Landscaping art and nature with bronze

Among the many hues and colours that sweep the art exhibitions in town, Lively Meshes of Bronze brings a shiny metallic relief to the season.Hosted by the Kalakriti Art gallery, Lively Meshes...by Tapas Biswas is a collection of about 25 of the sculptor's works since 2009. With no particular underlying theme, the selection gives a varied glance into the artist’s world of molten metal.The display does however show the artist’s inherent interest in human nature and landscape. Also, in keeping with the title, three of the exhibits are an intricately woven structure of human figures and contexts. For example, the exhibit Dancing Men had about 150 oneinch tall figures of men in different dancing positions welded together to form a labyrinth.Similarly, Heaven to Heaven is a three-storyed maze of human figures and lotus pods. Explaining his inspiration behind it, Biswas says, “To transcend our boundaries, we need to connect with nature.Which is why in this sculpture I have tried to depict the Lotus pods or leaves as ports at which we find our way to the next heaven.” Another commonly seen context in the sculptures is landscapes. Most of the landscapes depicted are barren and tortured, with stick-like figures representing people traversing the landscape.The exhibit named Abyss shows a cluster of people on a topography shaped like a woman’s torso.Ask him if he was signifying the treacherous journey into an abyss to that of a relationship with a woman, and he replies, “I have immense respect for women and I come from a society where the woman plays an important role. This was a way to show the importance of the burden a woman carries.” Pain and love also find their way into Biswas’s work.With a quite a few sculptures showing a man in agony, the sculptor shows his exploration of the dark side.However, that isn’t the end of his journey. “I’ve been planning for another series, this time on the concept of death. One of my exhibits will have a life size coffin with a man rowing it, to signify the journey to the other world.” While the intricacy in some of the exhibits are note-worthy, the overall collection leaves one wondering where exactly the artist’s motivation comes from.The display is on till February 16, from 11 am to 7 pm.