Miracle of Absence

A gallery that started with a modest 1000 sqft space in Calcutta five years ago, has a new address at the heart of the city. Brainchild of Somak Mitra, Gallery Art Exposure has a found a much bigger stage to talk about modern and contemporary art. 
The opening exhibition at their new space, Miracle of Absence, curated by Gayatri Sinha, is inspired by a couplet from the renowned 19th-century poet Mirza Ghalib: “The miracle of your absence is that I found myself while searching for you.” Somak talks to us about his plans in the future.  

What’s so special about Kolkata?
It’s the city that we belong to and our heart resides there. We wanted to give back in our own way to the city. Our aim was to build a world class infrastructure in Calcutta. Our connection to Calcutta goes beyond just being a place—it's part of our identity, and our vision is to contribute towards  the city’s cultural landscape. We wanted to build a world-class gallery to attract South Asian and international artists and hope to put Calcutta on the global art map.

How do you engage with the art world in other cities?
Very interestingly, most of my most major shows havebeen outside of Calcutta. We did the Jogen Chowdhury retrospective in Delhi and then in Bombay, which was a very large show wherein we had exhibited about 350 Works from the artist's ouvre. Infact doing  exhibitions outside of Calcutta has helped us create an ecosystem that has helped me build relationships with artists and collectors from all over the south Asian region and create a solid network. Now, that we have opened a big space with world class infrastructure in Calcutta I aim to bring some of the biggest and the most cutting edge artists to Calcutta who have never showed at this part of the country. 

What was the curatorial process of Miracle of Absence and what were the conversations around it that you had with Gayatri?
The curatorial process for Miracle of Absence seems to have been a deeply collaborative and thoughtful journey. Once the space was finalized, there were multiple ideas for the inaugural exhibition, but we wanted to bring in someone as seasoned and brilliant as Gayatri to help-shape it. Her involvement seems to have elevated the exhibition, bringing her in-depth  experience and vision to the project. The diversity of the artists and the range of mediums used in this exhibition particularly fascinating.

Personally, what kind of art do you enjoy engaging with the most?
I personally like paintings, especially oil paintings. I’m someone who prefers paintings a lot, and I think that is also representative in the kind of art I intend to show. Some of my favorite painters are Bhupen Khakhar, Jogen Chowdhury, GM Sheikh, FN Souza, Somenath Hore in the masters and in contemporary I love Mithu Sen, Ratheesh T, Buddhadev Mukherjee to name a few.


Words Hansika Lohani
Date 04.10.2024