The Difference between Planting and Constructing

Education

Discussing Education in Art Schools may have been seen, but descants over Art Education in Schools is very less pronounced. It has been an area of disregard and demoralization both by art fraternity and non-art sections of the society. School level art education doesn’t embroil the art fraternity, because it doesn’t relate directly to contemporary art practices or to discourse of art, and non-art sections (laymen masses) are not aware about Fine Arts as a fully-fledged career. 

   

School Magazine Cover Page by Me
(Collage and mixed media on paper)

In both public and government schools, art education is not a ‘grade gaining’ subject, which students have to study and score high to obtain a good CGPA; instead it is a co-scholastic area.  Like music, dance, sports and work experience, art education introduced and included into curriculum with the aim of overall personality development of a child. Here the point of dismay begin when it loses the status of ‘co’ and enters into an ‘extra’ zone. Most of the schools outbid a hierarchy of subjects in their curriculum emphasizing the science and commerce stream. School administration feel a staunch exigency of it for saving student’s future in terms of making them able to earn a livelihood in their forthcoming lives. With such thinking schools also behave like non-art sections of the society that doesn’t induce fine arts as a desired career option.  

This attitude results into a burden on children to pursue science, mathematics or commerce without having any aptitude for it. Though I descry the urge of studying and emphasizing on ‘subjects’ till class-10, but I also feel the need of deciphering the child’s interest and competence right from class-8 onwards, so that s/he can decide her/his career at right time in right direction. There are children those have all the capacities to grow into a creative, analysis and exploration based profession, but they also get pushed into undesired and inept areas in their professional lives. A radiant and class topper student of my previous school who has adopted science stream in class-11 told me that her interest always lied in studying history not in science, but she was pressured to carry an aim of becoming a doctor due to his father’s qusere in a subject like history, who is an reputed engineer. He consider history a peril area to pursue. 

I recall my own school days, as I studied in both public and government school, where we had book of ‘Kala Shiksha’ in our curriculum but no ‘Kala Shikshak’ to teach. A lot of time I feel if I would have anyone to inculcate my creative interests right in school, I would not have wasted my five years in wandering around medical science and arts. It took time to recognize my real zest by own, because in family very few get anyone familiar with fine arts. But even today school’s administration generally consider art education for those children who are poor in studies even after all efforts. Bright students are not made for a thing like art because they can pursue other subjects, no matter how much they have suppressed their interests, creative expression and talent.

I assume it as complete stereotypical notion set in their mind, as people those become artists, writers, performers, art teachers and so on, they were not the weakest at academics. They could also pursue any other management, engineering or medical degree but despite of it they had chosen the areas of their passions. We have a number of significant and practicing artists those listened the sprouting sound of their hearts while keeping aside a well-settled career in another field. And none can deny the power of an honest passion that lead someone to satisfaction, hard work and success. It should be recognized by the system of school education that art touches our lives in many more ways than we know. A factory production of engineers, doctors and MBA’s is as lopsided, non-healthy and non-productive as constructing the sky-high buildings at the cost of mushrooming green trees. It just cannot fill the emptiness the human race is facing within, living in uncertainty and anxiety despite of all outward signs of progress like-flyovers, metros, cars, malls and everything that attracts from outside. 

Art is an expression that is born out of our own from the world we live in. It germinates from the changes that happen in our socio-political climate. I should agree that for people who are not informed about fine arts, its wide and multifaceted scope when the word ‘art’ is once mingled with ‘contemporary’ and its historical discourse, the first step to make them aware is arduous. And it’s good to see that some mainstream art galleries, museums and other non-profitable institutions are coming up with children learning programs, summer-camps and hobby classes. It could help anyone among them having some zest to embrace art for a lifetime. Their parents would also familiarized themselves with artistic creativity and would experience it at larger platform. After all they also need to know the baffling expressions of contemporary art, with its multiple formats, materials, mediums, and environment. In small towns where there is no such institutions, I am hopeful that with dedicated efforts of like-minded people and educators, the need and relevance of art and culture will be recognized and its presence will reach out to a huge number of visitors and art lovers beyond the art fraternity.

I am hopeful that art will not be banished to ‘free period’ activity or simply to beautify the classroom or school premises as said by Roobina Karode, Educator and the director of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art as it has a vital role to play than this. It is important to realize that creative and artistic pursuits have a humanizing effect on us. I feel it when I enter into a primary classroom, kids waiting for their art teacher with glowing faces and felicitating smiles. They become happy to imagine the freedom they get in art period replacing the whopping stick. Situation is contrasting with secondary class children especially of class-9 and class-10. They have forgotten the joy of creative learning in front of growing academic scud even being good in creative areas.

I am hopeful that art teachers in schools will not be identified as ‘free’ or to simply used like ‘stepney’. Schools should understand that art teachers don’t only work for their salaries and money, they turned their hobbies into a profession due to their love towards art and they would find useless earning money if they will be forced to create distance from their work. This is the responsibility of art educators to try people make understand about it, so art education can contribute into children’s lives like watering into sprouting seeds not like shaping the grown-up bushes in order to make them artificially attractive. 

