There is an interesting mix of tradition and contemporaneity in master artist Shuvaprasanna’s aesthetic genre that includes some amazing charcoal drawings, etchings and paintings around the City of Joy, his abode and playing fields since birth. “The prolific artist known for his series including those around the city, its people, birds, animals, clocks, wraps and flowers with varied nuances, has also created an amazing body of work on much revered icons,” says Sushma Behl.
The artist showcased his collection of works at Chawla Art Gallery in the national Capital recently.
An intellectual rigour and socio political consciousness permeates all his work, be it in portraits, graphics, B&W drawings, illustrations, poster designs and publications, paintings in water colours, acrylic and oils, sculptures and installations besides writing and other forms of creative expressions.
The infinite diversity is reflected in his repertoire including Lament 1971, Touch 72, Dream, Illusion 75, Time/Clock, Illusion 77/8, Abode, Childish 79, Wrapped 81, Amphibious, Ave, Birds 83, Amphibious 85, Black & White 85/6, Calcutta Black and White 89, Bird, Wings of no End, Crow, Fish, Signal 92, Metropolis: Portraits of Calcutta, Middletone 93-97, Icons 98, Crows, Illusion 99, Icons 2000, Icons and illusions 2002, Lila 2004, The Golden Flute 2005, Evocative Expressions, The Divine Flute 2006, Night-Watch 2008 and Expressions 2009.
The winged creatures- crows, owls, pelicans, eagles and storks with an occasional appearance of a feline- dog, donkey or another specimen familiar to the city- have continued to be central in much of Shuva’s imagery. His work around Crow that shares an affinity with noble laureate Ted Hughes’ poems around the winged bird makes engaging and intellectually stimulating art. On crows, the artist says, “I like them because they cannot lie. They don’t pretend”. The crows and owls are depicted not as vicious or victims but as victors and wise. The cranes with long swan like beaks and ducks in the Amphibious were inspired by a visit to the zoo where he saw them with their open fluttering wings vibrating the waters. There are stark charcoal drawings and water colour paintings of crafty crows, wise owls and ominous street dogs that seem to speak of the animal’s survival instinct as a parody for the man!
Illusion and Maya series with sexual undertones featuring sensuousness through flowers radiate the bliss of touch and acceptance. “Insects, animals and humans all meet and mate to carry on with the cycle of life” and “I see sexuality as the rhythm of life”, says the artist. There is a touch of abstraction and ideation but no space for conceptual art in his scheme of things “an art work must communicate visually with no recourse to words” believes the artist, comfortable working in small format though prefers to work on large canvases.