Few words for the gen next…THE SUPER SIX…
Amid several art shows vying for viewers’ attention in this festive season in Delhi, one is sure to miss a few if not guided. Magnetized with the senior most names in the world of art like Ghulam Mohammad Shaikh, Sunil Das and a few chosen works of old masters displayed by a few galleries on show these days, many might not list Gallery Ensign, a newly opened art gallery located at Geetanjali Enclave, in their schedules. That’s where one must pause.
Pairon ko phaila kar kuch, dekh le apni chaadar kuch
Palkon par kuch khwab saja, tab badlenge manzar kuch.
Run by a sincere, simple, workaholic professional like Seema Subbanna, Gallery Ensign, instead of running after already established names who don’t need critical appraisals anymore, Seema spread her wings, and dreamt. She organized silently, an online competition of sorts in which she invited young hands at heart with strong individualistic styles.
“ Simte baithe ho kyon buzdilon ki tarah?
Aao maidan mein ghaziyon ki tarah…”
So, here are they, Seema’s super six showing their worth at “Kindling Expressions”.
Two artists in this group Ravi K and Bhanu Prakash have made their dreams, memories, hues, thoughts and above all, innocence flow in their particularly original, affectation- less labour of love. A chat with these two artists amazes you for their simplicity and a look at their works engulfs for their sheer purity and peace.
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| Artwork by Ravi K |
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| Artwork by Bhanu Prakash |
It made me think; ‘Are we scared of re-mirroring the innocence on the canvas in today’s times? Is it now dated concept in art? Or shall I let myself believe what William Shakespeare said? “The silence often of innocence persuades when speaking fails…?? At a time when the minister like Mani Shankar Aiyar is trying to revive the original folk styles of art; both performing and visual through his ZCC (Zonal Cultural Centre) programmes, are we feeling tired of showing traditional art as inspiring art? Is a class of younger generation wary of portraying virtuousness as their artistic expressions?
Naah! Not in at least in the works by Ravi and Bhanu. It rather rekindles!
Ravi entices his viewers with his synthesis of folk and pictorial elements in objects – animated and inanimate ones. If Madhubani and Kalamkari ornate his ‘subjects’, the carefully selected palettes take care of the combination of grace and elegance, style and simplicity. His village lass is shy; her black, wide deer fit eyes, her compass fit rounded face, her petal-fit rosy lips and her thick and black hairdo – all indicating a Patola school of art in Bengal. He doesn’t fondle with their sexuality either, he makes her simple, vulnerable and enticing.
Aankhon mein khamoshi, labon pe sawaal, rukh pe saadgi
Ya Khuda, kaise kaise rang hain is tasweer mein???
Speaking to Ravi K, a Santiniketan aluminums, too is a simple, tireless exercise. “I belong to a small village in Bengal. No one is educated in my family, so when I started painting no one including my parents could understand what I was up to, all they knew was that I must earn well in future. While going to the green fields, I would be fascinated by the little girls with pleated hairdo, playing or sheltering animals in the paddy fields. Women working at home in Madhubani style. Their bright textile pattersn and colors would pull me to sketch them.”
As Ravi grew a little older, he sought the help of veteran artists Jogen Chowdhury and Ravinder Reddy, who, as one can witness clearly, influence his style too.
Like Ravi K, Bhanu Prakash from Chattisgarh too transports you to the days of innocence, the traditional charm of the village, its earthy fragrance, its golden fields, its peace, tranquility, warmth and just simple life. The 28-year-old says with similar beguiling tone, “Life’s like that in Chattisgrah. I could have only painted it the way it is.”
One remembers Julius Caesar’s famous line which said; “I would rather be a first in village than second in Rome,” is the essence of Bhanu’s works. He brings with himself the chastity of the village, its enviable open spaces, its silent, non-interfering, non violent cattle and its inviting warm huts.
