Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts has organised an exclusive mother-son duet exhibition of sculptures and paintings titled “Light and Shadow” by Ferdousy Priyabhashini and her son Karu Titas. The exhibition has started on May 24 at Bengal Shilpalaya and is open for all. Art lovers are in for a treat as both mother and son portray their artistic ability at its best and art works of this magnitude are a rare display. The exhibition will continue till June 4.
The exhibit is a gargantuan display of a total of 123 art pieces, 93 of which are inimitable sculptures by the gifted Priyabhashini and 30 paintings by Karu Titas.
Priyabhashini’s sculptures are the most avant-garde and signature art works in the Bangladesh art arena. Her work belongs in a class of its own. To create her art, she hardly uses chisel to carve the wood. Rather, with a watchful eye she collects ravaged or worn plants, tree trunk or branches and gives them love, which transforms the lifeless piece of log into mesmerising artwork. The transformed art pieces seem to come alive and blend with nature. She adds rhythm and momentum to her art.
Most of her pieces are easily recognisable but some have an abstract quality, specially the pieces made out of roots or tree trunks portraying standing or leaning figures.
The components present in nature are art to her and items which one might view as scraps are transformed to objects of interest through her art. She has this unique gift of bringing out the best in objects and often abstains from giving any buff to her wood and bamboo pieces to preserve its natural colour and texture.wThrough the simplistic quality of her art, the progressive artist created her own genre by which her work can be recognised, it is an artist’s dream come true to find such a unique style.
This self taught grand master is reborn through her son, Karu Titas. Though Titas took the academic discipline in painting, his work seems to be in synchronisation with that of his mother.
He has played with light and shadow with impressionistic strokes. Titas’ canvases depict playfulness of colour with a personal epilogue. His forms and textures sometimes try to go beyond civilised expressions that take the viewers closer to the rawness of nature.
The exceptional artist Priyabhashini shares her feelings both as an artist and a mother: “It’s not that I am biased as a mother, but as an artist and his mentor, I cannot help but praise his work. Titas has done an outstanding job with his fine work skilfully represented through artistic imagination. I am a proud mother. I consider it my luck that one of my children has taken up art as a career and assured me that he would carry out the legacy with finesse.”
Both the artists have tried to connect the dots between time and nature which ultimately resulted into the finest rendition of art.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr Dipu Mony, foreign minister of Bangladesh. Eminent artist Qayyum Chowdhury and singer Iffat Ara Dewan were special guests of the ceremony. Priyabhashini herself and Director of BGFA Subir Chowdhury spoke on the occasion.
