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“Constructive criticism encourages the artist” -- Gautam Chakraborty

FAYZA HAQ
GAuTAM Chakraborty, basically a painter and print-maker, has a ready explanation for his passion for painting. In his words, “My father Devdas Chakraborty was basically a painter. Ours was a family where artistic activities such as music, poetry and painting flourished. Naturally I developed a love for painting and other affiliated subjects.” He decided to study architecture and left Shantiniketan with that purpose in mind. His mother's untimely death caused him to return to Dhaka. Next he joined the Fine Arts Department of Dhaka university. Since Rafique Chowdhury of crafts fame, was there to guide him, life proceeded in almost an idyllic way, particularly in comparison to life now for an aspiring artist.
Gautam, asked about his earliest source of inspiration, in Dhaka and Chittagong, says that there were visitors from the upper echelons of the city like Murtaja Baseer, Aminul Islam, Shamsur Rahman and Syed Shamsul Haque. Now in 2005, he makes his living doing graphic designing on the computer. However, he has always wanted to be a painter in water-colour and oil. Much earlier, at the Shilpakala Academy in
1997, he has made subtle and sophisticated water and oil colour paintings, with series on Animals, Reptiles, Faces in procession, Adolescence, Portraits and Abstractions, among others.
Commenting on the rapport between the teachers and students in his student days and today, Gautam says, “ In the late '80s, Dhaka was definitely different. We had session jams, as they
put it, but the situation has grown much worse. One should persevere to improve the situation before the atmosphere grows from bad to worse to insufferable and incorrigible. Surely one should not take shelter behind excuses galore. We regarded our teachers as actual gurus. I can trace the teacher-student relationship for three generations, tracing it from my father.” One should act and
work for our aims, Gautam insists.
Asked to speak for himself as a painter and patron of arts, he says that he has had about 10 exhibitions so far and recently, as Gallery Kayas's patron, he is encouraging recognition of the lesser-known but talented artists, who require patronage. He is not interested in making his gallery just a sale centre the sale proceeds of which he pockets, “Of course one needs finance but that is not my ultimate goal. My ultimate goal is to project the best in fine arts in Bangladesh, in my own way. My latest venture is Ovishek: in this project we hope to hold three exhibitions each year.” He said that the majority of his gallery's patrons are local aesthetes.
Touching on the topic of art appreciation, Gautam adds that there is a dearth of analytic criticism: if this takes place the perception of the critique would present some insight of the artist and his/her work. “Constructive criticism encourages the artist; in this manner a perception is created. Rave reviews alone are not enough. The artist and the art world, in this manner, would glean much from constructive comments.”
Gautam has a superb international reputation--unsurpassed by any other local painter his age.