PRESS RELEASE*
SCRIBBLES FROM THE UNDERGROUND AND SATIRE FROM ABOVE
Debnath Basu
November 9- December 20
Opening Reception, November 9, 6-9 pm
Artist will be in attendance
Monochromatic, not black and white. Aicon gallery, Palo Alto, presents the works of Debnath Basu of mixed media on paper, in his first US solo show. These works are submerged in dark and dense grey tonalities where visibility is at stake. Darkness in Debnath's work is affirmative, signifying blackness loaded with effective insinuations, which may be wiped out to reveal light but the removal will only uncover further darkness. The viewer can be baffled at the human images that slowly emerge and had initially looked like incoherent trifling marks and lines
Debnath's works have been described as trudging across a pool of history, culture, anecdotes, references and ironies. Though the words may hold true about his works, over the years his art has become sharper and more self-reflexive. They share his fundamental idea that the more that is hidden and suppressed, the more art must reveal and dismantle.
His art derives largely from a muddled setting he has seen, lived and participated in. In his works titled 'Irritable Bowel Syndrome 1', 'Irritable Bowel Syndrome 2' and 'Reclining Figure of 9 (Power of a strange digit)', architectural diagrams of prisons and the figure 9 (in Bengali script) are symbols of the dominant power that may turn human beings into crippled beings. An encounter with the judicial system a decade ago still functions as a major source for many of his ideas and imageries.
Debnath introverts himself completely into his work and thereby manages to play out his innermost conflicts in the public realm. By freely mixing images and letters, Basu creates works that can be read at different levels.
He comes from the Bengal school where artists retain their individuality, remain rooted and not imitate global trends. The school holds an important place in the art historical canon, but perhaps because it most strongly associated with an earlier phase of India's modern art movement on the contemporary art scene, Bengal is viewed as the more conservative of India's artistic centers.
Born in Howrah, West Bengal in 1961, he completed his Masters in Visual Arts from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He held his first solo exhibition in Mumbai in 1995, and participated in various group shows including Mumbai in 2000 and 2001, Vienna in 2002, Kolkata in 2003, Delhi in 2005. He has been honored for his work by Kanoria Centre for Art in 1989-90, received a Junior Fellowship from ministry of HRD, Government of India in 1992-94 and a Fine Arts Fellowship from Vikram Sarabhai Foundation, New Delhi in 1993-95.
He lives and works in Kolkata.
For further inquiries and visuals, please contact,
paloalto@aicongallery.com
650 321 4900