Thematic works by Sunoj D., Abhishek Hazra, Orijit Sen and Abir Karmakar

An interesting thematic exhibition of paintings by four talented artists, namely Sunoj D., Abhishek Hazra, Orijit Sen, and Abir Karmakar takes place at Galleryske, Bangalore. A curatorial note reveals the thought processes behind the works on view:

Orijit Sen

Punjab, the fertile land of the five doabas, draws both sustenance and identity from its great rivers that flow down westwards from the Himalayas. The landscapes of the region have undergone dramatic changes in modern times. Some aspects of life have also been torn apart. But through good times and bad, Punjabis remain upbeat about themselves. It is this special something that the artist has set out to capture through these images - which he hopes will serve as a reflection and celebration of the irrepressible Punjabi spirit.

Abhishek Hazra

His work continues his engagement with the social history of science. In this new work, he focuses on the origins of Bengali scientific terminology in the early 19th century and looks critically at the politics of translation. The work also tries to contextualize the dynamics of its own consumption: how seemingly self-anthropologizing artworks tickle the liberal sentiments of History’s sovereign authors.

Sunoj D

I do not know what 10 pots of plants at home or the calendar with images of landscapes, or a few shells in a bathroom, or the plastic flower bouquet can do for me. However, there is still a need to have something from nature in my urban domestic environment. I am interested in this particular human - nature relationship, in which humanity tries to remake nature. I feel that sometimes our relationships with nature is alienated or morphed into a differing newer reality that accepts the artificiality of nature as something natural or real. I articulate such relationships through natural/artificial, real/imagined visual images in my work.

Abir Karmakar

In May 1994, I travelled to Kolkata for the first time, all alone. While spending the night in a hotel I felt the urge to feel the space and to do so I decided to go to bed naked only to realize the absence presence of the previous occupants. In May 2010, I made a bed and invited three strangers (to me and to each other) mostly from the same age group to sleep on that bed each on a different night for three consecutive nights.

I asked them to sleep naked as they come from a joint-family and never went to bed without clothes as because of the lack of personal space. I have never been interested in binaries - male/female, private/public, right/wrong, real/friction, but in the area that connects, blurs or overlaps them.