‘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)

A Wanderer’s Visual Diary

Profile 

For an artist anything could act as an inspiration, be it time or the place they hail from or travel to. Artist B Ajay Sharma’s works depict his journeys within himself and through various cities using the metaphor of a humble fruit from a childhood memory, writes Nisha Aggarwal.

Artist B. Ajay Sharma

B. Ajay Sharma’s art practice tries to develop a language through the construction of ideas which embodies the contradiction of dualities like life and death, being and nonbeing, past and present, male and female, scientific and philosophical, and concrete and noetic.

In a direct way, his works are about the recreation or of rediscovering. This kind of intense catalogue of information he has found from his native place Deoghar, where he was brought by his mother reciting stories. Going back and finding occurrences and visages and reinserting them with the contemporary situations is a peculiarity of his art. Because it is a constitutive raw material which a lot of people just block or find insignificant, making grownups problems more important.

Story of A Garden

Apart from his childhood his major content for works comes from the ritualistic milieu of Varanasi, a place where he lived while pursuing Bachelor of Fine Arts from Banaras Hindu University. This is a parallel project he undertook with experimentations in time and space before moving to New Delhi. He came to Delhi initially to continue his Fine Arts studies with a Post-Graduation at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Thus, starting his journey from small places of Bihar and Jharkhand, Vaishali and Deoghar, he travelled through places like Kolkata, Varanasi, and finally reached Delhi, for obtaining education and livelihood. While his journeys to places like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh etc. add dimension into this wanderer’s diary, the places he has lived and travelled, provides him with an enriched account of history, culture, nature, geography and political situations of respective places. All this makes a narrative existence in his works juxtaposed with the reality of time and place, which he experiences in his current location Delhi.

Prophesy of A Starry Night

He has connected these shifting and changing notions of rural and urbanized world, through the form of a simple fruit like papaya. Being passive of its travel from a village tree to a metro-city market this papaya form directly comes out from his memories of childhood. Later on memory combines the experiences of time and he visualizes the papaya as a vaginal form also. He has tried assimilation of different narrative voices. There is not only recognition of multiple levels of culture and language but also an effort to draw them, and his divergent preference together. It expresses the desire to go beyond the individual ego and achieve a new individuation by reconciling multi-voiced narration with self-expression. This entire spectrum makes its presence in Ajay’s art with a fruit form which boasts the various aspects of life and the world around him.

Transformations

Thus, as an artist and a vigilant traveler, Ajay has been an observant of geographical, political, socio-cultural and physical transformation of minor and major things, which he tries to depict through his paintings. The past here is translated into the real, the present, and this attribution of language provides him the addition of layers upon layers. Indeed he is always aware of the magical properties of the artist’s power of attaining transformations of one image into another, of time present into time past. This speaks of Ajay’s own perception of attending the process of Transformation. But the paintings are also meant to have a heightened presence in the moment of viewing. It posits an interactive role for the viewer, an opportunity to experience creation and absorption and to sense the timelessness in the present moment.

Hsuan-Tsang and Kasturi Mriga on Google search

Ajay comes from a carpenter’s family, where hand skill had been a means to earn bread, Ajay integrated the skill with vision. He is ardent enough to carve a niche for himself, which belie the brims of stark realities and experiences of his life. He started with drawing and painting, and these days he is triumphantly practicing with digital media and photography.  He was awarded a two months residency ALTlab 3.0 Photography Residency at Goa Centre for Alternative Photography (Goa-CAP) in 2013, which initiated his interest towards alternative photography. He exhibited his photo-prints developed out of alternative photography process (Van Dyke, Cyanotype, Gum By-chromate) at Taipei Photo Fair 2013, Taiwan. More recently his paintings have been shown at India Art Fair 2014 by Neilson Art Gallery, Spain.

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

Spectacular Pictures of a Hybrid Landscape

Profile

When human beings start to communicate with each other through the meanings that they derive out of the relationship between objects and themselves, a society of spectacle is born. Chandrashekar Koteshwar believes in it and his attention is to capture this displaced meaning/communication seen apparent in our globalized society. Nisha Aggarwal profiles the artist.

Artist Chandrashekar Koteshwar

Chandrashekar Koteshwar is a Baroda based young artist. Born in Udupi, Karnataka he currently lives and works in Baroda, Gujarat. He studied Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts, Mysore and has completed his Masters degree in Museology from Faculty of Fine Arts, MSU, Baroda, in 2007 and 2009 respectively.

