Kolkata’s art landscape recently welcomed a fresh voice with the solo exhibition of an emerging artist, Priyanka Bhattacharjee, titled Rutted Terrain. Bhattacharjee’s abstract landscapes focused on the deep evolving relationship between land, memory and transformation.

“Growing up in a place which is both semi-urban and semi-rural, I witnessed a drastic shift.  I have seen places I once knew – filled with water bodies and paddy fields – slowly disappearing into obscurity and being replaced with man-made structures. It made them unrecognisable to me,” said Priyanka, adding, “This made a deep impression on my psyche. It became a part of my consciousness and provoked me to dig deeper, investigate, experiment and maybe to give it a shape and form. I wanted to portray my artwork in the best manner possible. I wanted the very essence, things that have faded over time, as well as things that remain.”

Advertisement

Showcased at the Tejas Gallery, the exhibition was graced by Prof. Chhatrapati Datta, artist and principal, Government College of Arts and Craft; Pranab Ranjan Roy, art historian and critic; Reena Dewan, director, Bridging Culture and Arts Foundation; and Avijit Majumder, CEO, Apollo Hospital.

Chhatrapati Datta highlighted the depth of Bhattacharjee’s work: “Priyanka remarkably presented not only her painting skills but also her deep affinity with nature and a deep sense of art history. Her abstraction moves between real and unreal, often creating an evocative environment.”

Decontextualisation was the key approach in her artwork, where landscapes were not bound by realism. Instead of depicting familiar terrains, she constructed abstract topographies, allowing viewers to experience new and unfiltered connections. “We often see nature as a soft and subdued realm, something that is ethereal; however, my artwork challenges that perception. It is bold. There is an unrestrained, almost morbid energy in my work, something that makes you pause and think,” remarked Priyanka. Through Rutted Terrain, she also recognised land as not just a static but a dynamic entity. “It’s a living archive that holds the stories of the past and the echoes of what is yet to come,” she said.

With a background in engineering, Priyanka emphasised the role of science in shaping her perspective on artistic practice: “I have been drawn to both science and art since childhood. Science fed my curiosity, while art fed my creative self. I took up engineering in my graduation, but as I grew, I felt increasingly drawn to art, eventually choosing it as my profession. However, engineering, interestingly, stayed with me. It provided me with a vantage point and a very technical perspective on how I view my paintings and the world around me. Science always helps to explain the world a little bit better, it helps me in my quest and my investigation as an artist.”