Australian art seems to be the flavour of this week. Everywhere we can see reviews of ‘Desert Dreamings’ – an exhibition of works by 43 ethnic artists, from Yuendumu, a remote part of Central Australia. Unfortunately, the exhibition mounted at India Habitat Centre, closed on 12th April. I would have wanted more people to see these unique creations, which are particularly enriching for those of us practicing abstract art. We can certainly learn a thing or two from these aboriginal artists.

Two years ago, during a visit to Melbourne, I remember how impressed I was to see some wonderful examples of aboriginal art, at The Museum of Modern Art. So vivid and colourful were these works, that I had to literally tear myself away from the gallery where they were displayed.

At the time, I remember thinking that there were distinct similarities in their style and our Madhubani paintings. We must thank the Warlukurlangu Art Centre – an artist’s cooperative in Australia that helps in promoting aboriginal art — for giving us an opportunity to see this wonderful exhibition.

The last week has seen some other great exhibitions. The Dhoomimal show of drawings has now moved to their gallery in Connaught Place. This was a really special show and we were privileged to see more than 90 drawings, both large and small, both new and old. Among the earliest works were a pen and ink drawing of a ‘Tibetan’ by Sailoz Mookherjee, a pencil design of India’s National flag by Sushil Sarkar and Zainul Abedin’s pen and ink drawing from his ‘Bengal Famine’ series. Souza was well represented by a number of drawings that have probably not been seen before. Satish Gujral’s two drawings received plenty of attention, as did Krishen Khanna’s four works. Visitors flocked to the show to see works by Jamini Roy, M.F Husain, Anjolie Ela Menon, Sunil Das, Paritosh Sen, Vaikuntam, Pramod Ganapatye and so many others, in different styles that were vying for attention.

Another exhibition that I was fortunate to be able to see, was at the Art Pilgrim Gallery. This is a very special gallery indeed and Suneet Chopra, who curated the show, ‘People and Places’, deserves to be lauded. It was wonderful to see a water colour by Bhabesh Sanyal – I had not seen many works by him for many years. A very well displayed exhibition and the works were carefully chosen and mounted. Among the first items that caught my eyes were the glass compositons, by Sisir Sahana. Yusuf Arakal’s works were also attractive and one can see that he is using more modern techniques as well as different subjects.

There were a number of Vaikuntam’s colourful women from Telengana, and a colourful Dharmendra Rathore. Arpana Caur was well-represented, there was a typical Raza, a rather attractive image of a veiled woman by Chandra Bhattacharjee and a number of works by Suhas Roy and Suman Roy. Sanatan Dinda, who has been making waves with his unique style with the use of threads, also has two other studies. Works by Jayasri Burman and Jayashree Chakravarty, two artists with similar names and totally different styles and sensibilities, deserve special mention. The exhibition which has just opened is well worth a visit for art connoisseurs.

Jhupu Adhikari is the winner of numerous

advertising design awards and

a painter of repute