Having shown several times with New Delhi based Gallery Espace, Birendra Pani is now hosting his first ever solo in New York.

The Gotipua dance tradition from Orissa is a tradition from the past that is slowly disappearing, having been replaced by Odishi dance. In Gotipua dance, women are not allowed to perform ( as that was not culturally acceptable in the past ) so young boys are taught to dance the female roles in order to entertain the people. The boys are sent to a guru from the ages of 5 to 18.

An introductory note to his show (March-May 2009) at RL Fine Arts, New York, mentions:”Birendra grew up in the village where the boys are taught. His concern, with these works, is to show how this tradition is dying, but also to draw attention to the difficulty for the boys - having been taught to be ‘women’ for so many years, what do they do at the age of 18 when they have to return to their normal lives, how do they support their families? Also, how tradition is slowly dying away in Orissa, the massive stone carving tradition being replace by more modern art.

But, Birendra is not just being elegaic - it is with the modern art, commercial space, that he is able to re-introduce people to this dying art, an art that was never arranged for financial gain, but solely to entertain the people outside the temple..so what is the risk not only to the boys, the tradition, but also to the freedom from financial and commercial pressures?

Birendra is a young artist who is being closely watched by many collectors who have added his works to their collections. He is definitely an artist to watch for the future.