Artist’s Impressions Of Odisha Temple Architecture On Canvas In Delhi

Suryasnata Mohanty, a gold medalist in Law with a PhD, took up teaching at a University in Odisha, but soon she found her calling in the world of colours and brushes.

Suryasnata, who as far as she could remember, was fond of painting and her preferred medium is acrylic on canvas. She loves vibrant colours and this comes through in the paintings, which were exhibited at a solo show of her works at the Convention Foyer, India Habitat Centre from November 13 to 15.

In her solo painting exhibition titled ‘Submergence and Emergence: The Continuum of Structures and Being’, she presented abstracts of lasting architectures and impressionist imageries of ancient temples.

Born in Bhubaneswar, she was fascinated by the cyclic rhythm of life, by how civilisations come and go, destroyed to be rebuilt again, but some aspects like faith remain forever like the architecturally and sculpturally wonderful temples of Bhubaneswar and Puri.

When asked what was the inspiration behind the theme of her show, Suryasnata said that she was intrigued and fascinated by how every structure in a city has a story, they are continuities of the stories of people. Like subtexts within the grand narrative of existence, they form minuscule worlds of aspirations, dreams, success and failures.

Her paintings, which she created using knife and occasional brush, were a huge draw for their vibrant colours and imageries carrying the trademark architectural shape of temples in Odisha. Even the titles of her paintings reveal her worldview – “Tales of Existence”, “City of Illusion”, “The Lone Hope”, and “The Calling Bell”, to name a few, that depict the essence of the respective paintings.

“I enjoyed Suryasnata’s paintings very much, particularly the spiritual aspects. It was also a pleasure to meet her”, was visitor Nick Mellor’s comment on the young artist’s first solo show in Delhi.

She is especially inspired by the remarks made by Shobha Broota, a well-known artist and classical singer, “Very bold work – Keep this quality, never give up. Follow your own expression. You will be a very happy artist.”

Suryasnata, who now has her own studio at Amawatta one in Mehrauli, wants to do just that! She wants, for now, to just go on painting, to carry on working as an artist, using canvas and paints to express herself and her understanding of life around her.