Painting is often a cathartic experience for someone intensely involved in the artistic journey that manifests itself on canvas. It is a huge spiritual and emotional journey before the physical action of applying paint onto the canvas takes place. Unlike a method painter, the spontaneous propinquity is paramount in my work. That is why the need to share those works too is of great immediacy.
That is also why I hate it when galleries come up with ridiculous statements as to how they are booked for the next 25 years or even two years or five years! Ridiculous, because can you imagine anyone in the Indian context planning that far ahead and the same people are unable to fix their schedule for the next two days ! I feel like Ghalib when said Kaun Jeeta Hai Teri Zulf Ke Sar Hone Tak For keeping a mood within you till you paint the works is fine, but waiting for years to show is a huge no-no for me. After all one evolves and grows and many of the emotions may no longer be valid by then.
Last couple of months I was seized with the mood of spring in a big way as I struggled with my terrace garden. This was also the trigger point of a whole new series of spring related works that I was impatient to share with rasikas. My fellow painter Manisha Gawade too was going through a similar phase as she was catching the deadline for a few commissioned works that she was painting on the terrace. Making perfect use of the natural sunlight we both painted away on the terrace.
The works were ready and looked great and we decided to have a duo show after nearly eight years before the works went to the respective buyers! Rajan Arora, director Karma had been asking us for a show for quite some time but the moment had not come. When the moment converged, he readily agreed to host the show and we named it Eternal Spring. “This show holds a very special place in my heart as it symbolizes the eternal emotion of spring that is heightened in this season with a myriad colours that spring forth from the earth’s heart. The fact that the exhibition features an interesting amalgam of two of the most creative contemporary artists of the buoyant Indian art scene makes it very special,” he says. “They have made their presence felt at the international level and are recognized as the harbingers of growth and change. The exhibits featured in the show are remarkable for their exploration of capturing the eternal spring that is the fountainhead of all creative impulse and turning them into manifestations of articulate realities,” he says, as I blush with the fulsome compliments.
The form and content chosen by the two of us is novel as we discover newer paths to present the expressions of our aspirations and paths. It is interesting that our colour palette has undergone change to include a plethora of colours as vibrant as spring and as positive as the season that marks a turning point in the journey of the earth and the human heart.
My visual journey is essentially spontaneous and instinctive and my pre occupation with light – both within and without – is a constant but it has intensified with greater refinement and the finesse. I use metallic colours to denote light at the physical and spiritual plane. But it is interesting that my heart and head are reaching out to use colours I have never used before – like cobalt and lemon or even a shade of pink. I point this out for colours have a meaning and are always used in a certain context. In this case these colours denote spring which I feel is a state of being and hence eternal.
This series is the fragrant whiff of the magical journeys that I have experienced and undertaken at the spiritual, intellectual and physical plane. In those extensive travels to various places the world over, I have brought back images that form the core of my visual and emotional experience. Images that are reminiscent of a place, how I felt while there, of a person who I met there, or who was with me then, how it is all inextricably entwined with a visual, emotional or intellectual memory. It is the secret garden where I retreat and let its magic take over. It is where I go when I am euphoric or despondent, disturbed or calm.
Two of my personal favourite works are Thinking with the fireflies. This is reminiscent of a journey on a starlit, full moon night into a fireflies’ sanctuary As the boat wove its way through the water, the vast colonies of fireflies lit up a million thoughts and emotions, reaching out to the light within from the light outside. The other, Dance of the Fireflies is an amalgam of many other journeys to various places connected with the Mother Goddess and her various lands. As the hues of vermilion and scarlet light up the firmament with its special and beautiful light it seems as if glowing fireflies have come to dance.
Manisha on the other hand says, “since childhood Spring has been a very precious season for me. I have always been mesmerized by the colours of the flowers around me. Both my daughter and I were both born in Spring it makes it even more special. My works here represent the joy of the Spring that can exist deep within us. Sometimes we choose to find it and often we don’t. Some of the colours I have chosen for Eternal Spring are being used to represent flowers and beautiful fragrances. It can be cherry blossoms in autumn or autumn in spring and it’s just a state of one’s mind.”
To my mind two of her outstanding works are Teri Hai Zameen, Mera Aasman, which is a lyrical comment on human relationships and the impact they have on the psyche. “How we create skies and earths of our making and yet the need to bind is so strong that we reach out to become one,” she says. The other, Dance of Spring is like rows upon rows of a myriad hues of tulips blooming in the garden of Keukenhof, Amsterdam, in the middle of spring. The dancing tulips dapple in the sun as light touches them and make them glow with its shimmering light, so does the human tulip bloom with spiritual light.
While both of us painted, how could Manisha’s eight-year-old daughter Harika not be touch by the magic She also joined us and is a special invitee to the show with one work. The maturity of her visual sense took me by surprise and won her many appreciative remarks from senior painter friends.
The show is on at Gallery on MG till March 13 and moves to Mobel Grace Experience Centre where it will be on from March 15 till April 30.
Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com
