Art activity picked up quite handsomely in Goa during the first month of 2002. There were a number of exhibitions of beautiful paintings of various artists in Panjim and Calangute. We could not cover all the shows but here's a bit of what we saw. Cidade's Part in Art
The Curator of the show, Hanuman Kambli, said, "Galleria Cidade is a boost in the arm for the artistic community as it gives a permanent platform to showcase their work." With the works of prominent artists like Francis de Souza, Liesl Cotta de Souza, Querozito de Souza, Wilson de Souza, Rajan Fulari, Santosh Anand Morajkar, N Kanhaiya, Nirupa Naik, Praveen Gajanan Naik, Viraj Vassant Naik, Suhash S Shilker, Kaumudi Tahmankar, Rajashri Thakker and Hanuman Kambli, the display is definitely a feast for the connoisseurs of art. The painting are varied and in innovative media oil, pastels, ink drawings, prints, mix media and paintings in thread. The show is definitely worth a visit. The viewing, of course, is by appointment. One could contact Zelie D'Souza, Tel 454545. Email: hotelcdg@goatelecom.com, Website: http://www.cidadedegoa.com
Speaking about the rare symposium, Querozito de Souza said, "It was a very good camp in the Goan atmosphere and pleasant weather. The sculptors even liked the local granite which inspired them to do good work." He added, "It was a golden opportunity for the local artists and students, particularly given the fact that we don't have any worthy sculptor in Goa and sculpture finds no place in the syllabus of the Goa College of Art." The sculptors worked on variegated media at Tambdi Surla. German Harald Thomas, back in Goa after a lapse of 30 years, sculpted to glory on riverine stones. Harald's chiesel combines sculpture as a natural performance of growth, as in the case of the nine river-stones, which he set in threes. Placing a slab on top, he drilled a hole to allow a bamboo shoot to emerge through it.
A profusion of thought patterns, talent, media and style turned the international symposium into a rather complex and intricate sculpting affair, and a thought-provoking experience utterly delightful to the eye. Wilfried Behre, also from Germany, voyaged on a 'Global Stoneline'. He chieselled the eye out of a granite block "to enable this stone to watch the earth". Sukhjeet Singh from Jammu and Kashmir, who bagged the National Award 2001 of the Lalit Kala Academy, worked on a combo of wood and stone. Ravinder Bharadwaj has been in art direction, murals, portraits, wax and bronze sculpture, photography and the like. Matsumina Teuyasa, who teaches sculpture at a university in Japan, was getting to the concept of zero, an Indian discovery. Matsumina equated an egg with a zero. Another Japanese sculptur Mianchi Hiroshi believed that India should prefer their native thing and that every area should retain its own culture even while learning about the western influence. Ravinder Bharadwaj said that his "sculpture is thin from the bottom and the lines burst out on the top like a flower in bloom". He said, "The original stone should not be converted into a totally different thing according to the western trend. The stone is a dead thing in which you breathe life while sculpting, according to the Japanese sculptors. We always say that our art should speak and not the artist as is done in the West." "The concepted of the symposium, which lasted from November 30 to December 12 and attracted a steady stream of art lovers, was to create awareness of the third form--sculpture. This is just a small start...somewhere," said Querozito de Souza. At Kala Academy's Art Gallery
Artist Prof AT Patil hails from Sangli in Karnataka. He graduated in Art in 1968 and took to lecturing at the Painting department of the Kalavishwa Mahavidyalaya Shantiniketan in Sangli from September 1971 to January 2001. Following his retirement, Patil is still involved in painting. Over the years he has been honoured with several awards and prizes for his exhibitions in different parts of the country. Says the frail artist, "I am a student of JK Krishnamurthi. JK's philosophy has had a profound effect on my mind. However, the effect does not reflect in my paintings. I take pleasure in painting and in trying to convey to others the beauty I see in nature, trying to take the viewer to the site."
Kanhaiya's Lovely Landscape
Kumbharjua-born Kanhaiya had been admired for his figurative style, which had predominated in most of the earlier exhibitions put up by the group WE SIX. Why this departure then from figurative to landscape painting. "My works consists of figurative as well as landscape paintings. In fact, I started as a landscape artist." This is the first solo exhibition by Kanhaiya (n_kanhaiyayahoomail.com), who did his BFA in Painting at the Goa College of Fine Arts in 1997, and has been consistently participating in exhibitions and winning laurels. In 1996, he bagged an award at the All India Art Exhibition (Avantika) in New Delhi. In 1999, he lifted the Painting award of the Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, and in 2001 it was the Start Art Award.
