The Shadows took Shape
That transient moment, when shapes cohere in the shadows of devastation and creation, that moment makes it worthwhile. It is a fleeting clarity, yet the journey is endless as the horizon. It runs parallel to my artistic journey. It is subsumed in my sense of myself as an artist. Both as a person and as an artist, I am in constant dialogue with myself, on my art and forms, the ways of expressing, my doubts and experiments. It is about absorbing new languages and mediums and my involvement with what is relevant.
Alongside my long decades of practice as a painter and photographer, I see myself inevitably drawn to the flexibility of moving objects. More so, the barely moving, where the stillness is rich with latent energy.
I’m always trying to rediscover myself. I often falter. But the terrain is wide, fascinating and generous. There’s no beginning or end to this course. The small insights I collect on my way are my capital. I want my viewers to embrace my search as their own, whether at the beginning or the end.
-
Chandra BhattacharjeeDirector
-
Chandra BhattacharjeeWriter
-
Ayan MukherjeeProducer
-
Subrata SahaKey Cast
-
Puspen RoyKey Cast
-
Ayan MukherjeeKey Cast
-
Project Type:Short
-
Runtime:19 minutes 50 seconds
-
Completion Date:March 20, 2021
-
Country of Origin:India
-
Country of Filming:India
-
Shooting Format:Digital
-
Aspect Ratio:16:9
-
Film Color:Black & White
-
First-time Filmmaker:Yes
-
Student Project:No
Distribution Information
-
A.M (Art Multi disciplines)DistributorCountry: IndiaRights: All Rights
I am a mid-career painter working out of my studio in Kolkata, India. Over the last three decades of practice, I have developed my signature style amalgamating my forms, colour palette and themes. I have always been curious about exploring different mediums and dimensions.
I am an art college graduate, but my area of education was applied art.In retrospect, this initial exposure to applied art opened up some avenues for me at various points of my artistic journey. Though my primary pursuit is painting, I have successfully introduced to my oeuvre multi-disciplinary elements of graphic art (wood-cut, lithograph, etching), sculpture (wood, bronze) and of course photography; and now pictures in motion. My involvement as a painter hashelped me to consistently frame my images and shots.
The camera for me is also a tool for my art. I find myself trying to capture or condense in my lens the vastness of the land. My photographs and films are large-scale, mostly long shots, yet habit inevitably draws me to nature’s smallest elements and consequently into the details.
Apart from exhibitions of my paintings, I have participated in a few group photography shows. A solo photography show is now a work in progress. I have also curated a photography project involving visual artists.
My website https://www.chandrabhattacharjee.com/ has a selection of both my paintings and photographs.
Brief resume
Chandra Bhattacharjee was born in 1960. He graduated from the Indian College of Art and Draughtsmanship with a first class first in 1986. He received a gold medal from Rabindra Bharati University in 1986 for excellence in fine arts. He received the Taj Gaurav award in 2008. He was honoured by the President of India as an artist in residence at the RashtrapatiBhavan in November 2020. He had started his career as a billboard artist. He lives and works in Kolkata.
He has so far held 17 solo shows with Art Alive, Delhi; Galerie 88, Kolkata; The Gallery in Cork Street, London, in collaboration with Threshold Art; Palette Art Gallery, New Delhi; Sumukha Art Gallery, Bangalore; Gallery Beyond, Mumbai; Art Heritage, New Delhi. His upcoming solo is slated for March 2020 in Art Alive, New Delhi. His works have part of auctions held by Art For Humanity, Art Chennai, Emami Chisel, Bonhams, Apparaoart and Saffronart.
He has been a part of many national and international art workshops and curated group expositions. His latest group participations include Constellations, Kolkata; Art Now, Delhi; Art: Bengal Now, Delhi; Black Hole Project, AM, Kolkata; Body, Shanghamugham Art Museum, Kochi; Reclaiming Gandhi, Museum of Goa and 100 Years of Champaran, Bihar Museum. He is a regular at the India Art Fair and Art Singapore. His works are in the public collections of the Museum of Bengal Modern Art, Kolkata; Jordan National Gallery of Fine Art; Govt Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh.
Chandra’s images are contemplative, empathetic; and reflective of his personality. Discomfiting undercurrents belie the apparent calmness of his visual language. ‘The onslaught on nature seeps into spaces of my mind that I never knew existed,’ he says. Being a figurative painter, his subjects are human being, animals, botanical forms and terrains. Many of his works engage with deception. ‘We think we are making independent choices but it is all a charade,’ says Chandra.
That transient moment, when shapes cohere in the shadows of devastation and creation, that moment makes it worthwhile. It is a fleeting clarity, yet the journey is endless as the horizon. It runs parallel to my artistic journey. It is subsumed in my sense of myself as an artist. Both as a person and as an artist, I am in constant dialogue with myself, on my art and forms, the ways of expressing, my doubts and experiments. It is about absorbing new languages and mediums and my involvement with what is relevant.
Alongside my long decades of practice as a painter and photographer, I see myself inevitably drawn to the flexibility of moving objects. More so, the barely moving, where the stillness is rich with latent energy.
I’m always trying to rediscover myself. I often falter. But the terrain is wide, fascinating and generous. There’s no beginning or end to this course. The small insights I collect on my way are my capital. I want my viewers to embrace my search as their own, whether at the beginning or the end.