If the measure of a city is the art and artists it manages to attract from other parts of the world, Ahmedabad seems to be faring well. Over the past year, the city has seen several national and international art shows, including an exhibition of Dacca artists at iRam Art in July, an international art festival spread across three galleries in December, an exhibition of Bengal artworks at the Kasturbhai Lalbhai Museum in October and several exhibitions from France, courtesy the Alliance Francaise.
Now Ahmedabadis have a chance to see contemporary art from the state of Odisha, without having to catch a flight to Bhubaneshwar. In a five-day exhibition at the Amdavad ni Gufa, titled ExhibitIQ, artists Pratap Kumar Chand, Kannu Behra and Barsha Barnali Das, draw from the essence of Odia culture in their work. Opening the exhibition on Tuesday, veteran artist, and chief guest Vrindavan Solanki welcomed the three young artists (who currently live in Delhi) to Ahmedabad, saying, “We’re glad you have chosen our city for your group exhibition.”
Pratap Chand’s exhibit consists of a series of watercolours inspired by the coastline of Odisha, featuring fishing boats afloat of the sea and coastal villages. Most interesting are the hues used to depict the sky and various times of the day: blue, red, purple, orange. Barsha Das’s work is inspired by her personal life journey and her fine ink-on-paper sketches portray her own face, in conjunction with trees, birds and flowers. Kannu Behra’s paintings are the most striking. Behra comes from a family of folk dancers and his paintings are inspired by Odisha’s Bagha Nacha, where a male dancer paints himself like a tiger. His exhibits include a series of oil paintings, a larger acrylic painting and several works using natural colours on terracotta.
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