Kaleido-scapes of vibrant hues

Portraying the fine blend of Indian miniatures and Chinese calligraphic art, Bikash Poddar is regarded as one of the best known landscape artists from Bengal who blends landscapes with human from in a seamless harmony. His most recent solo show of landscape paintings in water colour, 'Kaleido-scapes: Nature in Vibrant Hues', at Gallerie Ganehsa, Greater Kailash II, depict landscapes in miniature fromat with highly detailed architecture: ruined temples, weathered habitations and boats by the waterside.

His landscapes reflect a translucent glow of colour (that Bengal art assimilated from Chinese and Japanese calligraphic art) blended with the detailed portrayal of monuments and human figures from miniatures. Then there are his boldly coloured works that concentrate on objects of daily use – another important trend in Bengal art that he manages to balance with large areas of formless space. His works are an important contribution to the art of Bengal, dialectical, evocative and memorable for the quality of their execution.

An art critic Suneet Chopra says, "When I saw his earlier works, what struck me was the proportion of human figures that blended beautifully with the landscape and yet held their ground in a symbiotic relationship, evoking the relation between man and his creations together. Since then, he has blown up these miniatures in a manner that builds a harmony between froms and the formless flows of colour, inviting the eye to explore space while at the same time following the narrative of his figures set in the theatrical backdrop of architectural froms.These romantic reveries of spaces in the mind are successful largely because of his excellence as a painter of rare quality without which his landscapes would have been reduced to being mere pictures."

Born in 1954 in Kaliyaganj, North Bengal, Poddar studied at the College of Art and Craft, Kolkata and completed his five years of diploma in Applied Art with a gold medal. He turned to full time painting in the nineties, following the success of his shows of watercolours in Delhi and Mumbai.

He has shown his work in nearly 25 solo and group shows in India and abroad. His works are with collectors and corporate houses in Delhi, Mumbai, USA, Hongkong, Canada, Australia and Singapore besides others.

The exhibition will be open for public viewing from March 25 and will continue till April 25 from 11 am to 7 pm.