Artist Soumen Dutta launches his book “The Ananta” in the capital

By Bipin Sharma
Delhi based artist Soumen Dutta recently launched his first book ‘The Ananta’at the Bikaner House in the capital on 28th August’2017. The book was officially released by Sunita Kohli, eminent art enthusiast and President, K2India Architect and Designers. The 27 year old artist, author and photographer Soumen Dutta has dedicated the book to ‘Goddess Durga’ by keeping the focal theme of the book around the customs and traditions associated with ‘Durga Puja’. With the festive season of Navratri being still some days away, the book launch event literally celebrated the arrival of Goddess Durga in Delhi with all fervor and enthusiasm. ‘The Ananta’ is mainly the exploration of ‘Durga Puja’, indubitably one of the greatest traditions of Bengal by Soumen through the camera lenses, the brushes, ingenious pencil sketches and the descriptive texts. Soumen’s book release was a well attended event duly graced by the city’s glitterati.

For Bengalis, the Durga Puja carries both social as well as religious significance. It is well known that the Durga Puja festivity commences with an essential ritual of begging and taking the soil or clay from the land of the sex workers. The artisans collect the soil from the brothels for making the Durga idols in Kolkata and elsewhere. The larger than life moral in this ageless custom being that no one in the society is untouchable or unacceptable in the eyes of the Gods and the Goddesses. The book has an elaborate description of how the hair of the Durga idols, is constituted of jute in a traditional way by the Muslim artisans.

‘The Ananta’ has been successful in bringing to fore the detailed nuances, the rituals, the description of the Goddesses through the impeccable pencil sketches and paintings of Soumen. With over 150 illustrations of his paintings and sketches coupled with more than 1000 photographs, Soumen has painstakingly endeavoured to give his readers a comprehensive experience of Durga Puja, the social extravaganza of Bengal. The 11.5 inches x 8.5 inches dimension, 260 pages illustrated coffee table book ‘The Ananta’, priced at Rs. 2295 is a captivating read that promises to be a priceless possession for the art and book lovers.

Soumen Dutta has carved a niche for himself in the capital’s art fraternity having done both solo and group shows at the India Habitat Center and the Lalit Kala Academy. He has ingeniously depicted the beauty of Delhi’s ancient monuments at the Delhi-O-Delhi restaurant (India Habitat Centre) and at the lounge segment of Indira Gandhi International Airport. Soumen’s works have been widely appreciated and collected by National Housing Bank, Embassy of United States of America, NDTV, Ranbaxy, NIIT Technology Ltd, MGF, Accenture Group, RPG & Somany Tiles to name a few. He has also been commissioned to make art pieces for the Scottish Senior Secondary School – Gurgaon, Ultra International Ltd., Carmel Convent School (Malcha Marg) alongside many other private houses and villas across the length and breadth of the country.