Souza, Adieu

Hi, this is Eliot, the poster of many blogs here. In actuality, my name is Craig and I’m a white American living in the American Midwest. Before I was hired two and half years ago to write for Tamarind Art Gallery, my creative interests were Anglo-Saxon oriented. I was a lover of American artists—Warhol, Wood, and Whistler, as well as European masters like Van Gogh, Manet, Monet; especially the artist who set the art world on its ear, Pablo Picasso. I knew or cared little about Indian art and culture—it was half a world away.

Since then, I have developed a great respect and admiration for Indian art and culture. From Ganesh to Gandhi, Tagore to TV Santhosh, I have learned a great deal about the long, rich, sometimes tumultuous, always beautiful, creative history of the subcontinent. MF Hussein, what a master of lines, colors, and shapes, Raza’s bindus, intriguing. Most of all, however, I shall always enjoy the tortured works of Francis Newton. Nobody expressed their cynicism, disdain, and the foibles of life like Souza did. I shall carry his images in my heart and mind forever.

This is my last post. Life happens, things change. But I will always remember my new found respect for everything Indian. I would like to thank, you the reader, for perusing my blogs. I hope they were entertaining as well as enlightening. We learned together. Peace and joy to you all.

Craig

Alchemy of Enigma

Tamarind Art Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition of works by contemporary Indian artist Ashok Bhowmik. This exhibition of his paintings, entitled Alchemy of Enigma, is his first solo in the United States. In it, Bhowmik showcases his dramatic interpretation of the curious intermingling between the worlds of fantasy and reality.

Juxtaposing images of both the human form in profile and everyday objects with contemporary surrealist visions of nature, Bhowmik creates haunting and dramatic images, which parallel those of Marc Chagall and Gustav Klimt. With his use of stark, monotone backgrounds, Bhowmik strips his subjects bare of any extraneous context and freely explores them through his own perception of time, nature, life, death, and reality.

About the Artist
Born in Kolkata in 1953, Bhowmik graduated from Government College of Art and Craft. He has displayed his work in many places such as, TAO Gallery, Gallerie 88, Kolkata, Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai, Lalit Kala Akademi, National Exhibition, New Delhi, Sophia Duchesne Art Gallery, Mumbai, Annual Exhibition of Birla Academy, Sarala Art Gallery, Chennai, Indo-German Cultural Society and Center Art Gallery. Also, he has participated in workshops and art camps in China, Egypt, Thailand, Italy, Australia, as well as Istanbul. In addition, Bhowmik has directed Poster Workshops in Azamgarh, Bhopal, and spear-headed Project JointArt for the special needs children of Mano Vikas.

Along with his showings, workshops and camps, Ashok Bhowmik has received several awards such as, the Certificate of Merit, Annual Exhibition of Government College of Art and Craft, Kolkata and the Academy Awards from Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata, in both 1980 and 1981.

Alchemy of Enigma runs through 15 August. For more information visit www.tamarindart.com.