Afternoon, 4 May, 2010, Mumbai

Afternoon, 4 May, 2010, Mumbai

A journey from reality by Ananta Mandal

There is a good old train engine, letting of waves of black steam which as they mix with surrounding air becomes pale white. There is a butterfly with wings spread out. There are some strange small geometrical forms.

There is not much reality there. The artist takes a journey from it. And then there is no limit, no horizon. The artist has chosen a good subject which lets him go beyond everything, bring in nowhere forms. Nothing is real. Even the colours. And the images.

Impressions. Beautiful, lyrical impressions. Hazy, vague scenes. It could be a dream. In a dream, anything can happen. There is no place for reality in a dream.

It gets distorted. It may even vanish. In some paintings, the face emerges. In one of them there is an unusual headqear or is it the head itself? A girl with a small bosom wearing a dress specially made by the artist himself. And there are wings. Is she an angel. And a Kathakali dancer – a most colourful subject for an artist – particularly for one who is journeying away from reality. And the “Dreamfantasy” painting showing beautiful faces of women with frozen expressions.
Ananta Mandal is an excellent artist. He is young but he has already arrived.

( Content courtesy of http://www.afternoondc.in/brush-with-art/a-journey-from-reality-by-ananta-mandal/article_1643 )