It is fondly called the Mumbai Magazine Show. The National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai (NGMA-M) brings it out annually, with the support of Bombay-wallah artists. The five-storied architecture of the NGMA-M unfolds like various departments in a magazine : usually one retrospective 'Artist's Profile' section that helps re-think the revered artists, then a section that upholds collectivism in art, and a section that vies to internalize the otherwise 'peripheral' visual arts, another that facilitates showcasing the choice of a set of art-public in the city (critics, celebrities, corporations, artists, this time the 5 major Galleries), and yet another that showcases leading young artists en theme. Critically, the show does not leave a composite impact. Neither do the curators intend such an impact.
Instead, each section has its highlights, and a section becomes the highlight of the Magazine. Cosmopolitan 'Bambai' thus cheers up to the spirit of a five-in-one cocktail (and the opening night blooms even without a millilitre of alcohol)! This year's Magazine, equally extensive, was opened by theatre doyen and art connoisseur Ibrahim Alkazi, on October 20. As the invitees auscultated to Mr. Alkazi's heart for the arts, few smart ones had already started eyeing the works featured.
The 'Art Gallery's choice' section seemed all set to make history ahead. With important works by Hussain, Souza, Tyeb Mehta, Prabhakar Barwe and Atul Dodiya, it almost resembled a fireworks display! A Krishen Khanna painting of the 1970s, though highly restored, commanded a collectors' gaze. It is learnt that this sizeable Khanna
painting is a new acquisition by the Sakshi Gallery, who took the painter's authentication on the restored work. The painting also intrigued critics, for its wavy, complicated structure with six human figures. This monochromatic specter is not about Christ being shrouded, but about the trauma of losing a loved and revered one.
K. K. Hebbar's mini-retrospective profile welcomed the viewer with his seminal work of a period when he had been highly influenced by Gauguin and Sher Gill ( 'Sunny South' - 1956). Hebbar's dancing line took many curves through his artistic career, and most of them were represented.
Curious were the two works dated 1946 and 48. A student of the JJ school of art, Hebbar could not evade the movement characterised by the presence of Jagannath Ahiwasi as a teacher of the 'Indian Drawing' class. Both these were family portraits (Artist's mother, his wife and daughter) turned into an miniaturish loyalty to the flat surface, the Indian decorative fervour... and yet, the work (esp. Mother) has
impulsive occurrences of the Western, Academic anatomical correctness.
Compare Hebbar's Sunny South, a detached composition of human figures, to his late (1993) painting of the Railway Porters! Proficiency in handling colour, line and texture is, through decades, impregnated with pathos for the subaltern. Indeed, many of the 25-odd oils showed Hebbar's engagement with the subaltern. Fisherfolk, village devotees, folk performers, revellers at a wedding ceremony... all these
essentially shared the Nehruvian ethos of upholding the subaltern for the traditions they enliven. Hebbar's Railway Porters, listening probably to a visually visually- challenged beggar's flute, go beyond this 'speaking for the subaltern' idea. They are the subaltern who can speak. They are not themselves engaged in an act... instead, they are consuming it. A sweeper there, cannot be a part of the group of porter men. The Orwellian ' some are more equal', works.
The Hebbar profile show was preceded by a collective quilt. Made of equal-sized canvases by female artists : Lalita Lajmi, Meera Devidayal, Anju Dodiya, Jin Sook Shinde, Dhruvi Acharya, Sejal Kshirsagar... 14, in all. Mostly Bombayites, most of them seemed to know how to paint their signature stuff! Some, like Devidayal and Jin
sook experimented. Had it not been Brinda Chudasama - Miller's effort to install them, the pieces would have looked quite odd against each other. A sheer absence of collective identity still dominates.
Pottery-artists from across the country, old and new, found their pedestals in the fourth section. Loaned from the collection of Sanggeta Jindal, Pheroza Godrej and Prafulla Dahanukar, it had artists like Jyotsna Bhatt, Angad Vohra, Brahmadev Pandit, Kiran Gujral... and mid-career or newer talents like G. Reghu, Vineet Kacker, Madhavi Subramanian, Vinod Daroz. It was also interesting to note who has
collected whom.