Studio Visit: Artist Tanul Vikamshi

Nisha Aggarwal visits Nagpur based painter and social activist, Tanul Vikamshi at his studio and comes out with the following observations about his life and art.

Amidst all the chaos- of fluctuating art market, rise and fall of optimism and despair, I see the serene face of Tanul Vikamshi, a Nagpur based artist. I met Tanul through his brother and artist Lalit Vikamshi whom I had met in an art camp in Goa. He took me to meet his brother. Tanul had come to receive us at the Nagpur Railway station; a rare courtesy these days shown by the artists. On the way to his studio, Tanul was all animated and happy while talking about the city and later about contemporary art scene in India.

Artist Tanul Vikamshi at his Studio in Nagpur

I met Tanul at his studio the next morning. I was gazing at one of his large canvases for a long time as he entered the studio. Tanul is not a painter by training. He studied sculpture from Sir.J.J.School of Art in Mumbai in 1993. Brother Lalit also studied sculpture though both of them actively pursue a career in painting. Their sculpture gene comes from their father who too was a sculptor. Man proposes and fate or destiny or god, call it anything, disposes. Tanul was a happy student at J.J.School. But his studies were cut short by an accidental fall from a tree. He was plucking mangoes for his teachers. The fall rendered him paralyzed below waist for some time and he had to leave Mumbai and cut short his studies. Finally, he finished graduation in sculpture from Khamgaon, an institution famed for sculpture studies. Later he took a masters degree in painting from Nagpur University in 2003.

Tanul does not feel bad about his change in career. Had it not been the fall he would have definitely pursued a career in sculpture. But today he paints regularly without heeding a bit about the changing graphs of the art market. He never thought of living in a metro city to make his career flourish. Currently he is a Co-founder/director of Alag Angle Studio in Nagpur, an initiative that aims to bring out budding artists in various genre of visual arts. Alag Angle and its students also work in the field of social awareness while collaborating with various other organizations and projects.

The significant projects undertaken successfully by Alag Angle Studio are ‘Hamari Nag River’ supported by Norwegian Embassy and Khoj Studios, Delhi, ‘Gram Art Project’ in Paradsinga Village, Madhya Pradesh and ‘I have a Dream Project’ by Vancouver Biennale. Tanul has exhibited in various parts of the world as a solo artist.

Tanul’s art and life reflect his never say die attitude. For him sky is the limit. In his earlier works, he repeatedly paints the image of a gate. According to him, it was an opening to the world and through which he could measure the world beyond, sitting on a wheel chair. Depending on his mood, the gate appeared either opened or closed. Another important image of that time was ‘car’. For Tanul car represented the pace of thinking, its maneuverability and its elegance. Between gates and cars there are always textured stones as another link image. Tanul says that a stone is a metaphor for the primitive imaginative capacity of human beings. They symbolize massiveness and solidity.

A Work by artist Tanul Vikamshi

Tanul paints mostly acrylic on canvas and on paper in monochromatic shades. However his color palette is teeming with brighter hues in the recent works. The melancholy of his earlier works is now fading and erupting into more lively shades of imagination. These are midway between abstraction and figuration. For Tanul the act of painting is similar to creating space that allows viewers to travel within. The textures are like various sojourn points essential for navigation into various directions and searching into the soul of the space/painting. The absence of the textures would limit this journey of viewers to the surface only. The tenuous presence of feminine figures is a metaphor of the energy/strength and Scorpions are of the artist himself. The sculptural outlook of these figures are evident of the artist’s earlier training in sculpture which now he could release only into his paintings. Tanul says he cannot resist doing it as it is a subconscious manifestation.

Of late the artist has begun to think about the balance created out of various counterparts in life or in different things. He delineates it through the machinery as it functions properly due to correct operation of its internal fittings. Here the artist’s endeavor is to understand the function of machinery which could give insights to human beings to make their lives ‘existent’, just like Tanul’s own life gives.

Image Courtesy: The Artist

(First Appeared Online in CartanArt Magazine, Issue-I, June 2014)

On the Threshold of ‘A Portrait’

Review

‘On the Threshold of Time’ is a group show of four young fresh graduates from Delhi College of Art, New Delhi. Mounted at the Heritage Art Gallery in the city, this show attracts the viewer with its emphasis on ‘self-portraits,’ feels Nisha Aggarwal.

Why do artists paint self-portraits, is an age old question in art history. When asked Frida Kahlo once, the artist replied, ‘because I am the subject, I know best’. Answer to this question varies as artists have responded to this in their own ways. The first ever believed to be found portrait was by the Ancient Greek sculptor Phidias, who inserted a likeness of himself in the frieze ‘Battle of the Amazons’ at the Parthenon in Athens. The Early Renaissance artists of the mid-15th century can be more frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important character in their work.

