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Journalism of Courage
Known for his realistic paintings, artist Sanjay Bhattacharyya considers light the most important element in his composition — whether it is his expansive paintings or photographs taken from his cellphone. Trained at the Government College of Art and Craft in Kolkata, the moment is sacrosanct in his layered depictions.
Excerpts from an interview:
In your paintings and photographs the play of light is evident. What draws you to light as a subject and symbol?
Light is the most important element in every composition. From the very beginning, I was interested in different shapes of shadows of the objects and the contrast that comes with light at different timings.
The exhibition is divided into four visual categories: Distortions, Reflections, Shadows and Textures. If you could share the thought process behind arriving at these?
These four visual categories dominated the whole exhibition. They reflect my love for complicated textures, the distorted reflections of human beings or objects and the thousand different types of play of shadows. Most of my photos are different from what we usually see and my intention is to show the other side of the normal.
Much of your recent photographic work blurs the boundaries between reality and abstraction. What does abstraction mean to you?
Abstraction is a language spoken to explain the layers of the objects which are not visible through normal sight. In fact, I’ve done two series of paintings which are geometrical abstractions. I feel deep-rooted experiences can reflect visually in abstractions. It’s not as if people resort to abstraction because they can’t draw properly or can’t paint skilfully; in that case the weakness of the creator can’t escape.
Your works incorporate fragments such as rusted metal and decaying surfaces. What draws you to these?
I have a tremendous weakness for old things — to me they all are storytellers and carry a lot of memories. Old objects mostly have very matured mixed colours and textures, which are difficult not to be attracted to.
You shoot primarily on your cell phone. What appeals to you about this immediacy of the mobile camera compared to traditional equipment or painted canvas?
I started doing photography with SLR, but the kind of images I like to click now are not always possible through SLR. For instance, when I click a reflection it’s difficult to avoid the reflection of the camera if it’s SLR, but I can hide my mobile camera. Moreover, a camera allows one to click without wasting time to adjust lenses or aperture.