The next section, 'Diary of an Art-work', worked on the seeing and believing capacities of the viewer. The notes and visual documentation of the process behind the work displayed here, spoke less with diaries. Some fell in the trap of self-boasting, some lured themselves to process-based photo-collages, some others hid their process under the verbose carpet while writing a generic 'artists statement'. Some jotted words assuming it is the dictionary-publisher's problem if viewers do not understand what they mean; while there was a small sub-set, who photocopied the relevant dictionary entries to render the viewer baffled. Kaushik Mukhopadhyay subtly negated the wathch-while I work voyeur and questioned the curatorial brief, as Santosh More visualised the dilemma of 'being asked' to create. As a coordinator,
Brinda Miller seemed to have provided specific points that would suffice a viewer's urge to know whatever that goes into the process (this was also evident from some of the artist's notes; while many others mocked 'em! )... and despite this mockery, you'd see a pletohra of visual talent. Sandeep Paradkar's uneasy ochres talking directly to you of the odd-but-everyday occurances around Mumbai, A dialectic of
within-without :well-visualised by Santosh Kshirsagar, and Sunil Padwal, A story-labytinth by Himanshu Desai.. to top it all, there was a work just downstairs the NGMA-M dome : Archana Hande, who was inspired to do a Patua-chitra story-book for Urban young people, chose to show the films she made on 'Pata -chitrakars'! Process, thus, was more important than her product.
What the Mumbai Magazine Show lacks is editorial bias. Yet, a lot of activity happening around the show, the delight of re-finding known artists and locating the less-known, sets it apart from gossip and coffeetable Magazines.
- Abhijeet Tamhane.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Saturday, October 30, 2004
Mumbai Round-up : Pre- Season : August to Mid-November, 2004
New Galleries
To add to the 20-odd (operative) Art Galleries in Mumbai, Three new ones are added pre-winter 2004 season. Of them, called the "Phillips Contemporary", can well be said the first : it is the gallery looking for curatorial vantage points, rather than the sale advantage. And this is not qouted from a journalistic interview with either of the directors (Mortimer Choudhari and Tara Lal), but is rather an observation. The first show at the Phillips was Nasreen Mohammedi retrospective, in three parts.Some unexhibited photographs that had Nasreen's markings were shown here. The abstractionst sojourn was continued with Jeram Patel's woodworks and watercolours, followed by Pamela Singh's photo-paint works Later this year, this small space will house Anant Joshi's installation : black to play and draw, that featured in 'Body/city' (curated by Geeta Kapur, berlin) and Japan Foundation Asia Center (curated by Puja Sood) but never shown in India. Sudarshan Shetty, a talented sensation from Mumbai, is working specially for the Phillips Contemporary. Shows of some unseen young talents, like Rajesh
Pullarwar and Sudhir Pande, are also in the Offing.
In same Kala Ghoda (art district) vicinity as the Phillips, the dynamic dealer Vibhuraj Kapoor has finally set his venture, Gallery Beyond within four white walls. Considerably spacious by the Mumbai standards, Beyond will now vie for a different breed of artists :
Sanjeev Sonpinpare's painted comments on the so-called "important" styles, and Yashvant Deshmukh's works that cusps the real and the 'drawn' perceptions, Praksh Chandwadkar's intriguing Buddhas... are in the pipeline.
The third Gallery that opened recently, is not well-received as yet. Tarana Khubchandani and Jisal Thacker operate it from Worli.