A Rare Self-Portrait by Adolf Hitler
(Photo: Caters News)

Italian Renaissance painters avoided producing formal self-portraits, but tended to insert images of themselves in their painting. Instances can be seen in the paintings of artists Simone Masaccio, Piero della Francesca, Sandro Botticelli, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raphael, and Titian. Some Florentine artists like Gentile Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci executed more formal self-portraits. The 20th century sought the painters like Henri Matisse, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Marc Chagall, Paul Klee and Max Beckmann producing stylistic portraits of themselves. Likewise, the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo executed 55 self-portraits depicting her personal torment. The great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso painted a wide range of autobiographical portraits depicting himself at various stages of his artistic career. All these artists used self-portraits either to advertise their skills, to explore inner turmoil or to stake a place in history. Beyond representing one’s physical and inlying attributes, self-portraiture can also announce one’s style. The reasons may be whatever but it can be deciphered as a painting with art of writing.

A Work by Akshay Sethi

Once again ask the question; why do artists paint self-portraits? This question comes to me again as I descend the stairs of the Art Heritage gallery, which is located at the basement of the Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. There I confront a huge portrait of a young man wearing a Shaktiman costume. This one is by Rahul Gautam, one of the participating artists in the group show. The question refuses to fade as I walk along the aisle of the gallery, where Akshay Sethi’s works are displayed on either side. Sethi’s works focus more on the plight of the middle class caught in the metropolitan cities. These self-portraits are not heavily detailed, however, they tell me about the issues of the aam aadmi in his/her efforts to survive in big cities.

Naughty Boy by Dipanker Pramanik

Inside the main gallery, I see the works of Dipanker Pramanik, Sambodhi Ascharya and Rahul Gautam. Dipanker revels in the immediate and he gives expression to his visuals responses in small paper works. These are windows kept open to his life, to his family and the life that floats by. Sambodhi dares to bare as she paints female nudes though she blurs the nudity by photoshop act. For the artist, female body is not different than the landscapes and the natural aesthetics they carry in them. But what attracts me more is a series of self-portraits by Rahul Gautam done mostly in oil and acrylic on canvas or pencil on paper.

Shakti-Shakti-Shaktiman by Rahul Gautam

In Rahul’s works the perceived reality around him meets the imagined reality inside the artist’s head. Hence one could see a lot of popular images in his works. He gives iconic status to the ordinary individuals; at times to his own self and at other times to his family members. The characterization of these works is crucial to the artists as several of them are ‘living’ people; his family members or friends. Rahul’s dependence on autobiography could be read out as a need for self-validation felt by the artist himself. He repeatedly changes the ambience of the locales where these protagonists are seen and this changing ambience in a way suggests his thoughts and desires. For instance, in ‘Lovely One’ he depicts the union of college mates in a birthday party or something. By the mere enlarging of the scale of the painting, he underlines the importance that gives to a mundane occurrence.

Lovely One by Rahul Gautam

‘Hey! What’s Up?’ is from the series of works on his facebook addiction and relations. These pencil portraits are profile pictures of his facebook friends (his real life friends too) and the text written with them is taken from facebook chat-box, which defines their character or personality. His other work ‘Cold War’ also promulgates his relationship with one of his closest friend, penning how after having some misunderstandings a cold war began between them. She has some resemblance with Mona Lisa, so Rahul portrayed her as Mona Lisa while erasing her facial features. Same whittling of the facial features is indicated in his sculptural portrait of that friend (in one portrait among a set of four portraits). Before portraying her as Mona Lisa, Rahul had created her portrait in clay and sequence of these four portraits shows the creation to destruction of a relation.

Hey! What's Up?, A Set of 9 Portraits by Rahul Gautam

In the work, ‘Babu, You will be a star one day’, an old family photo with his father and siblings but one who is wearing Shaktiman’s costume is Rahul himself. He ‘edited’ his dress in the old photo while converting it into a large painting. The title is taken from his father’s refrain. In another painting he portrays himself as Shaktiman; it is a sort of searching for the self therefore an act of self-discovery.

Cold War by Rahul Gautam

His selection of the pictures that he paints has a similarity. The gaze of his characters look directly into the eyes of the viewers as to create a relation with them. Technically Rahul is inspired with hyperrealist artists, but his concepts of portraits are more near to the contemporary aspects of it as ‘selfies’. The selfie is a smartphone-produced version of the self-portrait, which has been a staple of art and photography history since artists first began seeing or examining their own images in the mirror. Shot mostly with smartphone cameras, a way for the one shooting the picture to see themselves the way they would like to be seen. Thus far, the selfies have concentrated mostly on the philosophical implications of disseminating them via social networks and the internet, wherein the selfie can receive validation from their social circle.

Babu, You will be a Star one day

This is the fourth exhibition by Art Heritage Gallery in the exhibition series of ‘On the Threshold of Time’, which majorly includes the young artists or fresh graduates from fine arts colleges. All these artists have portrayed the image of their alternative self that shares and reflects their intramural core, just like the words of Pablo Picasso that, ‘we are to paint what’s on the face, what’s inside the face, or what’s behind it’.

