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They are not just prints...

Appreciate print making as an art, at an exclusive show

AN APPEAL OF ITS OWN Some of the prints on display

The art market is on a new high. The modern and contemporary Indian paintings are making the sale graph reach dizzy heights. An attempt is also being made to bring prints as a form of artistic creation into the mainstream to attract the collector/or and connoisseur's attention. Apparao Galleries is showcasing works of well-known print makers of India. These prints have been sourced from a single collector. The concept of an exclusive print show is nevertheless to put valence on this particular medium, which requires an appreciation from the wider audience to make it popular and more importantly, acceptable as a work worth collecting. The prints in this exhibition are of high quality.

The development of printmaking in India paralleled developments in painting and sculpture. Though it has developed as a creative medium of artistic expression, its aesthetic defies the understanding/comprehension for an ordinary bourgeoisie populace. The question that flummoxes them is that it is `only a print' and hence not original as a painted canvas or a watercolour.

As a matter of fact, some of the greatest and most valuable images in the history of world art stem from printmaking. Yet there are questions that remain to be answered, viz. what constitutes an original work of graphic art?

It is important however to realise that an artistic print is an original work of art when the artist deliberately selects one of the printing processes such as engraving, dry point, mezzotint, etching, aquatint, mixed method engraving, woodcut, lithograph, serigraphy, linocut, monoprint and collograph to create his image. The creativity is bonded to the medium. Original prints are often referred to by the printing technique that was used to produce them.

The artists represented in this show are B.R. Panesar, Amitabh Banerjee, Ajit Chakraborty, Sailen Mitra, Shyamal Dutta Ray, Arun Bose, Sanat Kar, Dipak Banerjee, Ganesh Haloi, Suhas Roy, Sunil Das, Lalu Prasad Shaw, Bikas Bhattacharjee, Niranjan Pradhan, Manu Parekh, Manik Talukdar, Sadhan Chakraborty, Sunil Kumardas, Manoj Mitra, Aditya Basak, Bimal Kundu, Swapan Kumar Das, Manoj Dutta and Pradipp Maitra. Some of them are well-established names in the realm of painting, and all the artists are from Bengal.

The medium employed by all of the artists is etching; the colours are muted and earthy as ochres, night greys, absolute black, mossy greens or in sepia tones. The theme is predominantly figurative except for Ganesh Haloi who is an abstractionist; it is interesting to see abstract prints. Some of the works that catches attention by their themes, textures and colours are those of Shyamal Dutta Ray, Aditya Basak, Panesar, Pradhan, Arun Bose, Swapan Kumar Das, Shaw and Sanat Kar.

Exhibitions of exclusive print shows are rare, though an attempt was made recently by a group of artists working at the regional Lalit Kala, Egmore and by Jacob Jebraj. A greater visibility and empathy is required for the appreciation of this particular medium, which mandates expensive studio equipment and the physical labour that goes into printmaking. But the bottom line is it is still creativity at stake, which makes prints so different and versatile from a painting or sculpture.

To enhance a better understanding of prints, Sharan Apparao will deliver an illustrated lecture on October 9 at 7 p.m., Apparao Galleries.

The show is on view till October 7.

ASHRAFI S. BHAGAT

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