Artists :
Individual painters that left a mark were many. Vinod Sharma, Rini Dhumal, Navjot... apart from these "well-known" ones, Reena Sain at Chemould with her visual odes to the predicament of commoners, coupled with her tkae on the old-European graphic representations of fictional villains, was sure to get applause. A bold Mumbai debut was
that of Julius Macwan, a painter trained at Sir JJ School of Art and now settled down in Chennai, went way ahead in establishing his brand-equity as a thinking artist. "Hope" at Jamaat Art Gallery by Abhimanyu Ray, showed the drama of black-and-white, while Vanita Gupta's ascetic strokes in black were enshrined at Pundole art Gallery. The Guild Art Gallery continued its passion for pedagogical presence and also its preference for K. Laxma Goud, by juxtaposing Goud's drawings with F N Souza's, which is now epitomised in a book-form. Sajal Sarkar made a vigorous presence with Cymroza. Then, there was Anand Prabhudesai, one the handful scupltors from Mumbai to use marble. Anand worked a metamorphosis of Marble and Yarn (!), and made poignant ponderings on the middle-class life, in a city once known as the textile capital! To the more informed, Ashok Ahuja's (inkjet) prints at Ruia House (by now established as a Gallery) were a thoughtful sight. Milburn Cherian, with her surrealist understanding of the human bondage, seemed to have arrived further, with her recent Jehangir show. Collectible paintings in her "naiive" style were offered by Naina Kanodia, while city's favourite scrap-sculptor Arzan Khambatta made headlines with taking smaller works, and also, when
Khambatta's opening night turned into "Amitabh Bacchan's birthday evening" (with big B's presence, and it was his B'day!).
Like all marketplaces, the Mumbai Artdom often confuses celebrity presence with serious creativity. At the same time, it also creates niches for the serious ones. The effort here, is to trace both these tendencies with an inclination towards serious talent.
- abhijeet tamhane
To add to the 20-odd (operative) Art Galleries in Mumbai, Three new ones are added pre-winter 2004 season. Of them, called the "Phillips Contemporary", can well be said the first : it is the gallery looking for curatorial vantage points, rather than the sale advantage. And this is not qouted from a journalistic interview with either of the directors (Mortimer Choudhari and Tara Lal), but is rather an observation. The first show at the Phillips was Nasreen Mohammedi retrospective, in three parts.Some unexhibited photographs that had Nasreen's markings were shown here. The abstractionst sojourn was continued with Jeram Patel's woodworks and watercolours, followed by Pamela Singh's photo-paint works Later this year, this small space will house Anant Joshi's installation : black to play and draw, that featured in 'Body/city' (curated by Geeta Kapur, berlin) and Japan Foundation Asia Center (curated by Puja Sood) but never shown in India. Sudarshan Shetty, a talented sensation from Mumbai, is working specially for the Phillips Contemporary. Shows of some unseen young talents, like Rajesh
Pullarwar and Sudhir Pande, are also in the Offing.
In same Kala Ghoda (art district) vicinity as the Phillips, the dynamic dealer Vibhuraj Kapoor has finally set his venture, Gallery Beyond within four white walls. Considerably spacious by the Mumbai standards, Beyond will now vie for a different breed of artists :
Sanjeev Sonpinpare's painted comments on the so-called "important" styles, and Yashvant Deshmukh's works that cusps the real and the 'drawn' perceptions, Praksh Chandwadkar's intriguing Buddhas... are in the pipeline.
The third Gallery that opened recently, is not well-received as yet. Tarana Khubchandani and Jisal Thacker operate it from Worli.
Artists :
Individual painters that left a mark were many. Vinod Sharma, Rini Dhumal, Navjot... apart from these "well-known" ones, Reena Sain at Chemould with her visual odes to the predicament of commoners, coupled with her tkae on the old-European graphic representations of fictional villains, was sure to get applause. A bold Mumbai debut was
that of Julius Macwan, a painter trained at Sir JJ School of Art and now settled down in Chennai, went way ahead in establishing his brand-equity as a thinking artist. "Hope" at Jamaat Art Gallery by Abhimanyu Ray, showed the drama of black-and-white, while Vanita Gupta's ascetic strokes in black were enshrined at Pundole art Gallery. The Guild Art Gallery continued its passion for pedagogical presence and also its preference for K. Laxma Goud, by juxtaposing Goud's drawings with F N Souza's, which is now epitomised in a book-form. Sajal Sarkar made a vigorous presence with Cymroza. Then, there was Anand Prabhudesai, one the handful scupltors from Mumbai to use marble. Anand worked a metamorphosis of Marble and Yarn (!), and made poignant ponderings on the middle-class life, in a city once known as the textile capital! To the more informed, Ashok Ahuja's (inkjet) prints at Ruia House (by now established as a Gallery) were a thoughtful sight. Milburn Cherian, with her surrealist understanding of the human bondage, seemed to have arrived further, with her recent Jehangir show. Collectible paintings in her "naiive" style were offered by Naina Kanodia, while city's favourite scrap-sculptor Arzan Khambatta made headlines with taking smaller works, and also, when
Khambatta's opening night turned into "Amitabh Bacchan's birthday evening" (with big B's presence, and it was his B'day!).