Picture Courtesy: Art Heritage Gallery & Rahul Gautam

The exhibition is on view till 29th May, 2014.

(First Appeared Online in CartanArt Magazine, Issue-IV, May 2014)

Of Creative Diligence

Interview

The art world today witnesses a rapid change as artists tend to move towards creating quick, commercially palpable art work, rejecting their conventional art practices. Veteran artist Paramjeet Singh, teaches by his own example and stresses the need for consistency in art practice for ensuring longevity, in an interview with Nisha Aggarwal.

Recipient of President of India’s Silver Plaque Award among many others, veteran artist Paramjeet Singh has been an active member of Group8 and Delhi Shilpi Chakra. Presently he is an Executive member of All India Fine Art and Crafts Society, New Delhi. Paramjeet’s consistent and persistent work in painting and printmaking, and contributions in art education as Principal and Professor at College of Art, New Delhi, begets a pry to recognize him as Paramjeet Singh the artist. Here he speaks: 

Artist Paramjeet Singh

Nisha Aggarwal: You as a prolific artist, worked untiringly both in painting and printmaking with variety of media. Artists often feel themselves astray in initial phase of their career due to availability of various options. What are your suggestions?

Paramjeet Singh: I started silk screen printing in late 60s, to find out what is a silk screen print in fine arts, I studied print media that was European, but I wanted to find out it in an Indian context. It was the time when graphic arts such as lithography and etching were carving a niche and silk screen printing was being diminishing. In such an era I stuck to serigraphy by practicing it consistently for 30 years. Print medium requires a lot of stress and physical hard work. In 1979, I got a National Award by Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. Gradually I shifted to oil colour medium and afterwards to acrylic. But present scenario is little different. People are hunting for the change to avail the demand and opportunities. Artist’s mind is polluted. The shift to one medium to another should be piecemeal. One should take a medium or style seriously for certain time period and should master it. The development will come successively and conclusion point will be sought for a shift in medium or style. Then only one could be able to mature one style of working and master it.

Blue Vision, Silkscreen 1974

NA: Would you put an emphasis on the gradual development or shift in your style of working?

PS: Late 60s marked the beginning of my artistic career with abstracts. For 8 to 12 years I continued with abstracts that may be as a symbolic phase with geometrical shapes and lot of in-lighted colours. That time’s work emphasized on geometrical shapes. In forms I preferred squares, ovoids and floral motifs. In the 80s I started adding clouds, leaves, butterflies, birds, rainbows and human figures in my compositions. In 1983 I started using a very coarse 60-80 mesh screen with conventional printer’s colours through which I succeeded in producing exceptionally flat opaque surfaces and delicately gradated shadings rarely possible with a brush. 1984 I attempted silk screen on canvas combining a painterly effect with serigraphic technique. In the last decade of my artistic life my endeavours have moved towards reconciling the human world with nature. My human figures notably the female figures set in indoor scenes with mundane household objects. I have been delving into the human form on and off for over two decades now.

Passage to Hermitage, Silkscreen 1983

From basic shapes to natural elements and afterwards human figures, was an experience in itself. It was a journey exploring my inner self. I gradually started realist after abstract but basic study was always there that converted one style into another. The process of unifying birds and human beings with geometrical shapes came with constant experimentation. As thoughts and images change as the experience grow but the stagnant application with technique and images is the reason behind achieving the signature style.

Blue Mountains, Silkscreen 1986

NA: From your earlier work on symbolism and geometrical shapes, nature and form related, to human/ female forms, how are you able to create such ‘personal space’ and to find the serene surroundings while living and working in restless world of Delhi?

PS: See Delhi is not just a wild area (laughs) or concrete jungle only. You see landscapes everywhere. You can’t ignore that among the buildings, gardens are there. You can make your own subjects. Even a single tree can make a beautiful composition. It is so decorative and balanced. So, one has to have observation.

Green Carpet, Silkscreen 1995

NA: Do you feel any impact of your teaching career on the artist in you?

PS: It helped me and gave me a support. It never bound my creativity.

NA: What are your views about Art Education in India in today’s perspective?

PS: We cannot say exactly as its very mixed now. Many things are done and more is needed. Art education today is growing and a manner of precipitation is there. People think that they have to learn faster and faster. But I believe that art cannot be learnt so rapidly. This way sometimes you feel that education remains incomplete. But if somebody is clever enough to learn and mature cursorily, one can hold it or carry on. So some sort of deficiency in art education is there.

Camp Observer, Silkscreen 2002

NA: What are your views about contemporary art practices in India?

PS: It’s good and growing. It’s a kind of documentation of the society. So many people are hunting here and there thinking what to do and what not to do. They are incorporating a lot of modern technologies in it. And I think there is a need of time also because one has to work with time. One cannot go with the convention which was created by our forefathers and mastering in all those. With modern times, modern technologies and modern instruments has to be interflowed. I think experimental works are coming out.

Lady on Green Sofa, Oil on Canvas 2007

NA: Would you like to convey any message to young artists/art practitioners of India?

