Tridib Dutta and Shyamali Chaliha have been active in the creative field since long and making their individual quests through art with great dedication. The artist couple, hailing from Jorhat, has been taking part in art activities in various parts of the country. Member-artists of Lalit Kala Akademi, Tridip and Shyamali put up their joint exhibition at State Art Gallery, Guwahati on November 3-9, which catered to the aesthetic taste of art lovers in the city.

Most of Shyamali’s paintings, largely figurative, constitute a collective reaction to various societal changes taking place in the modern-day world. These works are stitched together by the common thematic thread of ‘high life’, through which she wishes to express the various sensations aroused in her mind by the mounting ambitions of modern man, the continuous craving for a life ‘higher’ and more ‘complete’ than the current one which is quite noticeable around us. Her reaction to this phenomenon is prominent in works like the High Life Musings series, High Life Goals, Story of a High Life, etc. A painting that summarily portrays this craving shows two pairs of bare limbs (suggesting reclining postures of the figures) on a blue ground, a multitude of alcohol bottles beyond them, and clear blue sky with a fleet of aeroplanes taking to the air. Another painting shows the legs of a lady wearing a pair of bright red, high-heeled shoes, the proportion of which the artist magnifies by showing behind them patches of clouds drifting in a surreal sky. Another work shows a woman trying to touch the sky raising one of her arms. In all these works, Shyamali is not trying to express a critical view or take high moral stand on the trends of life and society that make her think and react. Rather, she presents her observation pictorially and leaves the rest to the viewers to draw their own conclusions. In My Child’s World, on the other hand, Shyamali portrays the impact of the changes on children (childhood as a whole), showing a boy holding a paper plane on one hand and a pistol on the other.

A significant feature of her display is the motif of a strange-looking mutant species that she has conceptualized to highlight an existential danger and struggle for survival. The animal has firm log-like legs, wings, antennas and multiple breasts – as if they have evolved in order to survive in harsh conditions. The artist revealed that the paintings featuring this motif constitute a dream of regeneration following destruction.

A few works made with charcoal show different standpoints of a woman indulging in privacy, being watched by a house lizard from unseen corners. While the use of charcoal is pleasing, the series is a subtle pointer to the invisible eye of the omniscient society prying on our lives. Some of her paintings display a fascination for child-art images and elements of ancient manuscripts of Assam. Her works do contain the spirit of contemporary art. Shyamali should go the distance with some improvements in technical areas, which will likely occur as she progresses in her pursuit.

Tridib’s sculptures are conspicuous by the use of different objects and mediums, which are integrated with great finesse and professionalism. The objects in his sculptures, especially those primarily wooden, become integral parts, and this homogeneity, the overall abstracted form and empty spaces therein – all work in unison to create a lyrical quality. Conceptually, his sculptures reflect his feelings aroused by the trends and happenings in the social, political and cultural firmaments. Today, all these fields are plagued with divisions of one form or the other, and the artist has presented this in tangible form quite adroitly in the works like Passage I and II.

Where We Are on the other hand is a series of five chambers inside each of which lies human features made of plaster of Paris – hand, leg, mouth, eyes and ears – all painted in metallic silver colour. Each feature occupying its own secluded chamber suggests one aspect of today’s society – the tendency to isolate or insulate oneself in one way or the other. In the only installation of the exhibition, a huge crowd of blue alcohol bottles of all sizes have been placed on the floor within a circular boundary and at its centre lies the bust of a man looking up, while two abstracted shapes of similar pose stay a little behind on its either side. Titled Where I Am, the installation expresses an innate urge to stay rooted to tradition in the midst of defiling and distracting forces. It is worthwhile to note that some of Tridib’s sculptures in a sense are installations, and the installation displayed in the show suggests that such works done by him are in effect an extension of his sculptures in an added dimension.

– d.bezbaruah@yahoo.co.in

Debashish Bezbaruah