Like all marketplaces, the Mumbai Artdom often confuses celebrity presence with serious creativity. At the same time, it also creates niches for the serious ones. The effort here, is to trace both these tendencies with an inclination towards serious talent.
- abhijeet tamhane
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Vanitas Vanitaum a show curated by Peter Nagy
... omnia vanitas?
The props played lead role and Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai was the stage.
Curator Peter Nagy, who flew late August from Delhi to Mumbai, prefered to call the show 'a curated installation'. Mumbaiites will remember this show, Vanitas Vanitaum, as much forNagy's communicative essay, his eye on detail, as for the the artists and their work.
While the show dealt with the 'props' : a consumerist proposition, it seemed to address a post-consumerist situation. The artists : Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamachari, Anita Dube, Subodh Gupta, Mario D'Souza, Bharti Kher, Arun Kumar H.G., Samit Das, and Dayanita Singh, subverted the old concept of 'vanitas vanitatum' (vanity of vanities, here understood as ' the objects included in official portraits of royalty and nobility ') to what they saw as today. The show could easily fall into traps of nostalgia, but it didn't. Instead, it had multiple energies, with as many analyses. Nagy the curator emphasises their diverse formal pursuits as 'inexhaustible source of associations'.
The associations, within the Vanitas Vanitatum, ranged from Atul Dodiyas work evoking memory of the 'lost' Fathers, with his use of Radio-sets and such other middle-class props in the 1950s-60s; to the neo- art deco bedroom that flaunts everything goes in it (rubberized coir wall-panels and flooring, a hyper-ergonomic bed, with matching sidetables and wall-clock, a Bose painting and a bookshelf with
no-nonsese art-books gifted by authors or artists... even detailed thingies like a bra-panty 'just lying there' or the wine glasses et al) . While Dayanita Singh's lens pans over an array of interiors, Samit Das focuses on "looking back in order to look forward" tophotographs from the Tagore house. The photographs encounter with
Subodh Gupta's punch of Male egocentricity, Bharti Kher's animal tales with a human sting-tail, Arun Kumar's bizarre toys and an impossible please-all Chai-kettle, Anita Dube's military-comoflauged oven and Safe (Tijori) filed with utensils, rupees and bones alike!
An interior full of subversions, here, subverted the gaze! the black and white notions about form and function plunged into the gray areas of who vanitates him/herself, why and how. The search for answers begins with the show, without leading to a frustrated dead-end of 'Omnia Vanitas' (all is vanity). Instead, it celebrates the diversity of Vanitas vanitatum ad infinitum!
-- abhijeet tamhane, Mumbai, september 2004.
The props played lead role and Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai was the stage.
Curator Peter Nagy, who flew late August from Delhi to Mumbai, prefered to call the show 'a curated installation'. Mumbaiites will remember this show, Vanitas Vanitaum, as much forNagy's communicative essay, his eye on detail, as for the the artists and their work.
While the show dealt with the 'props' : a consumerist proposition, it seemed to address a post-consumerist situation. The artists : Atul Dodiya, Bose Krishnamachari, Anita Dube, Subodh Gupta, Mario D'Souza, Bharti Kher, Arun Kumar H.G., Samit Das, and Dayanita Singh, subverted the old concept of 'vanitas vanitatum' (vanity of vanities, here understood as ' the objects included in official portraits of royalty and nobility ') to what they saw as today. The show could easily fall into traps of nostalgia, but it didn't. Instead, it had multiple energies, with as many analyses. Nagy the curator emphasises their diverse formal pursuits as 'inexhaustible source of associations'.
