At a time when there is uncertainty about Durga Puja, Debovasha organized Siddhidata (August 14-28), an online exhibition of works depicting Ganesha by seven artists. With the exception of Ganesh Haloi, the rest played safe and presented conventional images of the eponymous deity with a potbelly and a proboscis. Laluprasad Shaw presents Ganesha’s elephantine visage in shades of russet. He looks calm and sedate. His floppy ears are lined with rings, his only indulgence. Ramananda Bandopadhyay turned Ganesha into an infant coddled by his mother and other ladies. Rendered with fluid lines that accentuate their rotund shapes, the artist does not take any chances with these tried and tested images. Krishnendu Chaki is different. His Ganesh is a dancer with a trim waist. Dancing Ganeshas are not unusual in temple sculpture, and Chaki’s paintings stick to the well-known iconography.
Bimal Kundu’s sculpture is dominated by the elephantine head, but his two pen-and-ink drawings hold surprises. These two shadowy beings, albeit with trunks like the Hindu deity, look anything but divine. Painstakingly executed, these two sculptural, wild-eyed figures with stumps for limbs have, what can only be described as a Dionysian element that is at variance with Ganesh’s elevated status as a symbol of wisdom.
Alay Ghoshal depicts ancient sculptures of Ganesh in temples, shrines and caves, watercolour being his preferred medium. They look pleasant enough if only the viewer chooses not to scrutinize these paintings closely. Jogen Chowdhury’s five Ganehsas with their quivering lines that is the hallmark of this artist, help viewers identify the god readily enough. Four of them have eyes set close to each other just above the trunk, cubist fashion, while a fifth has ones resembling lotus-blooms in keeping with the canon. Of the five, the exception is one conceived entirely with jagged, broken lines, probably inspired by Cubism. However, Ganesh is recognizable enough.
The only artist who loves fun is Ganesh Haloi. He turns Ganesha into a huge orb with tiny eyes and a tika on his forehead. A curlicued trunk transmogrifies him into the letter Q, upper case (picture). Quite as playful as his namesake.
