Latest news with #KalakritiArtGallery
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Satadru Sovan Banduri's solo show in Hyderabad focuses on biodiversity facing existential threat
A peacock with a disoriented gaze, a blue poison dart frog from the Amazon struggling to reproduce, and migratory birds and blossoms disrupted by shifting climate patterns — Satadru Sovan Banduri's acrylic and gouache paintings, on display in Hyderabad, strike a deeply emotional chord. In his ongoing exhibition Disappearing Echoes of the Isolated at Kalakriti Art Gallery, the artist turns his gaze to biodiversity under threat. His evocative works explore environmental concerns such as rising sea levels, tectonic shifts, tsunamis, and the silent extinction of flora and fauna, all underscoring the fragility of ecological systems. Peacock loses home 'Imagine losing a place that once belonged to you,' says Satadru Sovan Banduri, referring to a painting of India's national bird — the blue peacock. In Echoes from the Displaced, a peacock stands silenced and confused atop a cold stone. Its familiar habitat and fellow birds are missing, replaced by fragmented flora and unfamiliar fungal growths. The work is Sovan's artistic response to the ecologically sensitive Kanche–Gachibowli land conflict in Hyderabad. Once a thriving natural space teeming with deer and peacocks, the 400-acre stretch was recently in the news due to controversial deforestation efforts undertaken without proper environmental assessment. A Public Interest Litigation filed by concerned citizens and the intervention of the Supreme Court halted halt the land's auction. In another painting, a deer stands surrounded by bulldozers, trying to navigate its sense of displacement, while a peacock circles aimlessly, searching for its nest. 'Animals carry the scars of bulldozers — but we simply don't care,' the artist notes. Looking for new teritory In one striking image, aquatic animals like jellyfish and crabs — displaced by rapidly altering marine ecosystems — are seen soaring skyward, perhaps towards Mars or the moon, in search of a new place to survive. T Meanwhile, another work titled Makeshift Planet Will Host Us shifts focus to the South Pole, specifically Antarctica, home to some of the planet's most iconic and vulnerable species. 'Penguins, especially the emperor penguin, are unique to this region,' says Satadru Sovan Banduri. Sharing the frame are Weddell and leopard seals, various whale species such as orcas and humpbacks, and seabirds like albatrosses and skuas, all seemingly hoping for a temporary replacement for their vanishing home. With over two decades of experience in the arts, Satadru Sovan Banduri began his journey as an animation designer. Trained in gouache and tempera techniques at the Bengal School of Art, and later as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California where he studied new media, Sovan seamlessly blends the tactile with the technological. 'I work on an unset canvas on the floor,' he says, describing his layered, immersive approach. His process begins with poetry, followed by ecological research. The composition is first laid out digitally, then transferred to canvas and brought to life with colour. To frame his paintings, a carpenter constructs sculptural, uneven borders, giving the works a three-dimensional quality. These irregular edges also carry meaning: 'The maps are changing every day because of global warming,' he says. 'So my works have no fixed shape.' The real challenge, says the artist, was capturing the emotional weight of what the animals are going through. 'I had to represent their voice,' he explains, 'so that viewers could hear their howls.' Disappearing Echoes of the Isolated' at Kalakriti Art Gallery is on till August 5. His acrylic with gouache paintings depict displacement and environmental concerns
Mint
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
It's a busy weekend with art, theatre and good food
Kalakriti Art Gallery will present a solo show of Satadru Sovan Banduri's latest works. The exhibition, Disappearing Echoes of the Isolated, will feature works across a range of media, including canvases. The paintings draw you in with their vibrant dreamlike visuals, featuring a variety of flora and fauna. The show carries forth the artist's engagement with 'speculative ecology, metamorphic embodiment and post-human imagination'. 'Satadru Sovan Banduri does not offer coherent answers or stable meanings. Rather his works stage speculative encounters with ruin, with pleasure, with after-life,' writes curator Satyajit Dave. Preview on 11 July; exhibition will be on till 5 August at Kalakriti, Hyderabad, 11am-7pm. A painting from the art show, 'Jangarh Kalam from Patangarh Continued'. The Raza Foundation, in association with the Progressive Art Gallery and Triveni Kala Sangam, is presenting a group show, Jangarh Kalam from Patangarh Continued. It features around 200 works by over 50 traditional artists from across Madhya Pradesh and spotlights a significant cultural movement in Indian indigenous art. 'At its core, it is a living homage to the late Jangarh Singh Shyam, a visionary artist, who revolutionised the course of Gond painting, bringing its traditional forms into a new idiom, recognised across the world as the 'Jangarh Kalam',' states the curatorial note. At Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, till 10 July, 11am-7pm. An image of flat rishas. The Registry of Sarees, a research and study centre, in collaboration with The Marg Foundation, is presenting Revisiting The Risha: The Identity of Self and Community, a show that explores the identity of self and community through the lens of the risha, a narrow, unstitched breast cloth wrapped around the upper body by the tribal women of Tripura. At The Registry of Sarees, Domlur, Bengaluru, till 13 July, 10.30am-5.30pm (closed on Mondays). For details, visit Kootu Curry is on the menu at JW Marriott Bengaluru's Malabar Moplah Festival. Dig into the cuisine of Kerala's Malabar coast with a curated menu at the Malabar Moplah Festival that highlights the Mappila (Moplah) community's culinary heritage. Helmed by chef Anil K. Varickattu, the food pop-up offers dishes like Koon Ulli Thiyal and Kootu Curry, and desserts such as Pazham Pradhaman, made with ripe bananas and jaggery, and Ambalapuzha Payassam, a creamy rice pudding. At Spice Terrace, JW Marriott Hotel, KG Halli, Shanthala Nagar, Bengaluru, till 13 July, 7-11pm. For details, call 8884675454. A still from 'Hum Dono'. Written by Dinesh Thakur, Hindi play Hum Dono is inspired by Arbuzov's original Russian comedy, Old World. It revolves around two elderly strangers who are finding ways to live life to the fullest. At Godrej Dance Theatre, National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA), NCPA Marg, Nariman Point, Mumbai, 6 July, 6.30pm. For details, visit Audience at The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience. This month, the travelling exhibition, The Real Van Gogh Immersive Experience, makes a pitstop in Bengaluru. Viewers will get to see a specially-curated line-up of 70 captivating artworks from Van Gogh's extraordinary repertoire including Starry Night, Sunflowers, and Wheatfield with Crows. Curated and animated by visual artists Hemali Vadalia and Naveen Boktapa of Motionvan Studio, the exhibition, thanks to it's large screens and 22,000 lumen projection – 'being used for the first time in India' as per the press note – promises to be an unparalleled visual spectacle where every brushstroke and colour in the paintings is illuminated with clarity. The exhibition is presented by The Silly Fellows in collaboration with music entrepreneurs Nikhil Chinapa and Jay Punjabi. At Bhartiya Mall Of Bengaluru, Bhartiya City, till 13 July, 10am onwards. For details, visit