The associations, within the Vanitas Vanitatum, ranged from Atul Dodiyas work evoking memory of the 'lost' Fathers, with his use of Radio-sets and such other middle-class props in the 1950s-60s; to the neo- art deco bedroom that flaunts everything goes in it (rubberized coir wall-panels and flooring, a hyper-ergonomic bed, with matching sidetables and wall-clock, a Bose painting and a bookshelf with
no-nonsese art-books gifted by authors or artists... even detailed thingies like a bra-panty 'just lying there' or the wine glasses et al) . While Dayanita Singh's lens pans over an array of interiors, Samit Das focuses on "looking back in order to look forward" tophotographs from the Tagore house. The photographs encounter with
Subodh Gupta's punch of Male egocentricity, Bharti Kher's animal tales with a human sting-tail, Arun Kumar's bizarre toys and an impossible please-all Chai-kettle, Anita Dube's military-comoflauged oven and Safe (Tijori) filed with utensils, rupees and bones alike!
An interior full of subversions, here, subverted the gaze! the black and white notions about form and function plunged into the gray areas of who vanitates him/herself, why and how. The search for answers begins with the show, without leading to a frustrated dead-end of 'Omnia Vanitas' (all is vanity). Instead, it celebrates the diversity of Vanitas vanitatum ad infinitum!
-- abhijeet tamhane, Mumbai, september 2004.
Thursday, August 26, 2004
notes that call YOUR intervention:
These are short notes on some Indian Artists.
They're not biographical notes, nor are they complete appreciatory notes.
These are jottings, and I'd luv and respect your suggestions.
please comment.
MF HUSSAIN (1915- )
Verve and vigour define his line. His energy ascertains itself thoughcolour. The texture coincides his chiseled looks. M F Hussain (born1915) is more than this. He is perhaps synonymus with India’s modernpainting. Here’s a visual artist who experimented with many otherfields, cinema and even writing. While his experimentation withinpainting now has been focused to the subject he chooses, this founderof the ‘Progressive Artists Group’ has already come a long way, fromcurves to cuts. The drama of being Hussain, at 88, takes new turns!
PARITOSH SEN (1918-)
Paritosh Sen’s career as an artist, teacher and scholar sprawls overdecades, he has worked in cities of India and Europe alike. As afounder of the Calcutta Group (1943), Sen sought newer trends than therevivalist, orientalist styles prevalent in Bengal. In the process,Sen gave voluminous quality to the line drawing. Picasso and hiscubism impressed sen, but Sen’s own sense of satire, irony and hissensuous quality are unique. An octogenarian Sen, refuses to grow old!
SYED HAIDER RAZA (1922 -)
This octagenarian who lives in france, has been the source of Urja(energy) to the tantric metaophysical painting in India. He sharessecrets of life in its etenity, with Geometrical shapes and customarycolour. His journey as a founder of the Progressive Artists Group andas a profane expressionist, also finds a place in his later ode to thesacred : his stokes are still unmistakble.
RAM KUMAR (1924-)
Training in Paris under the two Moderns : Andre Lhote and FernandLeger in the 1950s, did influence Ramkumar, a youg Economics graduate,to depict his society and its predicament. Later, for more than thelast 45 years, he paints landscapes. His compulsive passion to paintflows over boundless terrains. Benares ghat-scapes paved the way forhis spiritual leanings toward white, gray, turquoise and ochre. Adefined pallette has meant freedom for an intellectual Ramkumar. He,with his abstract landscapes, opens up the inner spaces for theviewer.
KRISHEN KHANNA (1925-)
Mumbai gave him artist friends like Hussain, Ara and Bal Chhabda, andthe decisive moment to give up a banker’s job for full-time pursuit ofart. Khanna, known for his bold, guestural strokes, has undoubtedlyopened new horizons for the figurative art in Contemporary India. Hiseclectic style, say critics, ‘breaks away from the traditional notionsto achieve an even more radical position’. Thought his mid-careerseries of Bandwallas was in vibrant colours, Khanna has never forgonehis monocromic pallette.
