Dear Friends,
Sutra Foundation presents Lahara: The Wavelet, a painting exhibition by Odia artist, Bibhu Patnaik, officiated by Dato’ Bhaskaran Pillai. Lahara: The Wavelet, defines the aesthetic principles underlying Odissi and Patachitra, Odisha’s traditional painting.
Lahara represents the sinuous ‘S’ of the tribhanga (the three deflections of head, torso and hip), characteristic of Odissi. At the same time it denotes the glide of a fish or slithering of a snake that captures the mode of the undulating, sensuous gait of the Odissi dancer.
Patachitra, essentially follows this concept, too. One can discern the ubiquitous tribhanga in the figures of Patachitra and also the tendril creeper decorative wavelets framing a Patachitra painting.
This is Bibhu Patnaik’s first visit to Malaysia. Himself, a master of Patachitra, Bibhu Patnaik, however, straddles both the modern and traditional arts worlds. In Lahara_, he explores the fluid contemporaneity of Patachitra, continuing its effective spectrum to embrace modern interpretations, but within the realm of its traditional tenets.
Dance, Music, Sculpture and Mythic narratives have always fed the subject matter of Patachitra. An established modern artist based in New Delhi, Bibhu Patnaik engages with the fluid tradition of Patachitra, integrating and expressing dance, music, literature and folk lore in contemporary context and possibilities.
Lahara communicates that ‘modernity’ can flourish within a tradition like Patachitra. When innovation is explored by a master, the tradition can even be more enriched. This is, in fact, what a tradition needs over some period – a master who can make it relevant within its current era.
Sutra.