 Close
to Events: Works of Bikash Bhattacharjee
By Manasij Majumder |
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A competent, well-designed look at an artist
whose pride of place in the Indian art lexicon is celebrated because of
the sheer force of repertoire and the number of places he dared to go to
in the making of it. Written by acclaimed art critic Manasij Majumder,
the book is a meticulous study of the artist’s psychosomatic
landscape, much of it seen on his often-disturbing canvases. As all art
books aspire to do, this one, fairly conventionally, traces the artist’s
impoverished childhood, his disillusionment with the system, his
influences (the period that Bikash spent influenced by Francis Bacon in
the sixties is markedly sharp and shocking, much of the surrealism and
distortion of the images bring out his best work). Though he is often
celebrated for his latter realist phase, where women of Calcutta bear a
matter of fact hue, coloured in textures that he is now well-known for.
The book gains immensely by the variety of visuals; you’re often
thinking Bikash is more than one man. Art styles change radically
through the years, his images vacillate between terrible violence and
stupendous calm, from bare sketches to dense thought, from observational
to downright voyeuristic, without a care for being hung, Bikash
Bhattacharjee’s oeuvre is definitely worth your time. |
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- First City, May 2007 |
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The book analyses technical and stylistic
development of art with detailed explanations on some paintings
displayed within... |
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- Mumbai Newsline, May 6, 2007 |
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The book takes the readers through the world
half-created and perceived in Bhattacharjee’s works… |
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- The Asian Age, April 26, 2007, New
Delhi |
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There is immense power in his work and his
paintings are disturbing, one can see the subconscious of the painter.
He is a model for young artists because he was able to articulate ideas
and images deep in our subconscious, bringing out several psychological
elements we normally would not like to face... |
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- Dr Karan Singh, Dr Karan Singh,
April 26, 2007 |
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Although initially it was not meant to be
so, Manasij Majumder’s lavishly-illustrated book, Close to
Events: Works of Bikash Bhattacharjee, is a fitting tribute to the
artist who died last December… |
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- The Telegraph, April 8, 2007 |
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His works have a stunning range of rich and
complex imagery with unforgettable faces and figures that no photography
can match… |
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- The Statesman, May 4, 2007, Kolkata
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It is replete with paintings ranging from
portraits that he was most famous for, everyday life on the streets of
Calcutta, his angst on the Partition, his ‘dolls’ series
indicative of human depravation, the ‘tout’ series and much
more... |
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- The Hindu, April 26, 2007 |
