Exhibition Of Paintings By S K Sarkar

Shrishti Art Gallery is organising an exhibition of paintings by S K Sarkar, from 15th to 30th July, at the gallery premises on Road No. 15, Jubilee Hills. Titled Concept Content Within, the exhibition has 25 figurative paintings of mixed media on display.

Man, woman, bird, animal, plant and earth share the world in Sarkar's surreal landscapes. The tangential, earthly forms shift their energies, as they create hybrid creatures. These merge their organic flesh, bones, feathers, branches, tender shoots and flowers into one another. The bonding creates magical forms that propose, suggest and hint at intimacy and union.

The birds with a woman's head, the flow of a river with fish-woman forms and the tree-woman forms, share this spirit as the feminine, and with the horse and the goat as masculine, create fantastical landscapes. Furthering this morphology, the energies of these forms identify with a more universal transmission, of an underlying eros. Also, elements of skeletal structures, fish bones and stark creatures reminisce shamanism or magical provocation into the mood. An earthly realism in the huts, bullocks and cart wheels mix effortlessly with the surreal.

Mostly in monochromatic sepias, with sparingly used colors, the forms in these mixed media works are rotund, dwarfed and foreshortened with distorted exaggeration, even as they are placed in a realistic landscape. The fine rendering and linearity of the forms speak of Sarkar's skills. These evoke a whimsical dream state with fairy, Apsara forms of the Indian mythological traditions and gnomes that hold temple pillars. Interesting shadow-like forms are inscribed into the backgrounds, enhancing the mystic mood of the pictorial.

Born in 1957 in Hoogly, West Bengal, Sarkar moved to Hyderabad in 1991, after graduating from the Government College of Fine Arts, Kolkata. He completed his MFA in creative painting and his M Phil from the University of Hyderabad, under Prof. Laxma Goud. Currently, he is pursuing his Ph. D. on the topic of Folk Art Of India & Medinipur Pata Chitra.

Sarkar has been part of various group shows at Bangalore, New Delhi, Nagpur, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Poland and New York, in addition to solo shows at Lalit Kala Academy and Triveni Art Gallery in New Delhi, ICCR and ITC Kakatiya Sheraton in Hyderabad, and Raja Rammohan Roy Centenary Hall in Hooghly, since 1987.

Sarkar paints in oils as well as acrylic colors, using a restrained sober palette. His well-drawn figures and control on technique helps him in achieving the desired mood. His dedication for painting and endeavour to excel in his profession have resulted in the distinct maturity noticed in his output.

Please contact the venue at 2354-0023 for further details.