This Exhibition Captures A City’s Colours During Monsoon

With some of them almost a photographic reflection of daybreak after rain, artist Purnendu Mandal's canvasses — currently on exhibition at Triveni Kala Sangam here — are a deluge of vivid warm colours that capture a city's landscape after rain.

"It is almost like looking outside a window, but through a work of art," Mandal told IANS.

Mandal's 15 acrylic- and oil-on-canvass artworks – collectively titled "Reflections 3" – document the subtleties of urban life during the rains — first light in a city, storms, rickshaw-pullers and bus drivers resuming activity after a rainy day, and building silhouettes reflecting in the water-filled puddles.

Also included are visual effects of the monsoon like rain drops, fog, wet climate, reflections in water and shades of dampness.

To that extent, "Good Morning Kolkata" (2018), a painting of a tram on a damp Kolkata street, with old buildings and bundles of electric wires adding to the realistic depiction, reflects a day in the city as one would experience it.

For Mandal, it is about making his canvasses a literal window to the seasonal changes a city undergoes.

"I try to paint cities season-wise. This exhibition shows the beauty of a city after and during the monsoon," Mandal told IANS.

Mandal's impressionistic style revolves around cities and seasons and his rich repository of art has been exhibited around the world.

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"Thus, the current exhibition has scenes from Varanasi ghats, and Kolkata's and Mumbai's urban life," he added.

The West Bengal-born artist has participated in 16 international group art exhibitions in Indonesia, UK, USA, UAE, Thailand, Taiwan, Bangladesh and Nepal, in addition to showcasing his work at Indian galleries including Jehangir Art Gallery, Nehru Centre Art Gallery, Lalit Kala Akademi, AIFACS Gallery, Triveni Art Gallery, Chemould Art Gallery, and Chitra Kala Parishath. (IANS)