shown at his first solo exhibition in Shillong, a work titled Soft Strength singled out as the unconventional painting with its frosty foliage and icy demeanour underscoring tranquility in a winter-inspired landscape. Ruminating upon the thought behind the work, the artist states, “Painting waves and seascapes have also come into my ambit now as I ride the seas in my dreams. Just imagine the fantastic scenery and images of trees, sunrises and sunsets I have witnessed. Right from the snow-clad mountains of Arunachal and Darjeeling, to moonlit nights on riversides and hillsides exploding with colour of the wildflowers. It is an image from my travels which got transferred onto my canvas.”
**************
Another solo exhibition that plucked out a visibly separate segment on art was by city resident and art educator, Jayanta Chakraborty. His artistic career’s first solo exhibition was held at Bangiya Sahitya Parishad, Jail Road, Shillong. Chakraborty, who taught art at St. John’s White Hall School, Pohskeh in 2012 and eventually roped in as a full-time art educator at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Happy Valley, Shillong.
Jayanta completed his school education from Laban Bengalee Boys’ Secondary School, Shillong and later joined Riti Academy of Visual Art, Shillong to refine and polish his artistic skills. He enhanced his dexterity in the field of art at Bangiya Sangeet Parishad, Kolkata and subsequently to Art and Craft Institute, Guwahati followed by specialised courses in Kolkata and Bengaluru. Despite an illustrious training in the field of arts with a host of degrees to his credit, Jayanta laments, “Sadly, during my schooling days, there was no art school, art teacher least of all an institute to impart skill in art.”
His artistic pursuits came a long way when he enrolled himself at Riti Academy of Visual Art, Shillong and was under the tutelage of his mentors, namely artists Raphael Warjri and Benedict Hynniewta who paved the way for him to create his body of work while also carving a niche career in the field.
Chakraborty’s lineup of art at his first solo show included paintings and drawings on nature, biblical and religious themes, still-life paintings as well as some abstract works. A host of his works depicting nature were interspersed throughout the space, one such titled Upside Down, an acrylic on canvas depicted a host of tall statuesque trees stretching across the frame with their mirroring reflection in water. Trees which are symbolic of life, growth, endurance and virility were weaved in seamlessly across the landscape paintings. The motif of the tree – both grandiose and infinite has always found abundant space in the imagery of the art world.
On his biblical themed painting titled Christ, Jayanta shared that this work is close to his heart as it was commissioned by the then Home Minister of Meghalaya, Late T.H. Rangad which he made with heavy usage of lines with a 3D outliner to render heightened dimensionality.
On his choice of mediums, Jayanta’s works extensively using acrylics, pencil and 3D outliners. His stylistic deviation comes with his conscious choice of experimentation with colour. “I utilise my knowledge of colour to represent mood, light, depth and point of view in a work of art”, pinpoints Jayanta while adding “I personally prefer acrylic colours which is a water-based paint, which means it dries quickly, is very adaptable and easy to merge thick brush strokes.”
The art educator precedes the artist when he poignantly punctuates the lack of an artistic ecosystem in this part of the region. He says, “Art is not encouraged at the school level, very few schools appoint art teachers. Therefore, art is considered as a mere hobby.”
The solo show opening was attended by Padma Shri Manas Chaudhuri, former Education Minister, Government of Meghalaya, Raphael Warjri, artist and founder of Riti Academy of Visual Art, and Benedict Hynniewta, artist and Faculty of Cultural & Creative Studies, NEHU Shillong along with a sea of art lovers.
The truth about art is that even in the banalities of our everyday lives, we are all artists in one way of the other. Selecting an outfit for the day, picking a specific model of a car to plating food before serving and even that Instagram shot of a window view from our balcony – all these bear a distinct artistic intent as well as an aesthetic appeal. Thus, art is omnipresent and is hand in hand with consumption.