Dr Puspadhar Gogoi and Hemanta Borpatra Gohain recently organised a joint exhibition at the State Art Gallery in which Dr Gogoi displayed a large number of paintings and Borpatra Gohain quite a few digital prints.

The 62-year-old Gogoi, who has a long association with different literary, academic, social, art and cultural activities, has done extensive research on the Tai traditions and culture. Since 1981, he has attended several seminars at home and abroad held specifically on this subject. Dr Gogoi has in fact done his PhD on the traditional herbal knowledge of the Tai Khamtis of the North East. He has also served in different literary, academic, social and cultural bodies, notably the Asam Sahitya Sabha, Assam Science Society, Purbanchal Tai Sahitya Sabha, Kamrup Anusandhan Samiti, Sanmilita Sahitya Sabha Mancha, the Dhemaji unit of the Asam Natya Sanmilan, to name only a few. He has several books to his credit and also written scripts for documentary films. And last, but not the least, Dr Gogoi has been associated with research journals The Tai and also Tai Culture (published from Berlin) and is the editor of the art-literary bimonthly Art: Kingkhap, the introductory edition of which was released at the recent exhibition.

Dr Gogoi, without a doubt, is a man of many attributes. His world of art is overlooked by the mountain of his variegated activities and that is how we should view his creations as well. It is praiseworthy that despite being involved in such diverse fields, Dr Gogoi still finds time to draw and paint. Gogoi held six solo shows before this one and has taken part in numerous group exhibitions.

In the recent exhibition, a large section was occupied by the works titled Face, in which Dr Gogoi drew the frontal view of human heads, which carried folk elements and some of them were sculpture-like. Most of the faces were shown with mouths wide open in an attempt to integrate some expressive quality. On the other hand, his landscapes, bathing nudes and emotionally charged works condemning violent acts were loosely drawn, which gave these works a naive look. Dr Gogoi has also adopted different styles for different works – from realistic to semi-abstract to abstract – a tendency he can do well without. The Pregnant Woman (watercolour) was modelled on one of Modigliani’s (1884-1920) works of similar composition and posture.

There’s no doubt that an irresistible urge to express drives Dr Gogoi’s artistic pursuit, which overrides the want of technical soundness. The virgin landscapes of Dhemaji, where Dr Gogoi hails from, has stirred his imagination. The research work done by him on Tai culture has also been an overwhelming influence. The visits to different places – from Arunachal to Garo Hills to Chinese provinces – have allowed him to draw inspiration from Nature and get acquainted with folk cultures and art forms, especially traditional dances. Dr Gogoi revealed that he found striking similarities between our Bihu dance and the Sangkiyen dance of the Yunan province of China, which he has captured on his canvas.

Hemanta Borpatra Gohain, on the other hand, has long been active in the field of play-writing and acting apart from other literary activities. The assistant editor of the new magazine Art: Kingkhap, the 50-year-old has put up some neatly drawn computer graphics. There was uniformity in the human forms as well as overall compositions. Borpatra Gohain showed his control over the digital medium, especially in the application of colours. Considering the diverse activities they are involved with, the efforts of both Dr Gogoi and Borpatra Gohain are laudable enough and we hope they will carry on with their artistic pursuit for a long time to time.

d.bezbarua@yahoo.co.in

Debashish Bezbaruah