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However,a crop of contemporary artists are treading unfamiliar grounds in a bid to break the ice between how the city perceives art and their take on it.

Rampurhat-based Kalam Patua had grown up watching his uncle,Baidyanath Patua,an idol maker make pata chitras about epics and folktales. A postmaster by occupation,Kalam decided to pursue the art even though he knew it wasn’t going to be financially rewarding. “But then I realized,the concerns of contemporary life are very different from what they used to be when pata chitras used to be made in Kalighat in the early 19th century,” says Kalam who has tried reviving the Kalighat school of pata chitras. So,while the traditional version told visual stories about folktales,gods,epics and babu culture that thrived at that time,Kalam’s works delve into the dreams,frustrations and realities of life in our times.

Kalam’s work is irreverent,risqué and subversive in spirit. He talks about homosexuality,mid life crisis,sexual fetishes in his works with natural ease. Women are not deified,and represented as real flesh and blood creatures,with real desires and fancies. “There was an initial apprehension about how things would be perceived. But I realized that these are issues integral to our lives,and I decided to go ahead,” says Kalam. The departure from the traditional content does have its initial hiccups. Take the case of Montu Chitrakar of Noya Village in Midnapore. The best of his works are not about the folktales his forefathers had made a living out of. “There was an initial resistance to the changes I brought in. But it’s important to acknowledge how the world has changed around us. All forms of art do that,” says Montu,whose family,including wife Jaba and daughter 10-year-old Sonia are into the art.

Kalam recollects overhearing a lesbian couple in the midst of a lover’s tiff at an event he was attending. “Awareness about such issues has not traveled into the small townships like ours. So,I was taken aback at first. But I the realized that every human being has the right to love,whatever path it takes,” explains Kalam. And so he decided that his work should reflect the change in perceptions he went through. Agrees Montu. He has works on the 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai,the tsunami,Osama Bin Laden,on Nandigram and Singur closer home. “There’s a lot happening in the world around us. We can’t afford to take refuge in mythology for art’s sake,” says Montu.

The refurbished version of the art,it seems is also making a neat cut in the world of art. Kalam had had exhibitions in Delhi and his works have travelled abroad. Montu gets a lot of assignments from the Capital too. “A work of mine,on America post 9/11,sold for Rs 35,000,” says Kalam. And it’s not everyday that you find people crowding around a pata chitra artist like you find in the handicrafts fair at Salt Lake. Milan Patua from the Intagoria village in Birbhum district,seems to be a happy man. His scrolls,which too have embraced topics like environment etc find curious takers. “In fact,several pata chitra artists from Midnapore have embraced changes and are on the way of reviving a market for their art,” says Kalam. But then,Kolkata is yet to wake up to the changes with vigour. “The response in Delhi and other states to our art is more than in the city. There’s not much awareness still,” confirms Montu.