An initial perception of Susmit Biswas’s paintings is of a maelstrom; his aesthetic founded on the juxtaposition of rhythms. Within this arrangement, and before our eyes, figurative forms appear to transform into abstract marks, or transmogrify into cryptic codes. -  Anirudh Chari

Gallery Manora presents

FLOW and FRENZY 
Paintings by SUSMIT BISWAS 

Opening on NOV 9,2017 | 7P.M. -9.30P.M.

NOV 9 - DEC 5, 2017 | 11A.M. - 7P.M.

‘Towards the Boundless’: The Recent Works of Susmit Biswas

An initial perception of Susmit Biswas’s paintings is of a maelstrom; his aesthetic founded on the juxtaposition of rhythms. Within this arrangement, and before our eyes, figurative forms appear to transform into abstract marks, or transmogrify into cryptic codes. Upon further inspection, the visual material often escapes an identifiable, or single, narrative interpretation: fundamental relationships between a painting’s ground layer, surface, and identifiable forms become increasingly ambiguous; the shapes or marks start to read and convey some of their meaning on a rich, sensuous surface.  Motion is implied through lyrical dexterity, a deftness of touch and marks that present a varying expression of speed; and closely nuanced, tonal progressions that orchestrate the relationship between details and the whole.  This relationship, and the different ways in which it is envisaged, is of central concern to the works here, and testament to the scope and magnitude of Biswas’s audacious oeuvre.  A deeper sense of this prevailing concern is felt as a consciousness of place, not in the sense of an enclosed three-dimensional entity, but rather the simultaneous awareness of form and non-form deriving from an intensification of vision.  These works are as much created by compositional elements as by that which takes place in the imagination and the experience of these elements.

In Biswas’s work, equilibrium is often achieved though the tension between the intensely gestural marks, motifs and drips, which suggest both rupture and rapture, and the flat painted field that contains them. This idea is seminal to the understanding of the rich variation in texture, picking through correspondences across the surface; making sense of overlays, broken forms, and half-hidden connections. Even within the context of two-dimensional restraint, Biswas hints at the three-dimensional, sometimes even the fourth. His arrangements invite comparisons to typhoons; to phantasmagoric beasts; and to complex rhythms. Many works explore the physicality of air and space, asserting form through the most minimal of means. Instances of a melding of difference between space and form, and the many permutations between these apparent opposites, resolve into a state of contrapuntal harmony. The excitement activates an experience of motion through the use of simultaneously contrasting areas of colour of varying intensities. A visceral surface of contrasting colour, into which the hieroglyphs are inserted, or discovered through the painting process, manifests a pictorial space pulsating with visual vibrations.  Stains, marks, drips of colour and the modulation of paint across the surface evince a material discourse.  The impression is of the permeability of forms by the space that surrounds them, and by the light that renders them visible. There is a sense of dematerialization in which the vestiges of other images and indeterminate layers hover between highlights engendered by the flat surface.  Unfettered, coloured shards seem to emerge from deeper layers and drift to the surface, linking them to other similarly treated and equally amorphous areas.

Although an immediate recognition of the image’s signifying function dominates our experience of these paintings, further engagement with them immerses the viewer in a contemplative and unfolding awareness of their incipient construction. In these works, form is in a state of becoming, existing in a self-contained field in which matter, colour and space are fundamental to the making of the image.  These works capture a fixed moment in time, while also being inscribed by processes that transcend time.   In Biswas’s paintings, the image substantiates the ebb and flow of the artist’s processes; a transformation which he utilizes to reflect upon his observations and experiences.  The different contexts foreground his perception of the specific gestures and actions which disclose them.  If the disappearance of the moment is common to all theatres of life, so is the idea of completion, not only of an event, but of every action towards its end. Similarly, Biswas’s paintings are always complete, but this fixed moment is also traceable to the motion of the hand and brush, and the formulation of paint and surface that individuate them. Gravity, and the encouragement of conditions in which nature collaborates with chance, support the artist’s intention to imprint the final image with the processes of its making.

By emphasizing the dynamic forces of motion and light, Biswas invites us to speculate upon the condition of looking, our changing perception of reality, the different ways in which we represent the visual world and how the desire to represent shapes our grasp of reality.  The motion of the brush, the to and fro of the hand, and the flow of the paint all leave traces on the surface which engender a renewal, retrieving an instant of time embedded in the image, and returning it to an experience of time that is experiential.  During the passage from source to completion, a medial transformation of reality is staged. And in the process, visual information is selected, omitted, emphasized and augmented by variations in tone and colour.  This layering in the paintings is not only apparent, but inextricably linked to the shadowy sense of potential images and hallucinatory forms that act as a palimpsest.  They work like repositories of related narratives, evoking a sense of continuity and change, entrancing the viewer with the intertwining of different modes of representation.  This lack of a specific intention leaves the door open for the viewer; the artist’s discovery and the viewer’s interpretation of the image are linked, but also relate to independent ventures in which different experiences mingle through the assiduity of shared associations.

In contrast, with the ink drawings, our senses are mobilized with a shifting perception of form.  Rather than the complementary colours featured in the paintings, a visual flicker is achieved through the two tone structuring of images.  With the contrast turned up, the viewer is bedazzled, ushered into an imaginary perception of motion. Though the eye may be steadfastly locked on the image, a fluctuating, sensory experience of the figure-ground relationship is elicited.

With these images, Biswas articulates the idea that abstract and representational modes are not antithetical.  Correspondingly, the seemingly contradictory poles of tradition and innovation are enveloped by methods that encompass a dizzying array of influences.  Consequently, his abstract and figurative paths evolve concurrently, often arriving in similar territory. Doorways to that which represents, suggests or symbolizes, are inherent to the narratives that he transcribes through colour, tone, shape, space and texture. Central to their meanings is the palpable interpenetration of forms with the oceans that surround them.  In that space, everything is alive and exciting. 

-  Anirudh Chari

Anirudh Chari is an independent curator and art critic for the Calcutta. Statesman for which he also writes on diplomacy, wine, and matters historical. A regular contributor to Art India and other journals and periodicals in the visual arts. He lives and works in  Calcutta.