“Invitation to the Dance,” a painting exhibition by Dutch-Guatemalan artist Carel Richter, is taking place at Bengal Art Lounge till October 9. This is Richter’s first solo exhibition in Asia and is a great opportunity for artlovers to experience the complex beauty in the paintings of the gifted artist. The array of artworks on display are about the classical representation of dance movements.
Richter, a “wizard with the brush,” has his own signature style to portray the intimate relationship between two people. Working with the traditional medium of acrylic on canvas, his paintings seem to radiate with a silent tune and emotions of dance movements, where the subject is the reflection of sensuality.
His artworks with bold strokes of intense shades emphasise the rhythm of the body. The attractive and mesmerising moves of dance are captured with dexterity on canvas. The paintings shows his keen perception of dance movements, as he understands the dancer’s sensitivity.
Inspired by the alluring movements of dance, the artworks have powerful postures, which depict the mysterious façade of a dancer. The artist has paid immaculate attention to the eyes and facial expression that portray deeper penchant. The paintings have the dynamic sense of a real dance performance.
The exhibition showcases paintings with Bangladeshi elements, such as rickshaws and rural boats, which are a clear representation of the influence of his surroundings on the artist.
About his show at Bengal, Richter said: “The collection of my paintings is classical, not in method and medium but also the subject, who I choose to portray. I am always engaged in observing people in life and on screen. These paintings are still, but they are about motion, they are about revealing the mystery that is usually concealed.”
Richter is a graduate from The Royal Academy of Art and Design, an institution from where the great art maestro Vincent van Gogh graduated. “The Consensus,” an artwork he created when he was working as an independent artist in 1987, is permanently on display at the new Dutch parliament at The Hague.
Richter had his major solo exhibitsions at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, Arndt in Berlin, Museum 52, Criterion in Amsterdam and many more. He has received prizes in the Netherlands, Italy and America.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands H E Gerben Sjoerd de Jong inaugurated the exhibition on Sunday, September 29 at 6pm. Dr Gowher Rizvi, the international affairs adviser to the prime minister, and Jim McCabe, the CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, spoke on the occasion.
