The four artists mounted here represent the dominant trend in late 20th century Bengal art, namely, abstraction. Till the 70s abstraction kept a low profile in the works of the artists, senior or young.

Amitava Dhar, however, is one of those few dedicated abstractionists who have painted nothing but abstract since the early 80s. But gradually his images began to include shapes and form not identifiable but strongly suggestive of hairy animals and parts of limbs. The result is intriguing and evocative.

Arindam Chatterjee, the youngest of them, turns out large painterly abstract canvases in which lines textures tones and spaces enact a complex interplay of layered moods and meanings. His recent frames on show sporting darker shades of brown and gray and partly streaked with arterial strokes of black exude a feel of mystic solemnity.

Partha Shaw’s works on paper with sharp-edged shapes embedded in flat colour spaces seem fresh variations on Suprematist abstraction. His strong point, of course, is colour, which he handles with a good deal of aplomb.

Chhatrapati Dutta stands out among the rest as a tireless innovator in terms of formal ideas and technique, responding creatively to a wide range of updates coming his way from the post-60s West, re-orienting the figurative idiom to almost non-semantic impact.

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Sujit Sengupta
Courtesy : Manasij Majumder