The Dream of an Idiot
Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri
Tapestry, Painting, Drawing, Prints
July 14 to September 30, 2023.
Ground Floor Emami Art
Overview
Emami Art, one of India's leading contemporary art galleries based in Kolkata, presents 'The Dream of an Idiot', a survey show of Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri, an extraordinary yet not-so-widely-known abstract artist from Bengal. Focusing on the seminal works from different phases of his immensely productive career that span over forty years, the exhibition opens on July 14, 2023, and will be on view through September 30, 2023.
The exhibition follows Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri's journey as a significant Indian artist who has striven to develop a unique abstract language. He was attracted to abstract art early on as an Applied Arts student at the Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta. His tutelage under the legendary Helena Peerenthupa at the newly established textile design department at NID in 1968, His professional experience of working with the design and weaving sectors and his long association with the Weavers Service Centre, a sabbatical when he travelled to California to study printmaking at the San Jose University and later as a teacher at Kala Bhavana, Santiniketan, contributed to the shaping and refining of his language, which varies both stylistically and in terms of medium and material. Karchaudhuri's notable works are characterized by his subtle experiment with elementary forms and the use of vibrant colours. He has not entirely abandoned the visible world, but it appears in his work as reduced abstract forms combined with the sense of place and memory.
The exhibition on the gallery's ground floor presents a large body of his paintings, drawings, prints and tapestries, along with archival material, many of which are being shown for the first time.
Quotations
Quote Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri
The time, the environment and the state of mind significantly impacted my art practice, choice of materials and recreating forms and figures. In my art journey, I had to pass through many gateways of styles and shapes mixed with the nuances of primitivism. My works revolved in an elliptic orbit centring around the primary forms and figures of the primaeval days, sometimes very near to it and sometimes far away. I wanted to stretch myself out to this area of unknown mystery, to another reality.
(Says Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri)
Quote by Richa Agarwal, CEO Emami Art
We are delighted to showcase Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri, one of the most significant Indian artists working in the language of abstraction, at Emami Art. Spanning over four decades in which Karchaudhuri has been at his most productive, the exhibition shows his works in various mediums, charting the progression of practice from his semi-abstract early pen and ink drawings to his chromatically vibrant later works. His unique tapestries are the show's added attraction. This survey exhibition of such an important artist is an excellent opportunity for art lovers and students.
(Says Richa Agarwal)
Artist's Bio
Born in 1944 in West Bengal, Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri studied Applied Arts at the Government College of Art & Craft, Calcutta, graduating in 1966. He took training in design under Helena Perheentupa, a Finnish Designer at NID, Ahmedabad, during 1968-69 and Graphic Art under Geoffrey Bowman at San Jose State University, California, during 1984-85. He taught at the textile design department at NID during 1981-82 and later at Kala Bhavana Visva Bharati University Santinketan from 1990 to 2009. Karchaudhuri also worked for two decades at the Weavers Service Centres in Varanasi, Bhagalpur and Kolkata between 1969 and 1989.
He has been the subject of several solo shows at the Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata (1968, 1973). San Jose State University Gallery, California, USA (1985); Jehangir Art Gallery, Bombay (1998); Shajahan Art Gallery, New Delhi (1998); 'Tapestry, Drawing and Painting', at Nandan, Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan (2016) and 'Nymphs and Other Ethereal Images' at Gallery Charubasona, Kolkata (2023).
His work has featured is several group exhibitions, including Four Artists Group Show, sponsored by American University Centre (1974); Five Artists Group Show at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata (1978); 'Selected painters of Kolkata', organized by TATA centre, Kolkata (1979), Sixth Bharat Bhavana Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art, Bhopal, M.P. (1997); 'Artists from Santiniketan' organized by La-Maier Art Gallery, Kolkata (1998), Selected Teachers works of Four Major Art Colleges of Bengal organized by Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata/Delhi (2001), 'Art of Santiniketan Masters and Emerging Artists', presented by S.A. Fine Arts, London (2002), 'The Art of Santiniketan: Masters and Emerging Artists at the Royal College of Art', London (2008), 43rd Annual Exhibition, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata (2010) and many more.
Sibaprasad Karchaudhuri lives and works in Santiniketan.
