22 November 2023 /

ACHIN POTUA – Group show of Paintings, Sculpture and Printmaking that explore various forms of contemporary art and propagate its aesthetics within the masses.

The exhibition will be on view at Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Basant Kumar Birla Gallery, Southern Avenue, Kolkata from 28 November 2023 till 3 December 2023.

“Achin Potua, a Bengali term that counts for ‘Unknown Folk Artists’ in English, is a group of painters, sculptors and graphic artists, mostly from Kolkata. To nurture and explore the various forms of contemporary art and propagate its aesthetics within the masses, a batch of young aspirant painters and sculptors founded the group on 9^th April, 1980 by organizing a street exhibition of their works. This marked the beginning of a relentless journey,” says the organisers of this historical exhibition that marks the 41^st Annual Show.

“The early years of repeated street and open-air exhibitions and road-side seminars on art drew attention of the media and gained inspirations of stalwart art personnels of Bengal. Its immediate outcome was the historic Annual Street Exhibition organized by ‘Achin Potua’ that not only exhibited the works of its members but also got active participation of renowned artists and sculptors along with that of the upcoming generation of young practitioners of art for the first time,” explains in detail.

In earlier days, renowned artists and notable patrons including eminent artists Paritosh Sen, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Sunil Das, Wasim R. Kapoor, Bijon Chowdhury, Prakash Karmakar, Asit Pal, Chitta Dey, Subrata Gangopadhyay, Shanu Lahiri participated in the shows.

Prestigious Bajaj Art Gallery and Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai presented group shows of ‘Achin Potua’ during 1988 and 1989. The renowned painter Mr. M.F.Husain and noted art critic Mr. Dhaneshwar Nadkarni visited ‘Achin Potua’ shows at the Bajaj and Jehangir Art Gallery.

In Bengal since 1983, ‘Achin Potua’ has organized regular annual gallery shows at the Academy of Fine Arts, Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Gaganendra Shilpa Pradarshashala (Kolkata Information Centre), Kounik Art Gallery, open-air shows at South Kolkata Tennis Club, Santiniketan, Bolpur, Birbhum, Banipur Art Society Campus, North 24 Parganas, open-air exhibitions and cultural performances at Rashbehari Junction, Hedua Park, Victoria House, Esplanade Junction, Madhusudan Mancha and Nandan- Rabindra Sadan Campus in Kolkata.

The members of the group have exhibited all over India and were privileged to have their works under private collections at Spain Embassy, American Embassy, Tractor’s India and elsewhere in Kolkata, Durgapur and Shantiniketan in West Bengal, at Mumbai, Nagpur in Maharashtra and also Art Australian Red Cross Society, YWCA, Australia; Japan, Mexico and South Korea.