Primarily Koteshwar’s works reflect his own experiences collected throughout the life journey. Apart from the experiences his observations have made him to state his comments more precisely. As an artist he see himself a commentator of present day world’s Globalization, a term which has been doing rounds since 1990s. Globalization is a process of integration arises out of ‘interchange’ and ‘interdependence’ of cultural and economic resources. Despite all developments that globalization offers, the artist’s attention is to look at the negative fall out of it and it could be seen as the main objective of Koteshwar’s works.

Elephant Thief

Koteshwar feels that globalization has created strange consumerist creatures out of human beings. It has turned the society into a cauldron of desires. People rush to change, exchange and interchange life just through consuming objects. The aftershocks of a thunderingglobalization have even reached the peripheral areas of the society where people have been living in harmony with nature for a long time. In this bogus process our cultural heirloom is also being frittered away. In this hybrid culture, the notions of ‘sanctified’ and ‘natural’ have no space or value.This cultural globalization has enhanced cross-cultural contacts but by accompanying the mitigation of the ‘uniqueness’ of once-isolated cultures. It will ultimately depolarize their importance too.

Give & Take

This efficacy at another side collates us to a question like ‘Where We Are?’ A painting with the same title is a visual representation of the question. Globalization and population growth bring forth rapid industrialization and urbanization. It takes over the areas of natural environments encompassing all living and non-living things occurring naturally on earth. It is an environment that links the interaction among living species i.e. birds, animals, plants and human beings. But when natural environment is contrasted with the ‘built environment’ comprising the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans, it becomes arduous to find ‘absolute’ natural environment. Hence, a fragmented hybrid landscape arises.

Where We Are?

These manipulated images form a language in Koteshwar’s paintings. These are often rendered into a traditional environment of Indian miniature paintings. This environment gives Indian context to the subject/theme and also a satirical stance. For instance in one of his works titled ‘Handle with Care’ two male figures (reference from miniature paintings) bearing ‘text’ as a hand barrow exhorts the Indian tradition of marriages. The presence of trees in the background and text itself suggests metaphorical depiction of decreasing greenery on the earth. This text ‘Handle with Care’ prompts to a museum space and it’s aspects like conservation, protection and showcasing of historical objects as well.

Handle With Care

This urge towards conservation and protection plays a pivotal role in Koteshwar’s other works also. A painting ‘You, Me and Tiger’, is basically a picture clicked with a tiger for the viewers. Tiger here is an obsolescent animal (past), and artist’s self-image (present) with it is an endeavor to save the picture for (future) generations. In few of other works, the ‘faceless’ human beings depict their lost identities. There is also an exigency of rampart advocacy.

You, Me and Tiger

The images occur sometimes in a concrete appearance giving a sculptural outlook to the viewers. They narrate the reference from mythological lores. Here, Koteshwar’s art has built its thematic and visual dictionary by siphoning his diverse academic trainings in Painting, Sculpture and Museology. It tries to discover the evolution of the entire universe, which he has started out probably as the smallest element. And gradually he sees how effectively he can take traditional aspect of confronting large/complex ideas of changing the globe and inverting them for a solution through his artistic journey.

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

Spiritual Shadows that Speak Silently

Review

NGMA Bengaluru presents a solo show of noted artist V. Ramesh. Portraying devotional poetry by yesteryear’s women poets from the South, the artist brings to light feminine voices interpreting the Divine on his canvases. Nisha Aggarwal reviews the show.

V. Ramesh

The way from Mysore to Hyderabad is via Bengaluru; and between the gaps of the travel timing, I had a chance to visit the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Bengaluru for the first time. After wandering around the alleyways of Palace Road in Bengaluru, I reached at Manikyavelu Mansion, thus NGMA. The banner of ‘Remembrances of Voices Past’, a solo show of the paintings of artist V. Ramesh at entrance, felicitated. It was the first solo exhibition hosted by NGMA Bengaluru in collaboration with Threshold Art Gallery, New Delhi from February 5 to March 30, 2014.

A glimpse of the paintings of senior artist Vedhanbatla Ramesh through the entrance of hall was inviting to the viewers. Born in 1958, a 1984’s alumnus of M. S. University, Baroda, V. Ramesh lives and works in Vishakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh. He teaches at the Faculty of Fine Art, Andhra University since 1985, and has taught for nearly three decades. He follows a simple routine like anybody else where after teaching at the University he can be found in his studio from 2 to 8 pm, working and listening to Carnatic music being a die-hard fan.