That’s what happens when an artist from a scenically splendid village like Chattigarh handles a brush and paints his memories. A young Bhanu is the first person who has gone out of is village Khairagarh. Unlettered parents were farmers. To meet his expenses, his father also use to make banners in his spare time, Bhanu would accompany him. As he started taking fancy on it, his father discouraged him as he knew the struggle involved in such a work.
“But his discouragement became my strength. I wanted to know what makes it difficult? Bhanu started with making banners, and slowly, to learn art, he ran away from home to Delhi some years ago without telling his parents. He started with making hoardings and soon within a year made good money. It helped him take admission in Indrakal Sangeet Mahavidyalay, Chattisgrah where he completed his M.F.A later.
Who can dare to play with an umbrella except M.F Husain in whose earlier works these were strong recurring symbols – of love, protection, hideout. Bhanu does it playfully but with the urban umbrellas. Though Bhanu finds life in Delhi “plastic”, but to be saved from that, he paints the rustic life from his memory and yet feels he hasn’t been able to “pay off the debt of his village”.
“Hum khoon ki kistain to bohot de chuke magar
Aye khak-e-watan, karz ada kyon nahi hota???
In the long run, art admirers may have made adopted different choices, but works of the artists like Ravi K and Bhanu Prakash are here to stay – to remind us of the mansion house of beauty and charm we have left in our regional locales. Did anyone say “Country roads, take me home…”?
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| Artwork by Soumen Bhowmick |
Among other artists Soumen Bhowmick, a young aluminums from Delhi College of Art, is the most original, highly symbolic and quirky. When Clemen broke many a heart saying, “All profoundly original works of art look ugly at first,” he may be having the likes of Soumen in mind. But all peculiar works may not be necessarily unpleasant either. Soumen’s works “Clown Head” and “Butterfly Dreams” series look as complicated as they are actually simple. His use of liberal doses of colour goad the viewers to read between the lines.
Soumen (read shomen) has pushed the envelope by paving a rather different track – by employing symbols that encounter you with their funny-ness, and at the same time introduces to the pain his clowns (also deployed in the butterfly dreams) hide beneath their hideous, toothy grins.They intrigue with multiple layers of ‘accompaniments’ and jolt with the omnipresence of a golden dagger hitting straight on a ladder in most of his creations.
A constant interaction with street urchins who do funny but tough acrobatic stunts on the intersections of metro city roads had been the genesis of clown series for Soumen.
His works are a show of the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’. With almost a mindset with “Main apne aap se ghabra gaya hoon Mujhe aiye zindagi deewana kar de”
Soumen employs his clown to speak on behalf of one and all -- men, demon, and God. Social unrest, economic boom or bust, mythological allusions, violence and peace; Soumen’s clown dance on his strings.
He turns them Lord Vishnu narrating famous mythological tale when He hid the whole Brahmand in his mouth to save it from the wrath the demonic devastations, he turns them a man who is constantly hit by economic recession. He turns them demonic who is ready to devastate the earth with its repulsive tentacles. And yet, he lends them myriad colours that provide dramatic element and relief too.
A veteran of some 80 big and small shows, Soumen hates to mince words, “My clowns are not made to please. They are ugly, non gentle and raw.” Soumen is among calculable few who have used clown as their artistic expressions in a long time. The recurrent symbol of a golden dagger straight on his ladder is a “constant reminder to the mindless runner of what can stop him,” he shoots callously. He seems to warn…
“Ponchenga na koi dil-e-zar ke aansoo
Thak haar ke mil jayenge khud Khak mein aansoo.”
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| Artwork by Monika Bijlani |
Monika, A 33-year-old artist is into what the new generation terms as “digital painting”. And it’s not easy. It’s just that a computer becomes the artist’s best friend when this technique of making art is employed, wisely.
Husain, essentially a traditionalist, too, never went wary of the digital world. “Its a magic”, he told me once after he saw his serigraph prints mounted as his solo exhibition in New Delhi’s five star hotels to a huge gathering. “If used I intelligently, digital world can do wonders to an artist,” he said while almost admiring his own works. Monika, like a few others, seems to have taken the responsibility of making the best out it.
