The present writer had many occasions to watch Amitabha at work while preparing his plates. Patience and hard thinking backed by a desire to avoid easy solutions seemed to be his motto. Lines and tones played an important part in the shapes of images on his plates. The fragile quality of lines added to the poetic quality of imageries. The dark and light areas were worked out with extreme care in which multiple tones were created; thus making the entire plate rich in visual appeal. It is not that he did not take chances. Nor was it true that accidents did not take place. All truly creative artists are apt to take risks. Fore them creativity is comparable to an unknown journey beset with lots of surprises on the way. Looking at Amitabha’s prints carefully the viewer will surely come across many traces of such surprises. Yet the viewer with be equally pleased to discover that the plates and the prints are the products of a mind that is sure of its working, of its intellection and the final product in the shape of colours and the high quality of neatness of printing without appearing to be hygienic or sanitised. Amitabha has a preference for a mixed palette dominated by dark shades. He generally limits himself to two or three colours. These shades invest his prints with a mystery that beautifully complements his imageries which inhabit a world of stillness and silence that make the hallmark of Amitabha Banerjee’s graphics. With his diligence and commitment to his art no wonder today he is regarded as one of the front rank graphic artists of the country.
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