“Water, water, everywhere...nor any drop to drink” — these famous words of Samuel Taylor Coleridge illustrate the plight of almost every holy ghat in the country today. And upcoming painter Tanima Bhattacharya chooses this elusive water as a subject for her canvas creations.
With her focus firm on hometown Kolkata and its surroundings, the artist says, “The City of Joy is a fascinating site to zoom in for photography, painting and chronicling too. Its large abounding waterscape is a haunting haven for various seekers of aesthetics and wanderlusted visitor.”
The artist is visibly taken in by the charm of the ghats of Kolkata. “So many times I have noticed tourists fixated with the sights and sounds in such places, glued to thier cameras, trying to capture the hustle and bustle of the daily life at the ghats,” she says, adding, “Also there are so many references of these ghats found in historical texts.”
In her exhibition titled Jaler Dhare: The Bank of a River, Tanima will exhibit about 25 paintings in water chromes, which are part of her collection at the city’s prestigious Academy of Fine Arts Gallery. In these paintings she has recreated the beauty of all the major ghats of the Hoogly and Ganges, such as the Barrackpore Dhobi Ghat, Belurmath Ghat, Dakshineshwar Ghat, Princep Ghat, Outram Ghat, Babu Ghat, Badamtala Ghat, Neemtala Ghat, and Keorata Ghat, besides many more.
“I remember taking a launch ride from Howrah to Baghbazar one day, freeze-framing the ghats and canals in my mind, to be used for future references.
But the painter is a huge patron of the lens too. “You see, photography is an immense help to retain memory. While in motion, be it on board a moving bus or sitting in a rowing boat or strolling along a ship’s deck, your mind can’t hold onto every single pore and particle that it brushes past,” she says, adding, “Hence, it becomes exceedingly important to grab the moments in a series of snapshots, to help reproduce the same, adding your own personal touch. And an artist can either downplay his creation or catapult the piece to a different level altogether, depending on what he has set out to do.”
Originally from the Gaya district of Bihar, Tanima shifted her base to West Bengal after completing her graduation. Armed with a zest for life and a zeal for the fine arts, she then completed a diploma course from the reputed Indian Society of Oriental Arts, Kolkata. But despite the prolonged schooling, she calls herself a self-taught artist and asserts that she wants to master the wash technique craft like the famous Bengal artists Gaganendranath Tagore and Bikash Bhattacharjee, who she consider role models. “I’m greatly inspired by their works and would like to imbibe that kind of finesse in my creations. But emulating masterpieces is never an easy task. And wash technique, after all, is a time-consuming and painstaking affair,” she says.
A participant at the All India Painting Workshop 2009, organised by the Government of India, Tanima says that it has been a rewarding experience to rub shoulders with 20 accomplished artists from different corners of the country. “You need this kind of high-level exposure at an early age to enrich your minds,” says the 28-year-old.
Her use of resplendent hues varying from yellowish tints to brick reds, bright blues and lush greens plus cerulean cyans only mirror her knack for a picturesque canvas. But the artist doesn’t go overboard with her brushstrokes to keep the results embalmingly serene, which in turn creates a lasting impression on the viewer.
The very fact that at such a young age, Tanima already has three solo shows to her credit, shows how comfortable and comfident she is in her creative pursuit. And as her next show inches close, the artist says, “This is going to be my fourth solo show and I am keeping my fingers crossed.” But looking at how soon the artist has carved a niche in the art scape of the culture capital, one can safely say that here’s one artist whose brush speaks louder than her words.