SATISH GUJRAL (1925-)
Texture is an overture for Satish Gujral. It precedes his symphony ofline, form and colour. He sings the song of worldly and metaphysicalpresence, with a favorite theme of man and animal. Altough his presentsyle is pictorial figurative, Gujral is known for his sctulpuralabstractions as well as his architecture.
AKBAR PADAMSEE (1928-)
Creativity is not momentary. It’s a process of doing. Doing what youare and becoming you. Akbar Padamsee’s ink drawings as well as hislate oils may seem austere, yet they have an abundance of action.Philosophical quest has often lead artists to abandon figuration andexplore the non-representative; but Padamsee stands as a gracefulexception. In his journey from ‘Metascapes’ of the 1970s and 80s,Padamsee has abstracted the process of abstraction into ‘doing’.Padamsee, a believer and practitioner of the Indian RASA theory ofæsthetics, has his signature heads, nudes or human bodies, ametaphysical presence.
JERAM PATEL (1930-)
For Jeram Patel, who was trained as a typographer in London, it musthave been a process of unlearning when he arrived at his abscractform. Though the las 40 years, he has explored the possibilities ofcontent with from and technique. The rustic, expressionist, charcoliccloud in his work has always retined the potential of an IndianHarvest of abstraction. Patel, a founder of the “group 1890”, stillretains the vigour in his work.
LALITA LAJMI (1932-)
Relationships form the text and context for Lalita Lajmi. Hermetaphorical use of details in a building, aminals like cat amuses aswell as enlighten the viewer. Her watercolours have always, for thelast 30-odd years, been lucid and flowing, exploring and documentingthe familial and social values today.
VED NAYAR (1933-)
The elongated form that surpasses giocometti’s existentialism for Hopein Indian philosophy, marks Ved Nayar’s colourful paintings. Hisplayful, instinctive use of colour and space is remarkable, while hisintrovert content emanates from the painter’s ascetic personality.
SHYAMAL DUTTA RAY (1934-)
He used water colour as expressively as oils, without compromising thefuild, transparent quality of the medium. Today, he has proved atrend-setter. No wonder he has many successors, of sorts. ShyamalDutta Ray is at the helm of art from Bengal, and his appeal crossesgeographical boundries.
GANESH HALOI(1936- )
His closer inspections of Ajanta frescos facilitated hiscontemplations of texture. Ganesh Haloi stands tall in an otherwisefigurative contemporary art sceario from Bengal. A trueabstractionist, he makes his own terrain with line, colour andtexture.
GANESH PYNE (1937-)
The Line, in Ganesh Pyne’s work, is straight and impulsive. It is hisstream-of-thought, multidirectional visual contemplations which turnlines into image, for him. His line reign supreme over skeletal formsand austere use of colour.
JOGEN CHOWDHARY (1939- )
Sarcastic, commentative figures is his customaty double-hatchtechnique are quintessential to Jogen Chowdhary’s ouvre. His laterwork deals with more painful human conditions, but there is acontinuous stream of his india ink drawings that explores the existentbeauty.
MANU PAREKH (1939-)
Vigorous, impulsive and exressive strokes define his art. Vibrantcolour in his painting is unmistakably coupled with virile, manlyexpression of line and form. The natural forces are omnipresent in hiswork. Content is never a foreign proposition for Manu Parekh : it isinnate, with every stroke.
BOSE KRISNAMMACHARI ( 1962-)
Life in the city, the company of books, and the lives of Artists are the intellectual passions for Bose Krishnammachari. This JJ School of Art graduate has been among the vanguards of postmodern painting in India. His unmistakable riot of colour, now embodied in his untitled works, was in the centre of his installations as well, while his meticulous figurative work would have a context. This intellectual element, however, never stops a viewer from enjoying a Bose work!
SANJEEV SONPIMPARE (1969-)
Sanjeev, with his keen interest in the paradoxes and dissonaces of life - here and now- believes in a conceptual consistency of the eternal. Clarity of Thought and action guides his creativity. His recent works speak about the predicament of the city life.
