\\"What I feel, what I see and whatever impresses me, I like to express those feelings through canvas. To me, painting is refining of a ‘felt experience’ in an aesthetically pleasing language,\\" said Dr Puspa Gogoi, a renowned artist of Assam during the inaugural ceremony of the one-man art exhibition named \\"Puspa Gogoi: A retrospective\\" held at the Dhemaji Press Club on December 20. The exhibition concluded yesterday.

Jiten Chutia, a renowned poet and educationist, stated in his inaugural speech that Gogoi’s works are essentially a celebration of the Indian mood, finding expression in feminine forms. The concentration is more on the faces and rhetorics of mudras, illuminated by dramatic flashes of light. Appreciation of the aesthetic allows for no intrusion by bizarre forms and village life images, Chutia said, preoccupied as Puspa Gogoi is with the security of clean lines, unusual twist of the figures and their innovative sequencing. A diversity of styles and techniques that are requisite for any art lover characterizes Puspa Gogoi’s art creations, Chutia added.

Hemanta Borpatra Gohain, a critic, dramatist, educationist and playwright said that Dr Gogoi is one of the most original artists of the entire North-east region. Dr Gogoi is a unique artist in the sense that he has been using both pen and brush at the same time; he is also a good writer, researcher, dramatist and an ethno-botanist. Dr Gogoi started his painting since the 1960’s. He is a self-taught artist. One of the viewers opined that it is a rare opportunity to view the paintings of Dr Gogoi from the past covering the period 1970-2005, showcasing the timeless quality of a bygone era. As Dr Gogoi has been concentrating his research work on the ‘Tai culture’ since the last one decade, his recent paintings reflect the Tai culture.

(The Sentinel,25/12/2005)