My village, my woman
RANA SIDDIQUI
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Biplab Biswas' works narrate moments of personal anguish, deep concerns.
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FORCEFUL A Biplab Biswas work.
In this age of artists often busier lobbying than working on the canvas, Biplab Biswas is silently translating the social problems on the canvas. Women and the beautiful life of village still remain his favourite subjects though.
A victim of social apathy, Biplab is showing his works at Lokayata: Mulk Raj Anand Centre, Hauz Khas Village. His brush takes recourse to his past life in village Behratpur in Kolkata in almost all his creations. His creations speak of social truths. Here are some instances. A lonely boy from the village finds no friends in the big, bad city of Delhi. Brooding, he remembers the warmth in his hometown. A woman pleading with her man to give her space in his life turns blind, crying. But the man, forever lost in the thought of Lord Krishna, doesn't pay heed to his family responsibilities. Biplab's men are less forceful than his women in his oil works.
"A woman as a mother, sister, wife, friend is a solace provider yet she is never treated properly in any society. Unless the society's attitude changes towards her, she will keep on suffering. We men can never equal her strength," he says. This concern has made him paint women more prominently in all his works. Hence men find lesser space.
Loss of wife
This alumnus of Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata came to Delhi with a loving wife 30 years ago. She died eight years ago when he was an illustrator with Suman Publications. "I had to leave the job, as I wasn't able to rear up my infant child without her. When my wife died, there was no one to pick her body with me. People kept seeing from a distance but didn't offer their shoulder. I had to call two rickshaw pullers to do the job. They asked for some money for booze in return. After I agreed, they helped me take her body to the burial ground. Such is the grief that Delhi has given me. Here, unless you have great connection, no one is ready to meet you. Calibre is the last thing on influential people's mind. I have been living here for 30 years but I hate it," says this simpleton who has been more of a philanthropist, having helped many people get employment.
The tragic elements in his life find space in his works. A melancholy pervades in them except when it is a scenic beauty of his native village. Yet, the melancholy doesn't make his works devoid of their lyrical, allegorical and highly symbolic quality, his strong points.
Next on his canvas will be landscapes of his native village in black and white with Chinese ink. "No one has worked exclusively on it. I will draw the interior parts of Behratpur which is almost a no man's land," he shares.
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