PS: My message to artists and students is that they have to work. They have to work and work and work. The time will come when a certain development and maturity will be there. Understanding will come by working only. That is more important instead of running here and there, finding sources, finding market and all those things. That is what I feel and want to convey.

(First Appeared Online in CartanArt Magazine, Issue-III, May 2014)

‘Green’ that paints the ‘Red’

Review

When artists address social and environmental issues organically, a new age art practice is born, as is the case of Jonathan Longuet, in his show titled, ‘Jungle Me : Green Graffiti’ at Niv Art Centre, New Delhi. Developing a green paint made from algae, the artist intends to paint the world a lively green, reviews Nisha Aggarwal.

Life size human figures and more than life size portraits on canvas and on light boxes could catch the attention of anyone. I first saw these in the form of images in facebook. They looked monochromatic dark green at first glance enthralling aesthetically. Knowing more about their medium as algae (in Hindi known as ‘Kai’) created more interest in them. This zest and curiosity made my visit to NIV Art Centre. Niv Art Centre situated near the IGNOU Campus, New Delhi was hosting a show titled ‘Jungle Me: Green Graffiti’ of works by French artist Jonathan Longuet curated by Elizabeth Rogers.

Algae Painting with Light Box

Born in 1984, Jonathan Longuet is a Bordeaux, France based artist who was part of the residency at Niv Art Centre. ‘Jungle Me’ was a series comprising Green Graffiti, Installations, Photography, Laboratory and street interventions including workshops with children. The works showcased in the exhibition were a calculated display of all these activities done by artist in India during his residency. The first floor gallery was displaying the paintings done by algae (Green Graffiti) and a machine showing the process of algae cultivation (Green Machine). The second floor gallery consisted the photographs of the works done in a workshop with children (Green Workshops of Reverse and Water Graffiti). His medium of painting is refined algae plus water on pure cotton made canvases.

Artist Jonathan Longuet showing 'Green Machine' to School Children

Jonathan is a regular painter and around ten years back he decided to use organic material for his paintings instead of using chemical paints like acrylics and oils. He wanted to find out a solution to the ‘chemical’ problem. Bordeaux is a city in France classified by UNESCO, as made out of stones. Jonathan wanted to make it Green. The problems of global warming and pollution also urged him to catch the carbon dioxide in an artistic way. When he saw the algae living and growing on the stones in his building, the idea of using it as a material for his paintings arose. Also it could give him the solution to all those issues which were undulating in his thoughts.

A Reverse Graffiti by Children in Workshop

Algae, a type of seaweed lives and grows on stones, walls or in their rifts, near to drainages or on the surfaces wherever water/moisture is extant. It is easily available anywhere. Jonathan harvests it from the base of buildings and other surroundings, cultivates and applies to canvases or other surfaces. But making this harvested plant usable as a paint medium needs various methods of filtering in order to extract pure algae. Because while harvesting the ‘stock’ contains the bacteria, viruses, microorganisms, insect larva along with algae. Jonathan could successfully make it his medium of painting through his personal research and cooperation with biologists. The filtrations result in purified algae, ‘the living paint’ with a quantity of water.

At The Mall

This prepared ‘Green paint’ is dripped drop by drop onto canvas throughout the stencils (made according to the drawings). The dark and light areas/shades which give these/any painting a three-dimensional look decides the quantity of dripped paint. Dark areas require more dripping than the lighter ones. The algae may not be difficult to use but it needs a careful scientific process. And also requires maintenance and good conservation conditions afterwards. I remember while my visit to the show Jonathan was spraying water onto all the paintings to keep them alive. He told me that it’s necessary for not letting the algae/paintings dry or die. In this sense his paintings are alive and this algae grows over time depending on conservation conditions.

Fille Rayure (In Collaboration with Manou)

Jonathan’s subjects of paintings are Indian people. These human beings are captured in their various casual posture/dresses while their daily lives as old man wearing ‘lungi’, a girl with a dog, young girl and boy at shopping mall, the rickshaw puller/laborer, people of different costumes/religions etc. these subjects and the medium ‘Green paint’ connects and explore the points of population explosion, neglected growth, fundamental/biological necessities of living, existence of different identities and their struggle to survive and how their environment impacts them. Algae as a medium itself reveals a lot about our environment. And giving human shapes to it is an endeavor to establish a dialogue between human beings and their environments. They have forgotten it even being a part of it. It interrogates the notions of urban jungle, density, movement and survival.

The Old Man (In Collaboration with Manou)

The seven works presented in this collection were the photographs taken by street fashion photographer Manou (wearabout) which Jonathan developed in his own ‘ecofriendly’ process. Manou also deals with similar issues of inventory of originality, difference and evolving identities which interests Jonathan. The similarity of ‘flavours’ resulted in the collaboration between both. Jonathan started the drawings of the displayed works in France and did his paintings in India at NIV. It took eight months to present the works showcased in the show. And availability of the space of two long galleries perhaps helped Jonathan to execute his ideas the way he wanted to.

