Stairway
About the Artwork
| Medium : | Watercolour on paper |
| Size : | 29 X 15.5 Inches |
About the Artist
Arpita Basu's art is bound to the rhythms and traditions of Bengal. Steeped in lyrical folksy beauty, her watercolours capture the idyllic rhythms of everyday life in its towns, cities and villages - boys spinning tops, kids sipping tender coconut, a woman with cats and a young parrot seller. But the textually rich canvasses (layered in handmade rice paper) in green, ochre, nutmeg and turquoise also throw up a keen, multi-layered socio-cultural commentary on rural life in the coastal state. The Kolkata-based artist, whose work is part of the archival collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, reinvents the age-old medium of Kantha. The traditional, embroidered, handmade quilts made by Bengali women are reimagined as vivid, contemporary tapestries. Peppered with billowing white clouds, flying white cranes and dusky, rustic protagonists, the quilt-like narratives offer a bird's eye view of homes, fields and people at work, play and rest.
Kolkata Art Show 2019
