Myriad urban tales, some natural inspiration

Charudatt Pande: Portraits of unforgiving detail

Migration has been a prominent theme in artworks churned out by young Pune-based artist Charudatt Pande. He professes that his earlier works reflected some stereotypes of diversity — but later in his artistic trajectory, Charudatt adds, he delved deeper into the mundane observations of urban life, and began telling stories that remain hidden, which according to him should not go unseen. There is an unforgiving nature in the reality of the portraits he paints. Using acrylic on canvas, the colours are bold, muted and earthy — there is a clear manifestation of the tiredness, grime, worn features, shadows, poverty and age in the frame. For instance, in the eye-catching ‘Shoonya Bhaav’, a white-bearded man stares at the viewer, his eyes reflecting a fatigue of years, his crumpled clothes revealing his struggles, his blemishes, wrinkles and chapped lips all coming alive. In ‘Lost Man’, a middle-aged man sits squatting with his eyes shut in reverie seemingly in plenty of sunlight, while the only company he has is a strong shadow sprawling alongside, the jewel-like deep purple of his shirt offsetting the rest of the stark frame. Similarly, Charudatt’s ink on paper renditions wear a slightly brighter look, but continue to reveal portraits of people in meticulous and inexorable detail.

Deepika Sakhat: Chaos blends into an essence

The disorienting chaos of the big city and its constantly buzzing, almost-exhausting existence heavily influenced the art that Deepika Sakhat churned out, especially while she was living in Mumbai. She says that forms, details, colors and textures fought with each other in her pieces, seeking domination on the canvas in search of the soul or essence of their amalgamation. Her series of paintings titled ‘Primordial’ are, for instance, largely executed on etching aquatint and relief print (woodcut), and yield an incredible phantasmagoria of forms and meanings. The beings come together as monster-like and yet identifiable, brought to life in bold strokes; in ‘Lizard’, striking near-neon like strokes etch reptilian forms that are navigating, in contrast, a background of murky, marshy colours. Deepika’s ink-on-paper renditions, on the other hand, bear a similar anarchy, but have an almost childlike innocence to them, with the characters straddling the worlds of sky and earth, sprouting both wings and four legs.

Suchita Rai: A natural touch with ceramics

A love for nature is inherent in the art works put forth by Suchita Rai, which find both inspiration and form in environmental elements, particularly apiculture. Working creatively with ceramic or combining it with terracotta, Suchita admits to her delight in working with the medium of clay, as creating something out of this raw material involves direct touch and the act of actual moulding, giving her immense satisfaction. Therein, a series of works titled ‘Parag’ take on an enhanced view of pollen, depicting simplistic ovoid, spherical shapes that house immense potential within. Many of her other creations prominently depict the running motif of honeybees, swarming over the shapes and dipping themselves in streams of honey, such in the tea set titled ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’. Similarly, in ‘Preservation’, bee hives are quite literally an inspiration, taking shape in window-slat like frames and shining the spotlight on these incredible beings that the world seems to fast be losing.

Sauvik Das: Layering clay into journeys of isolation

Geological materials and formations are an inspiration for Souvik Das, who works closely and almost exclusively with clay. For him, retaining the utmost natural character of the medium is an important end goal, which he manages to do while moulding it into forms that are heavily influenced by architectural features as well. There are levels and a certain functionality to the unconventional art works Souvik puts forth, that speak of either a journey or isolation, amongst other meanings. In the ‘Migrant’ art works for instance, earthenware and stainless steel are used to depict bricks in piles as viewed by labour, who ultimately harness their importance. In ‘Quarantine’, hand-forged nails manage to separate a house-like ceramics structure from its base, elevating it into a position of separation. The same motifs of ascent and descent are also visible in the series ‘ASSI’, where stark pieces of ceramics, coupled with material like insulation bricks, often form steps and layered structures in a stark and earthy rendition of art.