Square Head (In Collaboration with Manou)

As Jonathan’s efforts were to invite people to feel/realize their environment they have been neglecting. Apart from the display of his own works he made the show a project which directly involves people. And children are just in the best age to develop the interest/awareness for their surroundings. The artist started a workshop with children of Neb Sarai in February 2014 which continued till April 2014. He showed children his artistic practice and explained how to do street art. In his Reverse Graffiti and Water Graffiti workshops with children, they made stencils and used them in various locations in Neb Sarai. These were the small interventions in the street drawn with water pressure on a wall covered of algae. The last series of Reverse Graffiti were conducted in collaboration with ‘The Green Lab Delhi’ group of the Neb Sarai children during Jonathan’s residency at Niv Art Centre. These works were photographed and displayed with Jonathan’s paintings during the show and the original ones can be seen while walking through the Neb Sarai’s streets. Perhaps they will be visible some more time until the rain arrives. The children of G. D. Goenka Public School and Birla Vidya Niketan also visited the show and Jonathan showed his process of work to them too. A workshop with Art Muse Academy also took place.

I would say it a ‘Green Riot’ played with ‘Green Paint’ showing the concerns for ‘Red’/the environmental dangers.

The show was on the view till 20 April, 2014.

Image Courtesy: Niv Art Centre

(First Appeared Online in CartanArt Magazine, Issue-II, May 2014)

Where ‘A Knot’ says a lot

Profile

In pursuit of becoming a fully trained artist, Manesha Deva Sarma S N, has endured existential issues on personal and public realms. This has never hampered the gusto of creativity. The artist carefully ties up loose ends in his ‘Knots’ of time, says Nisha Aggarwal.

Artist Manesha Deva Sarma S.N.

‘Better late than never’, is a prevailing proverb, but believing in it with inlying credence is a different quest. Manesha Deva Sarma S N is one such artist, whose artistic journey lies in this engagement. Born in the village Pattazhi, Kollam district of Kerala, Manesha completed his early graduation in Commerce from University of Kerala. While pursuing another Bachelor degree in Law, he came in touch with artist friends in Kerala, helping him discover his artistic interest, urging him to enter Fine Arts. Climbing up with this ‘settling’ spire of his educational career, Manesha started being drawn towards art. Although before starting any academic training in Fine arts he had a solo show of his works in Kerala in 2002, but being eldest among his siblings was another hindrance for entering into art field as a full time pursuant. At the same time his application was rejected for Bachelor level course in Fine Arts College, Trivandrum, Kerala due to age criteria. Then somebody told him about Kala-Bhavana, Visva-Bharti University, West Bengal. He heeded the suggestion and applied to enroll in a BFA course to become a practicing artist. Finally at the age of 23, Manesha got in to Kala-Bhavana, Santiniketan. From there he completed his Bachelor and Master in Fine Arts in Sculpture in 2007 and 2009 consecutively.

The Plant (Fiber Glass, Terracotta, Iron & Soil)

After completing his Post Graduation, he moved back to Kerala, his hometown. Need of a regular income urged him to take up a job and he found an interest in teaching. He joined in R. L. V. College, Thrippunithura, Kochi, Kerala as sculptor/teacher for one year. Since the family needs and his own work demanded financial stability, where he could work uninterruptedly irrespective of fluctuating art market scenario, he took up a job of Art Teacher in Kendriya Vidyalaya and was posted in the IIT Campus, Chennai. His works have been included in various group shows held in Santiniketan, Kolkata, Kochi, and National exhibitions of Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. He is the recipient of scholarships from Kerala Lalitha Kala Academy in 2008-09, from Visva-Bharti University in 2008 and Junior Artist Fellowship from Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India in 2010.

Onathumpi (Mix Media)

Manesha is primarily a sculptor, who has recently turned to painting since he shifted to Chennai. Although he has been doing drawings during his study at Kala-Bhavana, his early drawings and sketches for sculptures are replete with painterly potency. His imagery works in a similar manner both as a sculptor and painter however his paintings hold more narrative resonance. Manesha is a prolific sculptor who started with life size/and more than life size portraits in clay, terracotta and fiber glass and slowly brought his realistic sculptures into conceptual territories with the use of various different/ experimental mediums. His figurative sculptures comprise masculine human body parts (legs and hands mainly). These body parts are knotted, standing rationally, walking confidently, lying self consciously and sometimes in confused complexity. A few among them carry spades while some others are divided by skewer or sword (mainly in the series of sculptures ‘Avatar’ and in other works). The sturdy legs and spades are a metaphorical transcription of his father’s memory, who was a farmer. The multiple legs attribute to a powerful role of a farmer.

Avatar-2 (Fiber Glass, Iron & Paints)

His later sculptures seek a respite from the rigidity of three-dimensional sculpture. They are movable objects where he gives a car the shape of a human brain, putting wheels to it. They are displayed with relief onto walls on slabs, especially when he executes the form of human brains connected to each other. They sustain the stance of installations (in ‘Avatar’ series, The Homo Erectus, Sleep Walker, The Plant and Onathumpi etc.). They hold the performative gestures of a living body where two knotted hands are displayed lying on the floor with puffed rice (‘mudi’ eaten mostly in Bengal).