RIYAS KOMU (1971-)
Committment to humanity has driven Komu to observe life. While his works as a student at the JJ School of Art had a strong and often direct political content, his paintings now point to a global reality of opresseion and resistance. Life flows, and so flows history. Komu in his role as an iconographer of Human Life, also makes exellent use of signage. His recourse to Brügel or his quest for Ravi Varma has been seen occasionaly in his works, but clearly, his grasp of history is not occasional.
Pradeep Mishra.
He wants real people; and not the habituated 'art public' to see his work. Sensing the suffocation and staleness in the air, Pradeep Mishra, a young post-graduate from JJ school of art, tries to infuse new breath in it. Pradeep, who just finished is journey from extrovert pastiche to introvert imagery, is now conscious about the signified.
They're not biographical notes, nor are they complete appreciatory notes.
These are jottings, and I'd luv and respect your suggestions.
please comment.
MF HUSSAIN (1915- )
Verve and vigour define his line. His energy ascertains itself thoughcolour. The texture coincides his chiseled looks. M F Hussain (born1915) is more than this. He is perhaps synonymus with India’s modernpainting. Here’s a visual artist who experimented with many otherfields, cinema and even writing. While his experimentation withinpainting now has been focused to the subject he chooses, this founderof the ‘Progressive Artists Group’ has already come a long way, fromcurves to cuts. The drama of being Hussain, at 88, takes new turns!
PARITOSH SEN (1918-)
Paritosh Sen’s career as an artist, teacher and scholar sprawls overdecades, he has worked in cities of India and Europe alike. As afounder of the Calcutta Group (1943), Sen sought newer trends than therevivalist, orientalist styles prevalent in Bengal. In the process,Sen gave voluminous quality to the line drawing. Picasso and hiscubism impressed sen, but Sen’s own sense of satire, irony and hissensuous quality are unique. An octogenarian Sen, refuses to grow old!
SYED HAIDER RAZA (1922 -)
This octagenarian who lives in france, has been the source of Urja(energy) to the tantric metaophysical painting in India. He sharessecrets of life in its etenity, with Geometrical shapes and customarycolour. His journey as a founder of the Progressive Artists Group andas a profane expressionist, also finds a place in his later ode to thesacred : his stokes are still unmistakble.
RAM KUMAR (1924-)
Training in Paris under the two Moderns : Andre Lhote and FernandLeger in the 1950s, did influence Ramkumar, a youg Economics graduate,to depict his society and its predicament. Later, for more than thelast 45 years, he paints landscapes. His compulsive passion to paintflows over boundless terrains. Benares ghat-scapes paved the way forhis spiritual leanings toward white, gray, turquoise and ochre. Adefined pallette has meant freedom for an intellectual Ramkumar. He,with his abstract landscapes, opens up the inner spaces for theviewer.
KRISHEN KHANNA (1925-)
Mumbai gave him artist friends like Hussain, Ara and Bal Chhabda, andthe decisive moment to give up a banker’s job for full-time pursuit ofart. Khanna, known for his bold, guestural strokes, has undoubtedlyopened new horizons for the figurative art in Contemporary India. Hiseclectic style, say critics, ‘breaks away from the traditional notionsto achieve an even more radical position’. Thought his mid-careerseries of Bandwallas was in vibrant colours, Khanna has never forgonehis monocromic pallette.
SATISH GUJRAL (1925-)
Texture is an overture for Satish Gujral. It precedes his symphony ofline, form and colour. He sings the song of worldly and metaphysicalpresence, with a favorite theme of man and animal. Altough his presentsyle is pictorial figurative, Gujral is known for his sctulpuralabstractions as well as his architecture.
AKBAR PADAMSEE (1928-)
Creativity is not momentary. It’s a process of doing. Doing what youare and becoming you. Akbar Padamsee’s ink drawings as well as hislate oils may seem austere, yet they have an abundance of action.Philosophical quest has often lead artists to abandon figuration andexplore the non-representative; but Padamsee stands as a gracefulexception. In his journey from ‘Metascapes’ of the 1970s and 80s,Padamsee has abstracted the process of abstraction into ‘doing’.Padamsee, a believer and practitioner of the Indian RASA theory ofæsthetics, has his signature heads, nudes or human bodies, ametaphysical presence.
