Date: 12 July 2025
Time: 6:00 PM onwards
Venue: KCC Library
As a public-facing programme under the solo exhibition Play-Forms: Recent Works by Partha Pratim Deb (27 June – 9 August 2025), Emami Art presents a discussion on the senior artist’s journey as an art practitioner and his 33-year-long tenure at Rabindra Bharati University (1972 – 2005) where he was the second full-time faculty member at the institution and was instrumental in shaping its Visual Arts department. He served as the department’s Dean between 1998 and 2005.
This session will feature Partha Pratim Deb with fellow artist and close friend Tapan Bhattacharya and his former student Adip Dutta – artist, curator, and assistant professor of Sculpture, Faculty of Visual Arts, RBU – who will be moderating the discussion.
About the Speakers
Partha Pratim Deb (b. 1943) studied fine arts at Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan, and MS University, Baroda. Between 1972 and 2005, he taught painting at Rabindra Bharati University and served as the Dean of the Faculty of Visual Arts, RBU from 1998 to 2003. Deb has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions including Gestures at Emami Art Gallery, Kolkata (2020); Aicon Gallery, New York (2006); Play for Joy of Seeing at Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata (2006); Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkata (1997); and Academy of Fine Arts (1974, 1976, 1978). His work has also been showcased in various duo and group exhibitions, such as Leela at Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata (2009), Indian Surrealism, Diversified Fantasy, Endangered Earth at Aakriti Art Gallery, Kolkata (2008); Glimpses of Contemporary Bengal Art at Birla Academy of Art and Culture (Kolkata, 2006); Folk in Modern at Aakriti Art Gallery (Kolkata, 2006), among others.
Tapan Bhattacharyya (b. 1954) is an artist based in Kolkata. He studied at Maharaja Bir Bikram College, Agartala and Presidency College, Kolkata. Primarily a self-taught artist, he has learnt about art from two of India’s most prolific artists such as Ram Kumar and Vivan Sundaram. His works have been exhibited at the Birla Academy Annual Exhibition, Kolkata (2006); Akar Prakar, Kolkata (2005); Gallery 88, Kolkata (2004); Genocide in the Land of Gandhi, SAHAMAT, Delhi (2002); Ideas-Idols-Icons, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kolkata (1999); the 6th Bharat Bhavan Biennial of Contemporary Indian Art (1996); Young Faces in Contemporary Art, Birla Academy, Kolkata (1995) among many others.
Adip Dutta is a prominent artist and faculty member at the Faculty of Visual Arts, Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He holds a Master of Visual Arts (2000) and a Bachelor of Visual Arts (1998) from the same institution, along with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology (1994) from the University of Calcutta. Dutta's solo exhibition, By Darkling Ground (2017) at Experimenter, Kolkata, showcased the realm of possibilities in his mind – reconsidering objects and sites, an ‘alternate-viewing’ of their meaning and value and an inquisition of their primitive state. His work has also been highlighted in group exhibitions such as Nestled (2021), a collaboration with Meera Mukherjee, and Shadow Lines (2019) at Shrine Empire, Delhi. Contemporary spaces, materials and themes continually transform in Dutta’s mind and his intricate study of form and freedom of imagination reflect strongly in his work.