A series of paintings by artist Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharjee zooms in on the characters of The Mahabharata, particularly their faces
A series of paintings by artist Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharjee zooms in on the characters of The Mahabharata, particularly their faces
The Mahabharata is an all-encompassing text. Stories that lay hidden in its vastness have come a long way: from bedside tales to revisioned literature, its characters are inevitably found in every aspect of the Indian man’s life. They are flawed, almost human. And this is one of the reasons why Kolkata-based artist Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharjee finds these characters fascinating. In his latest series of works, Faces: A Race from Epic, that are now displayed at Sarala’s Art World, faces take centrestage. These faces carry unmissable expressions that speak volumes of their varied personalities.
The artist who has been painting for over 60 years is known for profiling his home city Kolkata, through charcoal-coloured frames that capture its urban life and timeliness. In this series, he takes on a different beast. “In India, everyone is associated with the epics. Since I am working visually, these images keep coming back to me. Since the last two to three years, I have been very much involved with this epic,” says the artist who, as a young child, recalls listening to his mother read out stories from The Mahabharata.
His first interaction with the epic was through a Bengali text written by an author under the pen name, Parashuram. While he started off with big canvases sporting elaborate scenes from the epic, his recent work on the faces of characters, came together during the pandemic. “Each of them has a dual character, from Arjuna and Karna to Draupadi and Tilottama. It is full of jealousy, violence, revenge, love and sex. It is the same as life itself,” he adds. Peter Brooks’ The Mahabharata was also an inspiration, Shuvaprasanna adds. The way the text was globalised by him opened many avenues for the artist.
Faces: A Race from Epic
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The two-dimensional representation, actualised through layered painting technique, also includes characters that are not very popular: Lomesh, Dadhichi, Souti, Kapil, Hoyagrib…Compared to his previous work, this particular series has a visual language that might not be to everyone’s liking. , “Take Shakuni for example. He is an advisor to the Kauravas, but is cunning. So his look, his colour and so on reflect that sentiment. Karna, on the other hand, always prayed to the sun god, and hence had a scalded body. He was very generous, but at the same time, also very suspicious,” he explains.
According to Shuvaprasanna, art has no meaning and yet is full of meaning. Even in abstraction, there is meaning. This series, he feels, embodies this statement. “When you start working, you don’t really know what will come out. But after finishing a work, you will get some sort of sensibility which makes you continue.”
Faces: A Race from Epic is currently on display at Sarala’s Art World
