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Watercolours on rice paper give a different impression.

Natural Wonders One of Kartick Chandra Pyne’s works on display.

These paintings are triumphs of the will. In 1994, 57-year-old Pyne suffered a cerebral attack, which left his left side paralysed and his speech impaired. He continued to paint after being bed ridden for a decade. But today Pyne does not dwell on his illness. Speaking through his daughter, he says that change has been natural to his work. His paintings have evolved irrespective of his illness.

Often celebrated for introducing surrealism to India, Pyne’s canvases need to be taken as metaphoric rather than literal. Hailing from Kolkata, he started painting at a time when realism was in vogue. But not one to join the bandwagon, he chose the way of the surreal instead.

He plays with different influences, to create his own trademark. Picasso’s cubism combines with Salvador Dali’s flourishes, creating Pyne’s “Night Show”.

Known for his free form figures, Pyne reveals secrets of the human form. But his paintings of nudes dissolve the boundaries between the viewers and the viewed. He explains, “No one is looking at the other. The women in my paintings are free. We are looking at their thoughts, at the impressions in them. We take our time to see what they are thinking.” In “Hidden Beauty”, a woman’s form morphs into a tree. Here, for instance, the woman’s thoughts come to the fore. She, like the tree, is the giver and sustains life. Like the tree, she wishes to stretch upward and shade outwards.

Pyne has worked with different mediums. But he prefers to use oil on canvas for his surreal paintings and watercolours for his landscape and nature works.

This exhibition includes many works on rice paper. He is partial towards rice paper because, “Watercolours on rice paper give a different impression.”

Having painted for nearly 40 years, he says his work has changed with time. As a painter, the worse thing, according to him, is to be typecast.

Bhavna Kakar, Editor of Art & Deal, says that the exhibition is proof of a single man’s commitment to his beliefs. He has resolutely painted his own thoughts with obvious passion.

The exhibition will run till November 25.

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