20 April 2024/

SIX YOUNG & TALENTED ARTISTS FORM AN ART GROUP – DHARITRI ART COLLECTIVE EXHIBITS ART WORKS AT NEW DELHI

ARTISTS: SHIKHA PATEL/ SUKAMAL KHATUA/ ANANNYA HAR / AAKASH DEEP/ UDAY KARMAKAR/SWARUP MANNA

“Six young artists form an art group, Dharitri Art Collective. Hailing from small towns in India, they have come to Delhi to mark their names in the art scene. This is the never ending story of Indian contemporary art. Displacement by choice plays a huge part in its making. In the process of this transition, their art lingua also undergoes the same changes. Looking at the works of Anannya Har, Aakash Deep, Shikha Patel, Sukamal Khatua, Uday Karmakar and Swarup Manna, I see the anxiety and hope caused by this relocation. The works have the traces of their college time practices and at the same time they also have the aspirations, doubts, hopes and anxieties that they currently undergo in Delhi,” renowned art Curator Johny ML comments on the artworks of six young talented artists who exhibit in the banner SHAPE OF ANXIETY: LIFE IN A METRO at New Delhi.

“Between irony and self-redeeming satire, these works that uphold transitory aesthetics vie for attention and appreciation. As beginners in the field they need sympathetic consideration from the viewers,” he added.

The Varanasi-based artist Shikha Patel holds an MFA and a BFA from BHU and participated in numerous national and international art camps and workshops. She is working as a research scholar at BHU and freelancing as a painter and muralist. She has worked as a guest faculty member at the College of Art, New Delhi.

Artist Shikha Patel, primarily a figurative artist who explores human behavior in diverse socio-political contexts, utilizes various mediums, ranging from traditional oil and acrylics to innovative approaches like painting on found objects or photographs. Shikha focuses on the concept of self and its identity, as evident in her latest painting series and research on self-referential art practices in contemporary India.

“I was interested in drawing in multiple ways at different times. I believe this is the only way I can talk, imagine and express myself properly. I am influenced by the events that take place in every moment in this society. My depictions are a combination of nature’s relationship with man and events happening around this concern, says artist Swarup Manna who has completed BFA from Government College of Art and Craft, Calcutta and MFA from IKSVV Khairagarh, Chhattisgarh. He has participated in many Group shows and art camps all over the country and received an HRD Scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, New Delhi.

Aakash deep, Delhi based Sculptor born in Delhi, completed his Bachelor from Jamia University of Delhi, started working on miniature carvings exploring various available materials like Chalk and other experimental mediums. Aakash deep exhibits his sculptures, “a meditative seeking within his own inner expressions” as the artist describes.

Artist Anannya Har, born in Ghatal, a village near Kolkata completed Bachelor degree from Chandpada ( IKSVV) and Masters form Khairagarh University. She received HRD scholarship and Junior fellowship from CCRT and participated in various group shows and art camps.

“I used to work on my own of loneliness and nostalgia to some extent. Even today I am working this way. My art practice revolves around my personal life experiences. It is mostly inclined towards the feminist aspect of my being. Coming from a joint family of a village, I have seen inequality and struggle of women around me. My works are highly personal and talk about women’s social issues simultaneously,” artist Anannya Har says of her artworks that are mostly drawing based and narrative in language.

Artist Uday Karmakar, Kolkata based artist also exhibits his exquisite art works here.

“I love to explore ink and charcoal as my primary medium for my artworks to represent my day to day struggle and survival of humans in their lifetime. I like to use the people in my surroundings as my muse for the artworks too because at the end of the day, we are a victim of our surroundings and the people in it. They influence our thoughts, emotions, beliefs and behaviour,” says artist Sukamal Khatua.

Artist Sukamal Khatua has completed bachelors from Government College of Art and Craft in Indian Paintings and M.F.A. from I.K.S.V.V, Khairagarh, Chhattisgarh.