16th March 2009, Paris: Michel Orion will be singing from Charles Baudelaire’s iconic book Les fleurs du mal lyric poems like L’albatros, Le léthé, A une passante, La pipe, A une mendiante rousse, La mort des pauvres, Le goût du néant, L’invitation au voyage, Brumes et pluies, Le serpent qui danse, Le soleil among others.

For more info: Du 3 au 28 mars 2009 à 21H.
Relâche les dimanches, lundis et les 13 et 14 mars.
Réservations/Renseignements :
0 826 02 99 24 / larchipel@larchipel.com

6th June, 2008: Delhi based painter Bhaskar Singha has worked for 8 long years to produce a series of paintings based on film maker Satyajit Ray’s iconic films like Charulata, Apu Trilogy, Parash Pathar, Jalsagar, Devi, Nayak etc. Bhaskar’s oeuvre is quite fascinating as he experimented with themes from the films which were disposed to a new narrative space of the artist’s perspective making the works a meta-narrative in the visual space where colours mingle with characters in a beautiful rendition associated with the aesthetic process of human imagination. Most of the works are acrylic on canvas where Bhaskar has practiced a new method of giving a transparent effect to generate ‘air’ in his creations. “I have applied ten different layers of colours on the canvases, and yet, the first layer is still visible giving the painting a feel of sculpture”, says, Bhaskar Singha.

The exhibition titled “Ray…” took place at Birla Academy of Art & Culture and was inaugurated by MS Madhabi Mukherjee, renowned actress of Indian cinema on 27th May, 2008.

Bhaskar Singha is a very prominent Indian artist working in Delhi. He has won Camlin Foundation Award in 2005.

For more info , pls contact Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com

23rd May, 2008, Kolkata: A photo exhibition by Magnum photographers on India titled Plural Perspectives is currently shown at Bose Pacia, Kolkata with support from The Embassy of France in India and Alliance Francaise du Bengale. The year of India’s Independence, 1947, coincided with the birth of Magnum Photos, a cooperative agency owned by its members. This exhibition showcases the work of 14 Magnum photographers who followed the “pulse of the times” in their work lending a perspective to the images where in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s words “the little human detail can become a leitmotif”. The multiplicity of vision covering the silent scenes of Henri Cartier-Bresson to the light and shade of Gueorgui Pinkhassov and the classical graceful style of Raghu Rai are a delight to watch. The works of 14 photographers showcased include Henri Cartier-Bresson, Raghu Rai, Werner Bischof, Marilyn Silverstone, Ferdinando Scianna, Bruno Barbey, Martine Franck, Steve McCurry, John Vink, Alex Majoli, Bruce Gilden, Carl De Keyzer, Harry Gruyaert, Gueorgui Pinkhassov.

India by Magnum- Plural Perspectives will be on view from May 6 to May 31, 6-8 pm at Bose Pacia Kolkata.

For more info, please contact: Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com

22nd May, 2008, Kolkata: Paul Virilio, the Director of the Ecole speciale d’Architecture in Paris wrote: “Silence no longer has a voice. It LOST ITS VOICE half a century ago…The voices of silence have been silenced” (Art and Fear, Paul Virilio). This aesthetic of silence which Virilio classified as a standard feature of contemporary modern art has much to do with the scientific development of multimedia generated aesthetics of disappearance. That contemporary art is pitiless was foreboded by Camus even in the 20th century before the gizmos and the interactive feed-back of virtual reality hit the market. (This pitiless century, the twentieth.- Albert Camus). So, Virilo’s scathing criticism of contemporary art in general arose from a feeling that artists have traded themselves into an endless freedom of artistic expression which is anti-nature or counter nature in its character. The gradual elimination of nature as the theme of contemporary art is more a cause for deep concern than a mere pronouncement of art for art’s sake. Had Virilio visited the art exhibition at Samokal Art Gallery which has brought together works of the best sculptors of Bengal, he would have found real delight in the aesthetics on display amidst white walls symbolizing piety. Right from Bipin Goswami’s Bird sculpted in bronze to Niranjan Pradhan’s mytho-poeic Ganesha sculpted in wood to Gopinath Roy’s Face impression experimented in synthetic oxloid to a more iconic Mother and Child in bronze by Subroto Paul ending with a mise-enscène- of Shankar Ghosh’s Waiting in bronze, all these works are more about the natural relations of existence and the artistic experience it offers. The themes range from mythical to secular and domestic with a penchant for natural simplicity and harmony. Chandan Roy’s Symphony in bronze has two characters oppositely faced but bound to each other by harmony and cadence of stylistic expression and architectural ideation. Similarly, Somnath Chakraborty’s Card Player is a museum piece – its sculpted like an old artifact that gave it a dimension of a historical time. Such an aesthetic display is ethical in value- it revives in us the fire of a living life at the heart of nature because we must put out the excess rather than the fire as heraclitus has warned. The works of sculpture remain silent; this silence doesn’t disappear into a meaningless abstraction of meaning and its crisis as in modern art. It appears again and again as the “thisness” (haecceitas) of creation through which both the artist and the viewer could know directly the individual and particular objects. That Manik Talukdar’s Lady-I sculpted in a coyingly standing posture is different from the same feminine subject of a reclining women in Chandan Roy’s Relaxing, tells much about the differentials of artistic experience and its stylistic expression. They are all about what Gerard Manley Hopkins’ coined the inscape and instress of creation, the former being the characteristics that give the object its uniqueness and the later the impulse that holds the inscape in the mind of the viewer. All these works silently correspond to the beauty of human creation and the grace of nature.

