What lies beneath the surface of artist Sandip Chakraborty’s sculptural representation is a tornado of thoughts waiting to be voiced. His 50 years of experience in the medium counts for something but for the most part, it’s a divine pursuit akin to prayer, he believes.
That’s why his new exhibition is called In Search of the Celestial, pointing to the endless search for the beatific.
A simple belief system has eased out the creases in Chakraborty’s artistic life. His meditative chant for creative fulfilment is ‘I feel, therefore I am’. “My sculptures are a manifestation of this affirmation.
The design quality and the playout of thoughts, both reflect my belief in myself and the universe that creates everything for me. I merely transcribe them through art,” says 58-year-old Chakraborty.
There are animal and bird forms in addition to human portraits in the exhibit. Of these, the ‘May Tagore’ finds a special place.
“I am an ardent admirer of the poet, Rabindranath Tagore. This sculpture is my imaginary take on him, his intelligence, his intellect, his magnanimity.
I have treated this in a very naturalistic way,” he says.
‘The Double Bull’ sculpture is symbolic of power. It’s a comment on the duty and the responsibility the word carries. ‘The Bird’ piece shows a bird taking the flight of freedom. Her wings are open wide and her stance is optimistic. Her upward torso is reflective of her higher yearnings.
“We are always searching for the ‘abstract’, that is why we are bathing in ‘form’ to actualise it. That abstract for me is the divine elements that I embody through my sculptures,” Chakraborty sounds contend.
The whole range has been cast in bronze by applying the cire perdue or lost-wax casting approach, a 6,000-year-old Italian process by which a duplicate metal sculpture is cast from an original sculpture.
All of Chakraborty’s work is within the framework of Indian classical comprising folk and tribal principles.
A large part of this has been influenced by his studying at Government College of Art & Craft Kolkata, from where he completed his graduation, and then at The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, from where he completed his Masters.
On view till August 23 at Triveni Kala Sangam, Delhi.