AHMAD ISKANDAR

Ever since the Mahabharata was composed, many have attempted to visually recreate the 100,000 lines of this epic - some of the works directly representational, others more abstract. Kurchi Dasgupta's The Mahabharata: An Impression, falls clearly into the latter category. Her exhibition was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Babar Mahal Revisited, last Saturday.

With a bold colour palette and use of forms, Dasgupta has managed to render scenes from The Mahabharata in a highly conceptual and contemporary manner. The use of mixed media also demonstrates her fluency in various techniques - with the results as multi-layered and intriguing as they are personal.

Motifs such as the braid, representing the lives of the women who hold the narrative together, and depictions of humans as tiny silhouettes, perhaps telling of their uniformity and their insignificance in the greater scheme of things, tie the series together.

Speaking at the inauguration, Dasgupta drew a parallel between the circumstances in The Mahabharata and the "here and now of Nepal", expressing her hopes of how "stupefying chaos may at times progress into unity and peace."

The Mahabharata: An Impression is on display at Siddhartha Art Gallery, Babar Mahal Revisited, till 13 February 2010.
www.siddharthaartgallery.com