JERAM PATEL (1930-)
For Jeram Patel, who was trained as a typographer in London, it musthave been a process of unlearning when he arrived at his abscractform. Though the las 40 years, he has explored the possibilities ofcontent with from and technique. The rustic, expressionist, charcoliccloud in his work has always retined the potential of an IndianHarvest of abstraction. Patel, a founder of the “group 1890”, stillretains the vigour in his work.
LALITA LAJMI (1932-)
Relationships form the text and context for Lalita Lajmi. Hermetaphorical use of details in a building, aminals like cat amuses aswell as enlighten the viewer. Her watercolours have always, for thelast 30-odd years, been lucid and flowing, exploring and documentingthe familial and social values today.
VED NAYAR (1933-)
The elongated form that surpasses giocometti’s existentialism for Hopein Indian philosophy, marks Ved Nayar’s colourful paintings. Hisplayful, instinctive use of colour and space is remarkable, while hisintrovert content emanates from the painter’s ascetic personality.
SHYAMAL DUTTA RAY (1934-)
He used water colour as expressively as oils, without compromising thefuild, transparent quality of the medium. Today, he has proved atrend-setter. No wonder he has many successors, of sorts. ShyamalDutta Ray is at the helm of art from Bengal, and his appeal crossesgeographical boundries.
GANESH HALOI(1936- )
His closer inspections of Ajanta frescos facilitated hiscontemplations of texture. Ganesh Haloi stands tall in an otherwisefigurative contemporary art sceario from Bengal. A trueabstractionist, he makes his own terrain with line, colour andtexture.
GANESH PYNE (1937-)
The Line, in Ganesh Pyne’s work, is straight and impulsive. It is hisstream-of-thought, multidirectional visual contemplations which turnlines into image, for him. His line reign supreme over skeletal formsand austere use of colour.
JOGEN CHOWDHARY (1939- )
Sarcastic, commentative figures is his customaty double-hatchtechnique are quintessential to Jogen Chowdhary’s ouvre. His laterwork deals with more painful human conditions, but there is acontinuous stream of his india ink drawings that explores the existentbeauty.
MANU PAREKH (1939-)
Vigorous, impulsive and exressive strokes define his art. Vibrantcolour in his painting is unmistakably coupled with virile, manlyexpression of line and form. The natural forces are omnipresent in hiswork. Content is never a foreign proposition for Manu Parekh : it isinnate, with every stroke.
BOSE KRISNAMMACHARI ( 1962-)
Life in the city, the company of books, and the lives of Artists are the intellectual passions for Bose Krishnammachari. This JJ School of Art graduate has been among the vanguards of postmodern painting in India. His unmistakable riot of colour, now embodied in his untitled works, was in the centre of his installations as well, while his meticulous figurative work would have a context. This intellectual element, however, never stops a viewer from enjoying a Bose work!
SANJEEV SONPIMPARE (1969-)
Sanjeev, with his keen interest in the paradoxes and dissonaces of life - here and now- believes in a conceptual consistency of the eternal. Clarity of Thought and action guides his creativity. His recent works speak about the predicament of the city life.
RIYAS KOMU (1971-)
Committment to humanity has driven Komu to observe life. While his works as a student at the JJ School of Art had a strong and often direct political content, his paintings now point to a global reality of opresseion and resistance. Life flows, and so flows history. Komu in his role as an iconographer of Human Life, also makes exellent use of signage. His recourse to Brügel or his quest for Ravi Varma has been seen occasionaly in his works, but clearly, his grasp of history is not occasional.
Pradeep Mishra.
He wants real people; and not the habituated 'art public' to see his work. Sensing the suffocation and staleness in the air, Pradeep Mishra, a young post-graduate from JJ school of art, tries to infuse new breath in it. Pradeep, who just finished is journey from extrovert pastiche to introvert imagery, is now conscious about the signified.
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