Kolkata’s prestigious art gallery, Gallerie 88, has been hosting a rather interesting show over the past week. It is a pity that these shows are only on for short durations. It brought the works of some exciting young artists based in Chennai and was launched with a very attractive catalogue.

To my eyes the most attractive were the bronze sculpted figures by Dimpy Menon. They did remind me of the works that of the more famous sculptor Radhakrishnan (trained by none less than Ramkinkar Baij) which have been doing the rounds of the metros in December and January. But I have no qualms in saying the freedom of spirit shown in Menon’s works were admirable and one can only give her full marks on her supple, splendidly balanced and graceful figures. Others must have thought so as well, since she graduated from the Chennai College of Arts and Crafts with top honours in 1986, having majored in sculpture.

Benitha Percival is another artist who can be congratulated for using an unusual combination of materials for her three-dimensional works. Using rice paper, natural glue and seeds she manages to create a textured collage on canvas. No Pollution I Can Breathe shows a shallow concave bowl made of papier mache, with shells attached to it to depict butterflies.

Among the others Parvathi Nayar who did her Masters in Fine Art at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, shows a global outlook with her installations. A number of grouped triptychs, diptychs, and others consisting of graphite on wooden boxes and panels deserve special mention for their interesting textures.

Prasannakumar who used ‘Braille’ paper to show his preoccupation with the cause of the blind, is to be commended for a show that can be appreciated by the visually impaired. His works are mostly shown as paintings on the wall, but he has also taken recourse to showing them as books on traditional book stands

The fifth member of the group Siva M, is the only one who uses traditional techniques in his works. Trained as a printmaker, his acrylics on canvas show a dreamlike quality. However, the work that is most attractive is the charcoal powder sketch interestingly titled Poo, showing a mythical type of plant – even here the quality remains dreamlike.

Another important exhibition that is coming up soon is Art Pilgrim’s upcoming show at Gurgaon. Scheduled between February 23 and March 3, the show is a continuation of The Society of Contemporary Artists Golden Jubilee celebrations and the works of some of its most famous members will be on display.

More importantly, while the larger exhibitions of this group, held in Kolkata had featured on their early works (we might almost say archival works), the upcoming show will feature works that have been created more recently. Among the works we can hope to see are those by Sunil Das, Manoj Mitra, Manu Parekh, Suhas Roy, Shyamal Dutta Ray. Bikash Bhattacharjee, Anil Baran Saha Ganesh Haloi and others. I would suggest that art lovers take notice of these dates and try to make time for this exhibition.

The writer is a painter and has won numerous adveritising design awards