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They paint for Gujarat

Purobi Menon

Increasingly, budgets are getting bigger in the boardroom for art. The corporate wants to enhance office aesthetics and create positive flow in the work environment while art as an added investment is also behind aesthetic considerations and astute busin ess acumen. And the need to donate to a nobel cause also prompts many a corporate chief to buy a piece or two.

Twenty five artists recently got together under the banner of Montage Arts to contribute towards the relief operations in Gujarat with Anjolie Ela Menon donating her works on display entirely for the cause. The exhibition held at the Oberoi Hotel, New De lhi, was curated by Alakananda Saha and her daughter Kalyani Chawla The latter is a consultant to corporate houses for artwork and the force behind Montage Arts, started around three years ago.

The exhibition was a visual treat. There was an original Tagore, dated 1939. Tagore's mastery in pen portraits is as well acclaimed as his literary genius. The face painted by Tagore is made of bold strokes in ink. The clarity of the individual strokes a nd of the facial expression that emerges is a marvel. The piece was priced at Rs 10 lakh.

Jogen Chowdhary's bold mastery of form in `Bird' and `Man in Pensive Mood' celebrate the simplicity of being. Both works were priced at Rs 60,000 each.

Aditya Basak's work was interesting because of the layers of meaning embedded in it. The symbols used are many and these could present different facets to the viewer. The work titled `Journey' had diverse elements. Performers in the background, time repr esented by the zodiac and a woman on wheels in the foreground -- is a pen picture of the painting. The woman seems content with her life's journey and it is an ongoing one, one which still binds her but from which she derives satisfaction.

The work titled `Flying' has connotations of romanticism. Perhaps the woman in the picture is sending messages to her loved one. She seems hopeful but confined. Like the pigeons, she can soar only to touchdown again for she is not really liberated, in re ality or in her dreams. The pigeons have a direction, an image fortified by compasses, unlike her.

Aditya Basak's work is in mixed media and priced between Rs 40,000 - Rs 45,000.

Suhas Roy's `Mistress of the Moon' in fluid charcoal strokes and in mixed media was both haunting and evocative. One cannot tire of the visual beauty of this work priced at Rs 3 lakh.

Shuvaprasanna's `The Golden Flute' was music to the senses. The play of golden hues against the inky blue of arms that gracefully embrace the flute is suggestive of a deeper sensuality born of the purity of the soul. One is with the universe; both the fl autist and the flute becoming one to create the rapturous music of the divine. This work in mixed media is priced at Rs 45,000.

Subrate Gangopadhya's work of a mother and child was evocative. It suggests the deep bond that connects even in turbulent times. The mother's eyes are downcast suggesting how a mother can camouflage her troubles to nurture her offspring. This oil on canv as with bold brush strokes is priced at Rs 75,000.

Ideal buys for the home or the office were Tapan Mitra's still life. The sunflowers from a vibrant yellow palette suggest hope and the virgin white flowers of the second canvas suggest the sanctity of life as well as frailty depicted by the falling flowe rs. Two other works in bold brush strokes of pitchers suggest creation or the flow of life (as in water) as the pitchers are tilted. These works were priced at Rs 35,000.

Shipra Bhattacharya's canvases were foregrounded in vibrant colours and her woman holding a lotus titled `Desire Unlimited' could be read in various layers as depicting sensuality.

More information on Montage arts is available at www.montagearts.com.

Picture: Flower by Tapan Mitra

Picture by the author