A painting which is well composed is half finished. Monika with her experience in realistic paintings and photography has already, almost perfected the art of free hand drawing where she makes no mistake. In the untitled series of works she presents in the show, Monika, one dares to say, at places reminds one of the meditative style of Sohan Quadri which her subtle hues and a tinge of bright here and there.
Her abstracts form out of her concern for environment, hence a fish recurs silently, in a dilemma to find clear water. “Silent Whispers”, “Freedom in captivity”, “Dressed in black” are mainly her environmental concerns though one can draw several meanings out of her multi-layered, neat, symphony with judicious mix of hues, What makes her digital paintings worth watching is their unpretentiousness, sobriety and minimal services taken by colours.
Of late art lovers have seem enjoying minimalist works by the likes of Manisha Gera and Manjunath Kamath. What makes them unique is sense of humour and colours in their creations. Jagdish in this series, is a pleasant addition to this category. Jagdish Dhyan Shreyas cages “five elements” or panchtatva in his transparent jars, and makes them float too.
An ambitious astronaught once, who was fast at mathematics and physics, pulls with him the logic of algebra and the fondness for ‘space’ and “solves” his problems as he puts it. “Artistically, I reach at least one conclusion, mathematically, it wasn’t always the case,” he says matter of factly and hence, he gave up maths and space science for the love of art.
Jagdish attempts to bring a smile to the viewers by altering the use of five elements and yet make some statements. For instance he utilises fire, earth, water, air and sky in ‘ speaking posture’ in his jars which for him is a symbolic of human body, and creating diverse effects.
They “float”, they ooze out the gas or the air, they turn upside down when the carbon dioxide or the polluted air disturbs it, or it emits lights beyond its periphery and enlighten one and all. They follow laws of gravity or just give up. Apart from the five elements, Jagdish brings in stuff like hand grenade, wind mill, cable wires, electric bulb, torch, sky and pebbles and plays with them daringly conveying messages after messages.
His ‘objects’ look funny and strike a chord too. And they pose several queries simultaneously. Do purists would treat his works as pure art work? But then every age has the art that it deserves. A work of art is usually never finished, it is rather abandoned.
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| Jagadish Dhyan Sreyas |
There is something in the blood of those who study art from M.S University, Baroda. They pop put out as one of the most unique and artist extraordinaire. The University, as many would know is a hub for traditional and untraditional art teachings. Soghra Khursani who enriched her bachloers degree with masters in printmaking from the MS, is an example. A spectacular blend of traditional means like woodcut prints and etchings and newer mediums likes serigraphy and digital print, have lended her mammoth works an awe. She manages these sizes with landscapes and topography along with compositions. And she chooses societal oppression to speak her heart.
“Jaiye hoke beqarar kahan
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| Soghra Khurasani |
Sab hain ghangheen, ghamghusaar kahan?”
On how the nation is gripped with “dead political brains” that has turned its people into disgusting lizards eating into it, how a society creates a dent into a woman’s life by placing her wherever it wants at its whims and fancies and tribute to the soldiers are the subjects Soghra chooses to express her artistic concerns.
This normally happens. Students often love to look beyond their own lives and surroundings to bring a mammoth ‘effect’ to their artworks by using nation and its concerns. Some succeed some fail.
Soghra’s subjects may be over repeated, her style isn’t. If transformation (of a medium) is an art, then she seems to have perfected it. It’s an uphill talk to mix and obtain woodcut print, etching, serigraphy together on a common platform. It only strengthens one belief that the generation next isn’t going wrong with art.
But then all art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere’ Lets see, where our promising younger generation does it?
There would be times when our own artists perfected by their gurus and self determination would find a highly mentionable position on the global map, and we will remember our beloved poet Faraz Ahamd then, who said
Usse humne tarash ke heera bana diya ’Faraz’
Magar ab soche hain, usse khareedain kaise????.
RANA AFROZ SIDDIQUI