Untitled (Wood, Fiber Glass, Iron & Soil)

His sculptural work ‘Onathumpi’ is his childhood memory of the important Malayali festival ‘Onam’ widely celebrated in Kerala. He remembers the dragonflies hovering all over spreading their colorful wings in that season. Being born and brought up in Kerala the cultural background influenced him a lot as an artist. The visual experience of Kerala’s traditional art forms played a vital role in the nurturing of his inner artist, especially the festive celebrations, rituals pertinent to these celebrations and the characters of violence and faith aligned to these rituals. For instance another painting ‘Vayillakunnilappan’ is a portrayal of religious allegory from Kerala. It’s a story of a migrant Brahmin whose one son was believed to be God.

Vayillakunnilappan (Oil on Canvas)

Along with soft memories, the nuances of his cruel contemporary world come into his works. The violent problems of terrorism, communal riots, wars (industrial development) etc. make him fearful and anxious to lead a peaceful life in present world. The political and socio-economic structure of his village and other places serves as a background for his works.

The Tale (Oil on Canvas)

Here ‘Knot’ is having a primary presence in all of his works ranging from sculptures to paintings.  As Manesha sees all things in this world are knotted or related to each other. The knots is a ‘relation’ for him. The man in him is knotted with this world and his struggle to break that knot and set free has resulted in such an idea. He tries to explore the knots as concepts and forms. By knotting legs or hands and other objects he is getting an easy way to present a gesture or action. By using different knots he tries to explore the nature and character of different kind of knots through his works.

Another noticeable and interesting feature of his works is the human anatomy; how it changes from outwards to inwards slowly from sculptures to paintings. His earlier sculptures are masculine human body parts, then inner body parts like brain, and recent paintings open up these masculine bodies and make the viewer visit its internal junctions. His paintings largely speak of the environmental issues that he has observed while living in the peaceful space of his village and in his current location where entire landscape is on the verge of a complete ‘makeover’.

The Mutant (Oil on Canvas)

(First Appeared Online in CartanArt Magazine, Issue-I, May 2014)

Brothers in Arts-ManilRohit

Interview

The artist brothers Manil Gupta and Rohit Gupta are working and exhibiting collaboratively as ManilRohit since 2011. The imagery of their works is derived from popular culture/media as graffiti, comics, games, movies and animation etc. while reverberating sarcastic nuances. The implicit dark humor hints at cultural capitalism created out of the popular. Here the artist duo speaks about their work, process, plans and many other areas of their works.

ManilRohit

Nisha Aggarwal (N): (question is to Manil) Manil, you were practicing your art quite successively having two solo shows in Palette Art Gallery in 2007 and 2009 with number of group shows in India and outside. So what prompted you to launch ManilRohit?

Manil Gupta (M): Launching ManilRohit was incidental. After my 2009 solo at Palette, I was experimenting with newer visuals and techniques to induce more juice in my art. It was a strong transitional phase. I had started exploring color and a more dynamic execution (as compared to my earlier clinical Black and White striped works). Throughout our careers, Rohit and I have shared the same studio space, often bouncing creative viewpoints off each other. One such momentous evening, slightly drunk, we started painting our studio wall together.  We ended up creating some very weird, uninhibited visual narratives. That urged us to create a similar play on canvases to test our consistency. To our joy, we created some intense wild works, with all the spontaneity intact. With that kind of creative satisfaction, it was imperative for us to explore this new territory together, as ManilRohit.

The Circus is coming

N: What are the changes you are experiencing (while working, showing collaboratively, and in terms of responses from galleries etc.) as ManilRohit instead of individually?

ManilRohit (MR): It’s been a thrilling and eventful journey so far, as ManilRohit. Our process is much more spontaneous and open to new directions as compared to our earlier individual endeavors. Each output becomes compounded owing to simultaneous energy inputs from two persons trained differently. Our Public art car project, ‘The Holographic Love Machine’ sprung out of a similar instinctive suggestion.

As for gallery responses, the new language definitely has a new set of audience. Honestly, we feel our language is contemporary, dense and dynamic. Tad unlike the limited aesthetic most Indian audience is used to. They still feel narratives dripping with ‘fun’ can’t hold serious content, simultaneously. Hence, it takes time for people to absorb and get through to it.

Pigventure Capitalists

N: Manil you came from an Applied Arts background, and afterwards you were doing sculptures along with paintings as a main focus. And Rohit, you are a self-taught artist and photographer. How did you both manage to collaborate and reach to your present ‘signature style’?

MR: Right from inception, we poured in all the inspirations and influences we ever had, without judging or filtering any of it. We wanted to be totally fluid, uncalculated and undiplomatic. It wasn’t an effort reaching to our style, we kept it natural, guess that’s why it works well. You see ManilRohit is a hybrid of different styles. It’s a medley of trained and the untrained. Since we’ve grown together, also at play are our common influences from the popular media, games, movies, and music. Simply put, our MR style is an amalgamation of almost all that we have individually done in the past, and more.