This collection showed the artist’s practices spanning from 2003 to 2013. The show included 17 large scale paintings done in oil on canvas, and 8 works from a series titled ‘Poets passion’, smaller sized watercolours on paper were displayed in a separate section. While his large canvases carried away different individual stories, a video of artist’s talk about his works and process was also on the view.

From the series of Poet's Passion

Ramesh’s priority is of oils on large canvases and his ideas are contemplated over a period of time, building up in an unhurried manner, thought by thought and layer by layer. He keeps changing it until it reaches a stage where nothing remains to be done. It often takes over a year to complete a single canvas. An exercise in patience and painterly detailing, it’s an arduous process by which he persuades the image that resides in his mind and out into layers of paint. His ‘recognizable’ images of bright and murky colours with various textures take the viewer into a realm of spirituality, mystery and obscurity. A manifest mileage of belief, devotion and transcendence, most of his works are imbued with deep cultural and personal experience. The artist’s engagement centers around the writings and philosophies of various Bhakti poets/saints. One can say that Ramesh’s art strives to find a visual equivalent of the emotional depth explored in Bhakti poetry.

He was introduced to the depth of Bhakti poetry during his 1998’s visit to Ramana Maharishi’s ashram in Thiruvanamalai, Tamil Nadu while reading the poetry of 8th century saint, Manikkavachakar, in the ashram library. It introduced him to an opulence of emotional depth that he was trying to bring in his paintings. The poetry of 12th century saint Akka Mahadevi (from Karnataka) that he had first read in college in English translation, now made sense. Then he discovered other voices, 5th century poet Karaikal Ammaiyar (A Shiva devotee from Tamil Nadu), 9th century poet-saint Andal (Vishnu worshipper from Tamil Nadu), 14th century poet Lal Ded (Shiva devotee from Kashmir also known as Lalla Moj) and Annamayya (from Andhra Pradesh). 

The artist found amazing similarity in tone and emotional depth in their writings despite their different time periods in history and in the way they looked at the world and went beyond stereotypical gender roles. In their poetry, all three women explained the body as a metaphor while having a reproached feeling towards the physicality of the body.

Karaikal Ammaiyar

Karaikal Ammaiyar was a beautiful woman who worshiped God Shiva to ask a boon of ugliness, which could free her from the objectifying male gaze. She appears in Ramesh’s painting in the form of a skeleton. Another female mystic is Andal, who used to create garlands for Vishnu taken to temple by her father. She used to try them on first and then hand them over for the temple. Once her father discovered her doing this when he saw her hair on the garland. He made her to create a new garland. That night, Lord Vishnu appeared in his dream and said he wanted the garland Andal had tried on because he missed the scent of her body. There is a sense of devotional longing in the story that Ramesh has tried to portray by painting a tuberose garland against a deep-blue background.

Andal

The third female mystic who is depicted through falling jasmine flowers in Ramesh’s painting is Akka Mahadevi. Akka means ‘didi’ or elder sister, who walked out of her family. Lal Ded also chased out of home by her mother-in-law, walked out naked. A merchant gave her a piece of cloth to cover her. She tore that into two and kept on both shoulders. Whenever someone ridiculed her, she tied a knot in the cloth on her right shoulder. Whenever someone praised her, she tied a knot on the cloth on her left shoulder. At the end of the day, she showed the merchant that there were an equal number of knots on both sides. These are metaphors that teach to take praise and criticism with equanimity. These voices may not seem significant in the 21st century, but they let us think about things that happen in our own lives. Due to poetic resonance, text and allegoric narrative is an integral part of his works making them polysemic to the viewer.

Akka Mahadevi

Remembering Lalla-Moj (Lal Ded)

Now, when I come out of the depth of his works, the question raised is ‘Does V. Ramesh’s stand like a silent shadow in the commotion of contemporary Indian art, with its fancy cutting-edge art practices?

V. Ramesh is a senior prominent artist not in the shadows, he might not be touted as a ‘popular’ Subodh Gupta because his journey is more inward with a conventional medium of painting. He likes to discover the depth of what he knows the best, and has chosen a path apt for his art practice.


Though I could not meet V. Ramesh in person, the artist’s soul could be felt through all of his work. The few hours’ time spent at NGMA, Bengaluru, a place of leafy environs where everything seemed well managed, systematic with vigilant care-takers and security-staff enhancing this must see show.

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