Kanhaiya's exhibition kicked off on December 7 and would last till December 20. Despite the fact that the Alliance gallery is rather away from "the beaten track", the show managed to draw fine response from the viewers.
Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the Kala Academy, Pratapsingh R Rane, inaugurated the All India Art Exhibition of the 21st Century (Phase 1) State Level, sponsored by the All India Fine Arts & Crafts Society, New Delhi, at the Kala Academy art gallery yesterday. Altogether 40 exhibits-paintings, drawings, graphics and sculpture-are on show and the lovely exhibition, comanised by the Kala Academy of Goa, will be on till December 22. The works presented have been selected by a judging committee made up of Hariram Hiranandani of Delhi and Prof AT Patil of Sangli. Recommended for prizes were: Mohan G Mayekar (Loneliness) and Harshada Sonak (Child with Puppy) for in paintings, Vaibhava Kitalekar (My Mother's Sketch) and Vamona A Sinai Navelkar (Linier Composition) for drawings, Sonali Kamat (WTC Ruin-1) and Shivaji M Shet (Windows Series) for graphics, and Sachin D Naik (Conversation) and Kirti Kumar G Prabhu (Bellerena) for sculpture.
Rajan
Fulari |
In keeping
with its philosophy of promoting and nurturing Goan talent, the
Cidade de Goa resort inaugurated its beautiful "Galleria Cidade"
with the paintings of 14 contemporary artistes. Renowned cartoonist
Mario Miranda was there to light the traditional lamp. Mario
congratulated Cidade de Goa for the exquisite gallery, which Goa
needed.
The Backwoods,
a bird watching centre lodged deep in the forest at Tambdi Surla
beside a gurgling rivulet, was at full chirp which mingled with the
sound of stone being chieselled by a dozen sculptors recently. The
famed international sculptors came to Tambdi Surla, beckoned by
Goa's popular painter Querozito de Souza and Ravinder Bharadwaj of
Shanti Niketan, for a symposium. where they worked on variegated
media.
Michael Zwingmann, a sculptor-teacher from
Germany, took on asphalt and steel, with which he wrought his
exquisite piece. Zwingman year-long stint at Shanti Niketan and
realised that sculpture of Indian artists has a bearing on social
realities. 
Moving back to the Kala Academy's Art Gallery,
we witnessed an exciting display of a two-men show of varied
paintings by AT Patil and BK Chodankar. The exhibition was
inaugurated by Sharda Karkhanis, chief editor, Gomantak, on December
10 and attracted many art connoisseurs till December
2001.
Of Goan
origin, BK Chodankar also hails from Sangli. He teaches Art at the
Wagle High School at Mangueshi for the last 31 years. Earlier he was
a drawing teacher in Mahatma Gandhi High School, Pussevadeli,
Satara, Karihar Vidhyalay, Kolhapur, and New Era High School Margao.
Earlier, he had exhibited at the Kala Akademi gallery in 1978 in an
exhibition comanised by the All Goa Teachers' Association. Painting
is not his sole preoccupation. He also gets involved in drama sets,
rangolis, etc. and has bagged a number of prizes too in these
events.
At the Alliance
Francaise de Goa art gallery at Campal, is another series of
fascinating visuals in the "Landscape Paintings Exhibition" by young
and talented artist N Kanhaiya.
From 2000 to 2001, he was a Visiting Lecturer at the Goa
College of Arts, Altinho. The group WE SIX, to which he belongs, has
taken a short break to do solo exhibitions. Kanhaiya says, "Every
artist should know how to paint realistic scenes so as to be able to
simplify to achieve an abstract visual."
The beauty,
which he beholds in the natural surroundings and visually striking
monuments, is portrayed in faithful detail by Kanhaiya. "His
paintings are simple and fully communicable, portraying either the
impressions or authentic settings of the things existing in and
around. They convey a lot of resemblance from the archetypal phase
of landscape genre," says Mahendra Chodankar.
One particular
frame, which attracted quite a bit of attention, was "Linear
Structure". Says the senior painter Vamona Navelcar, "I did it
without lifting the pen from start to finish. The concept is of
lines which come and invade the area like thread from a spool."
Sketched in ink, it depicts several persons at different places,
with one common figure moving from the beginning till the
end.