Mamata readies for new paintings show
2 Jan 2013 5:18 AM IST
West Bengal’s chief minister Mamata Banerjee is about to make public 200 new paintings in her fourth solo exhibition – on display at the prestigious Town Hall from 2 January to 18 January. These new paintings – using the medium acrylic on canvas – will also be for sale.
The paintings, done during her one-and-half years in office as chief minister, are mostly on the theme of nature and rural Bengal, also a motif in her last show at Gallerie 88 in 2011. ‘Mamata’s style has matured in these works. She always drew inspiration from nature though there were some human figures in the canvases on display in her last exhibition’, artist Suvaprasanna told Millennium Post. The new exhibition would be titled A Dreamer’s Creation and the proceeds are likely to be spent on a charitable cause.
Last year, Banerjee’s canvasses had yielded Rs 2 crore from sales. Noted industrialists like Harshvardhan Neotia, Tutu Bose, Jai Mehta had picked up some of her paintings. In October this year, another painting of Banerjee – displaying purple flowers on green leaves – was auctioned for $3000 and it was her first painting to be sold abroad. Banerjee, sources say, paints both at her office and at home. She has had three succesful exhibitions till date.
Banerjee seems to be a self-styled painter, though she often discusses the finer points of a work of art or politics with mentor and associate Suvaprasanna, it is not known who her inspiration is. ‘I used to do charcoal and share some techniques with her. But Mamata relies on her own instinct and style always’ said Suvaprasanna.
The paintings, done during her one-and-half years in office as chief minister, are mostly on the theme of nature and rural Bengal, also a motif in her last show at Gallerie 88 in 2011. ‘Mamata’s style has matured in these works. She always drew inspiration from nature though there were some human figures in the canvases on display in her last exhibition’, artist Suvaprasanna told Millennium Post. The new exhibition would be titled A Dreamer’s Creation and the proceeds are likely to be spent on a charitable cause.
Last year, Banerjee’s canvasses had yielded Rs 2 crore from sales. Noted industrialists like Harshvardhan Neotia, Tutu Bose, Jai Mehta had picked up some of her paintings. In October this year, another painting of Banerjee – displaying purple flowers on green leaves – was auctioned for $3000 and it was her first painting to be sold abroad. Banerjee, sources say, paints both at her office and at home. She has had three succesful exhibitions till date.
Banerjee seems to be a self-styled painter, though she often discusses the finer points of a work of art or politics with mentor and associate Suvaprasanna, it is not known who her inspiration is. ‘I used to do charcoal and share some techniques with her. But Mamata relies on her own instinct and style always’ said Suvaprasanna.
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