City of joy in a new light

Paintings by artist Purnendu Mandal that were displayed at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kolkata in the exhibition titled “Treasure of Memoirs”.

His Treasure of Memoirs is a nice amalgamation of his personal and professional experiences excavated from the past. Perfectly sifted and sorted out from his negative encounters, the artist is more allied with the sweet fond moments etched out on his memory card.

Exhibiting such a series at his 16th solo show of paintings in Kolkata’s Academy of Fine Arts, low-profile artist Purnendu Mandal hopes to convey a strong, clear message to his agog audiences, expected to flock in great capacity to the venue. The address of New South — A Gallery space came alive with the series display from April 1 till April 8.

Consciously following the style of impressionism in his art, Mandal is highly influenced by the coterie of French masters who brought the school of thought to world-wide prominence. “The art found root way back in late 19th century around the year 1870 to be precise. Later, eminent artists like Late Bikash Bhattacharjee and Paresh Maity explored its expression and methods in the art alcoves of India. Here, I have made a humble attempt to reform it with a specially-ordered roller and knife instead of the traditional brush,” he confirms.

Mounting up a collection of 24 paintings with a price-range pegged between Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000, the exhibition-cum-sale witnessed an array of wood-framed works in acrylic and oil-on-canvas. The dimensions varied from 1/2 ft X1/2 ft to 3ft X 4ft.

Retaining the recurrent images of tram-cars and hand-pulled rickshaws from his earlier specimens, Mandal has upheld a clean, spic-n-span city contrary to its congested picture, usually smeared with specks of dirt, dust, soot, grime and other residues of pollution. Shiny reflections, glassy surfaces, twilight across the skyscape, shadows of erstwhile Kolkata and its classic heritage symbols, a rain-drenched day — all these elements and much more re-ignite the flitting joy and happiness that portray the metropolis in its true light.

“When you normally view your city, it’s no dreamy portrait but once you click it on a camera lens or paint it over a canvas, it’s a different magical story altogether,” he infers. “Otherwise the cities are conventionally a cacophonous hub of continuous din, busy activities, messy traffic, moody weather, maddening rush hours, huddled crowds and much more chaos. This hustle bustle of life always keeps our antenna of senses jam-packed.

As a result, both our mind-space as well as our visible surroundings appear to be trespassed upon. Say for example, the illegal occupation of hawkers in urban streets that blocks pavements and prevents pedestrians from walking freely without any obstruction. I completely agree with the Swachch Bharat campaign that supports and slogans for cleanliness. So before we expect the cities to be smart enough to attract foreign investments, let’s first make it less polluted,” he elaborates further.

The humble artist plans to carry forward the same series to Colombo in Sri Lanka this June and follow it up with an exposition in Bengaluru at Chitrakala Parishad, come September. Next destination is Mumbai in November at the World Trade Centre global art fair with a group of international artists to boot. “Each will have a stall to his name to unveil his individual oeuvre,” he apprises.

His area of primary focus however would still be revolving around ‘cityscape’ as the main theme, be it any given station — Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru or Mumbai for that matter — because the basic nature and idiosyncrasies of all cities remain the same. Accordingly in the near future, the painter intends to dabble in a “separate series on rickshaw pullers and the vanishing sparrows from tree-tops, cornices of old, dilapidated edifices and windowsills of multistoried buildings”.