Goutam Chakraborty’s miniatures at Gallerie 909

BY ALLEN A. BUCHANAN, Staff Writer

ST. PETERSBURG —  Gallerie 909 featured preeminent artist Goutam Chakraborty from Bangladesh Saturday, Aug. 12 during Art Walk. The artist’s powerful use of organic rich colors captivated visitors who attended the exhibit.

Chakraborty’s work has received high praise for his range of imagination and use of color, revealing multiple intensities of passion achieved through the artist’s signature strokes. He was the recipient of the National Young Artist Award in 2013 for his exhibit of “I Am.”

“I like the intriguing things he’s got in the picture,” Rebecca Johns said about one of several Chakraborty cat paintings.

Johns’ son Nikhil enjoyed how “the shapes of the ocean waves continued to flow but the colors changed within them.”

Chakraborty’s paintings of elephants in a way depict their strength, size, viciousness, yet vulnerability. He used an assortment of jungle greens, brown, purple, red, yellow and orange that not only reflect the natural habitats in Bangladesh but also related to similar forests and jungles around the world.

His use of softer shades of blue ocean waves lapping against the shore creates a Caribbean look similar to how it may have been before the migration of Westerners.

Courtney Jackson was drawn to Chakraborty’s coastal paintings featuring ethereal yet haunting images of beautiful women.

“I like the colors and the smaller lines between the waves,” said Jackson.

The flowing blue shades of the water and varying flesh tones of women are divided by a series of diagonal and vertically slanted lines. The hair of women in these pictures is naturally dread-like as well as straight and flowing down the neck. Chakraborty uses a variety of skin tones-some expected and some unusual-in his paintings of people to reflect complexities of the human condition.

Since Chakraborty’s first solo exhibition in 1992, he has participated in six addition solo exhibitions as well as numerous group exhibitions at home and abroad. His 2017 exhibition, now at Gallerie 909, features the artist’s watercolor miniatures on paper.

Don’t miss a chance to speak with artist Goutam Chakraborty at Gallerie 909 Friday, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m.  For more information about the exhibit and the artist, you can contact Carla Bristol at (727) 565-3930.