N: Have ManilRohit any plans to do sculptures for now? 

MR: We are have been trying mediums and shapes other than the canvas, for a while now, and it has been a satisfying experience. So we certainly are exploring ourselves. We’re excited, that’s what matters, as long as it doesn’t become a formula, or a pattern, we are open to things exciting and challenging, be it shapes, canvases or sculptures. Yes, painting our big 3 dimensional SUV for the public art car project was a challenging yet thrilling process and it showed us a new direction. Another such recent work was a painted sculptural Teddy form for the “Make a Wish” foundation’s charity auction.

Hallelujah!! The Carnival of Lost Souls

N: ManilRohit’s present body of work imbibes Manil Gupta’s previous practice in terms of dark humor and serious issues with unique and interesting titles. But ManilRohit’s color palette has become vivid and cheery replacing the Manil’s ‘Zebra’ black and white. Is it Rohit’s part to ManilRohit? 

M: In my transitional phase after the 2009 solo show of Black and White works, I was exploring color, trying abstracts, splashing, dripping, etc. to break away from the skillfully drawn and restrained works of the past. I was inching towards a more bohemian, carefree expression albeit with a much deeper and layered narrative. And the final missing link in the puzzle was provided by the studio accident (wall painting) with Rohit. His childlike drawing, unshackled imagination and outlandish color sense added the requisite zing and completed the picture. While he was pretty overwhelmed to realize his own potential, we were excited to create more fabulous art together.

The Rigged Lottery

N: For both of you ‘ManilRohit’ are someone who are…? 

M: Destined to create magic together.

Rohit Gupta (R): Umm, I agree.

N: Do you both work for each painting? Doesn’t anyone of you hold dissidence while working together? 

MR: Yes, we both work on each painting. It’s an equal partnership you see. We have a varied skill set, but it’s a fluid process. Also because as individuals our ideologies and notions are mostly on the same tangent, hence it’s an effortless collaboration. And since the works are never planned, they evolve organically, we take accidents as new directions and whatever little spurts of dissidence as opportunities to challenge hardened psychological patterns of learning and social conditioning.

The Chronicles of Sitafal

N: Tell about ManilRohit’s process and technique of working?

MR: The approach is spontaneous. No rough sketches or references. Either one can have the initial spark and draw out the first forms. The other is free to transform the drawing as per his own vision. Most of it plays out to a particular set of music, in consonance with our moods and approached content. We use aerosol spray cans, charcoal, graphite, pastels, acrylic paints, stickers, gels, etc. We like to spend time on a work and let it build to garner a dense layered narrative over time. With each new work we try to find new challenges and avoid following formulas. It has to be an orgy of text, visuals and ideas. We keep the entire process enjoyable and make sure we feel spent by the end of it. Essentially, through our work we get to travel into the unknown.

N: For last 2-3 years you have been part of many project-based works besides working on paintings. Throw some light.

MR: We have been freely exploring different mediums, as we want it to be an ever-evolving journey. As artists, we like to feel free and unrestrained. There are even times when we have gone 6 months without creating a single work, which is an important part of our process.

We have been indulging in various public art projects as we feel strongly about it and the need of it. We are happy and blessed to be part of many charity projects, which is an extremely satisfying experience.

The Holographic Love Machine has been our most important self-initiated Public Art Car project done in May 2012.

It rose out of our desire to do something loud, to reach out emphatically to a wider, untapped audience. We knew our language had the potential to spread some love, smiles and positive energy on the Road-Rage stricken streets of Delhi. THLM received an overwhelming response from all sections of society. We followed it up with tremendous activity on the social media about the project’s development, people’s comments, reactionary images and videos – (https://www.facebook.com/TheHolographicLoveMachine).

There was a huge ripple effect of THLM in the press. Almost every news daily along with magazines across Delhi, Chandigarh, even Gulf and many news channels featured it. (However, funnily, not a single art magazine covered it. No wonder India is where it is when it comes to effective Public Art. But that’ll change soon.

Lacquer Dreams

N: In your recent showcase of works, the paintings replace differently shaped wood surfaces to the canvases. Why?

MR: It’s part of our endeavor to try out new possibilities. We feel, the canvas shape and format has its own existence and contributes uniquely to the overall expression. It adds another layer to our narrative and also adds a theatrical side to the work. It gives us an opportunity to deal with challenging unconventional space compositions. The choice of material is more of a technical and logistical issue.

N: Tell me something about your upcoming projects/plans?

MR: Currently we’re working on really really really exciting project. It’s all been under wraps, except for the directly involved people. It shall be a refreshing add-on to the ever evolving and ever mushrooming Indian Art Scene. We’re afraid that’s all for now. It’s not yet the right time to bring it out. The months of May – June look sunnier than ever.

(First Appeared online in CartanArt Magazine, Issue-V, April 2014)