Colours and petals: Monami’s exhibition on flowers

The IIC Art Gallery is hosting the artworks of Monami Chowdhury till June 7. The exhibition began on June 1 and is open to visitors everyday during the span from 11 am to 7pm.

Monami has a passion for painting flowers. She expresses her love and wonder for life through flowers.

She was interested in art making since her childhood and hence pursued it. She passed BVA (Bachelor of Visual Art) from Indian College of Arts & Draftsmanship, Kolkata in applied arts in the year 2002, MVA in Graphics (Print Making) from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata in 2006.

After completing Higher Secondary she took admission in Academy of Fine Arts and had her initial training there. After one year of study there she joined Indian Art College and simultaneously took lessons from a well known artist Ashok Roy from 1997 to 2002.

Roy could realise her interest in flowers and inspired her to carry on with this subject. It is from his guidance that Monami earned her perfection in applying thick colour with spatula. She mostly prefers oil based colour than acrylic.

She made her first solo show at Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata in 2002, the year she completed her graduation. Her second solo was held in the same gallery in 2008. After that her solo and participation in various group shows continued, which extended her identity a promising painter to the art lovers and connoisseurs.

Through flowers Monami enters into the beauty and mysticism of nature. Vincent Van Gogh once said: ‘If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere’.

Monami says, ‘the light and shade of flower attracts me very much’. This statement reminds us of the flower paintings by Dutch baroque woman painter Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), who was famous for her still life paintings with flowers.

Monami’s rendition is far from the baroque sensibility, yet she too in her own way expresses her world outlook through her flower paintings.

When: 11am – 7pm; June 1 -7

Where: IIC Art Gallery