Expo hails maestro
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Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendra art expo was a fitting tribute to the genius of N. Chandrasekhar Rao.
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`Melody' by Chandrasekhar Rao.
THE ARTISTIC genius of N. Chandrasekhar Rao is beyond question. Anyone who has seen his art works of more than four decades can vouchsafe for that. Rao was cut off in his prime cruelly by fate last year.
So it was in the fitness of things that a retrospective exhibition of the artist was organised at the Rashtriya Lalit Kala Kendra, the regional centre of the Central Academy at Bhubaneswar, for six days recently.
Winner of many awards, Rao was known for the modernist flavour that evolved out of his traditional base. His treatment of myths and village life showed influence of myriad styles, both Indian folk and western.
They impacted the viewers because of the visual appeal and the emotion they conveyed, whether it was a myth reworked or a village scene filtered through his temperament. He had a steady and sure hand and he excelled in painting sensuous female figures. No wonder that his fame went beyond the shores of Orissa.
What's more, in most group exhibitions of Oriya artists, it was Rao's paintings that recorded the highest sales. The 60 art works of Rao on display covered various phases of his career and so projected his evolution as an artist and his artistic concerns.
Apart from being predominantly water colours, the works also featured a few litho prints. There was an evocative quality about Rao's paintings even when he gave shape to a village bazaar. And his success lay in his stylisation fusing the modern with the traditional, since his focus remained the village life and mythology.
BIBHUTI MISHRA
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