The exhibition “14 Eminent Sculptors” takes place at Samokal Art Gallery, Kolkata from 19th May, 2008 to 2nd June, 2008, 4-8 pm daily.

For more info, please contact Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com
Or call at : +44 75073806595 (UK)/ +91 9830067159 (IND)

24th April, 08, Kolkata: Genesis Art Gallery, one of the oldest art galleries in Kolkata, have been active organising an art exhibition on Shah Rukh Khan showcasing romantic paintings by much esteemed painter Anjanaa Kuthiala. The exhibition of paintings on King Khan is also stiched with Anarkali series by the same artist fusing both urban and folk elements into the panorama of artworks, says Isha Mody, Curater & Gallery Manager, Genesis Art Gallery. The exhibition will take place from 24th April to 27th April at Genesis and will shift to ITC Sonar Bangla from 28th to 30th April to draw a much wider audience and appreciation including Shah Rukh Khan and his IPL Knight Riders.

For More Info, Please contact: artvantage.uk@gmail.com

30th April, 2008, New Delhi: The Contemporary Art Fair, Delhi will take place at Travancore Gallery, Kasturba Gandhi Maarg from 2nd to 6th April involving 150 artists in a visual splendour of paintings, terracota, bronze sculptures and exquisite glass art. “Apart from exhibiting a wide and varied range of modern Indian painters & sculptors who have made a name for themselves, the Art Fair will showcase new upcoming talent with great potential. Thus connnoisseurs of art will get the opportunity to make good art investments”, feels MS Isha Mody, Fair Director.

For more info please contact: Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com

Kolkata 19^th March 08: INOX, the multiplex chain known for its new generation movie shows, have taken one bold step to promote art and photography by introducing regular exhibitions at Forum and City Centre to garner new talent that are worth showcasing in a city where slowly signs of a cultural industry per se are emerging.  This initiative to promote the artistic skills of young aspiring painters and photographers is bolstered by careful selection and handling of a unique Black & White Art Exhibition managed by Genesis Art Gallery, one of the oldest creative nerve centers in Kolkata.  The event was inaugurated by veteran artist Suhas Roy along with other eminent personalities of the city. According to Mr Vikas Syal, Regional General Manager, INOX Forum: “We plan to imbibe in innovations like movie-related or theme-based shows for e.g. the Black & White Art and Photography exhibition that we had organized recently to mark the release of the latest Subhash Ghai film Black & White. The response of the exhibition was overwhelming and we have been flooded with entries. We hope that this confluence can initiate a fresh vision of art and cinema”.

As Esha Mody, Genesis Art Gallery says “taking art into multiplexes and leisure centers is another dimension that will add to its formal appreciation and market appraisal. This effort will be seen as a significant platform for a lot of new talents that Bengal basks in”.

For more info, please contact Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com

Or call up  +91 9830067159 (IND)/ +44  75073806595

9^th Feb, Kolkata: On a day when the weather in the city vacillated up the inner compulsions, it was worth visiting the gallery to be a part of the inaugural show of Manoj Kachangal’s works. Most works displayed were acrylic on canvas and only a few were done on paper. Each artwork looked distinct though Manoj seemed to have played with the idea of recurrent patterns interlocked and interwoven by reds, ultramarines, greens and yellows. There is a strange likeness to fabric with a central space in each work occupying one dominant colour knifed to create concurrent motions juxtaposed between linear patterns in much sombre colours. As colours have distinct temperatures, the artworks on display create a soothing sensation that can be felt instantaneously. Manoj achieved that through his own artistic sensibility which is pure in his delineation of kinetic forms in various colours corresponding to different states of mind: temperate, luxuriant and calm. Though it is difficult to categorize, Manoj’s works are probably one of the most striking in contemporary expressionism where colours plunge us into an abyss of emotional space and we are confronted with both the external and internal worlds to construct for us our own “liebesreligion” (religion of love) which the German Romantic philosopher Novalis talked about in 18^th century. In visual arts, it’s like a mise en abyme – in search of abyss within an abyss.

This February (9^th -29^th ) Mon Art Gallerie wants to throw a new light on works by this essential artist, thanks to the curated show organized by notable art historian MS Bhavna Kakar on behalf of the gallery.

For more info, please contact Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com

8^th February, Kolkata: The art exhibition titled “Continuity …Amidst Change” will take place at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata and will be inaugurated by eminent danseuse Smt Priti Patel on 12^th February at 6 pm. Curated by MS Myna Kakar, Gallery Manager, Verandah Art Gallery, this show will highlight the varying styles of some of the best names in the art industry like Paritosh Sen, Prokash Karmakar, Subhendu Porel, Niladri Paul, Sibsaday Chaudhuri and many others who have taken Indian art to the dizzy heights of esteem and glory. If multiplicity is the essential visual dialogic that determines the merging of tradition and talent, then it goes without saying that the artistic displays covering three generations will have to be of archival quality. Among the striking works that will be displayed, Kanchanmala’s “The Joining Lines” introduces the subject of woman gazed by a woman thus creating the double play of the surveyor/surveyed binary in one canvas done in charcoal and acrylic. Also Prokash Karmokar’s “In the Waves” and Arindram Chakravorty’s “The Diluting City I” among a host of other stellar works to be showcased at the salon are evidently representative of the pride of Bengal and its cultural mainstream-an aesthetic and intellectual movement which is still continuous…amidst change. For more info, please contact Joy Roy Choudhury at artvantage.uk@gmail.com