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Artist Amitabh Sengupta speaks on history of art at RGU webinar

By The Assam Tribune

GUWAHATI, June 15 - A webinar titled �Love to See, Don�t Understand: Crisis in Education of Art� was organised by Royal Global University (RGU) here on Monday where eminent contemporary artist Amitabh Sengupta deliberated on the history of art and art forms down the ages as chronicled in caves, temples, museums, etc., according to a press release.

Sengupta said painting is an important form in the visual arts, bringing in elements such as drawing, gesture, composition, narration or abstraction. Paintings can be naturalistic and representational, photographic, abstract, narrative, symbolistic, expressionism, or political in nature. A portion of the history of painting in both Eastern and Western art is dominated by religious art, he added. Examples of this kind of painting range from artworks depicting mythological figures on pottery, to Biblical scenes like Sistine Chapel ceiling, to scenes from the life of the Buddha or other images of Eastern religious origin, he further said.

In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. The support for paintings includes such surfaces as walls, paper, canvas, wood, glass, lacquer, pottery, leaf, copper and concrete, and the painting may incorporate multiple other materials including sand, clay, paper, plaster, gold leaf, as well as objects, Sengupta said. He stated that anything can be art and art cannot be confined to institutions but should be let out in open areas like cafeterias, museums, temporary exhibitions, etc.

Monalisa is a testament of the time of theoretical discourse which created a myth, a turning point in the history of art, Sengupta said. He advised that in order for true art to be experienced, it must be a replica of nature and society as it is. He pointed out that to mark a civilisation, one must observe what people do in their leisure time.

Joining Sengupta, RGU Vice Chancellor Prof SP Singh spoke how he was influenced by the KARMOTSAV-86 held at his college in Lucknow and was mesmerised by the art and architecture. He said that had time permitted, he would have definitely taken up art as a subject.

Referring to Charles Auguste�s quote �everyone is an artist�, Prof Singh said every person has a child in him, who must be treasured for virgin expressions in art. He also spoke on Ferit Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Laureate in literature who had chronicled Turkey in his book Istanbul. The graphic details Pamuk wrote, painted a clear historical picture of Turkey in his mind, Prof Singh said. Any person from any stratum of society can be a painter of colours or words, he added.

Anita P Yammiyavar, Principal & Dean, Royal School of Fine Arts along with over 300 faculty, staff and students of RGU as well as from across India, also took part in the webinar, the release added.

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