COLOURS FROM HYDERABAD

COLOURS FROM HYDERABAD

NAGUESH RAO SARDESSAI
‘Colors’ Art Gallery from Hyderabad recently organised a four day art camp at the Taj Holiday Village, Goa.
Over twenty prominent artists from across the country came together to share ideas and produce scintillating works of art all inspired by Goa’s scenic beauty and culture.
The camp organised and coordinated by art enthusiasts Nirmal and Damayanti Kuhad had established names like Jyoti Bhatt, Kavita Deuskar, Babu Xavier, Subodh Kerkar and others sharing the studio with the younger lot. This writer had the good fortune of meeting some of the exciting and inspiring artists at the camp.
Ramesh Gorjala, Sachin S. Jaltare, Shyam Bharat Yadav, Bairu Raghuram and Kavita Deuskar show a strong inclination towards traditional topics and prefer to depict the local culture albiet in their own diverse style. Bairu and Kavita prefer to be realistic in rendering with slight stylistic independence and liberty. Whereas, Ramesh's works are extension of his family tradition of illustrating Indian Mythology and other tales.
He employs contemporary technique to the delicate and decorative forms and traditional patterns. Basically from Tirupathi, his favourite form is that of Lord Hanuman which he has managed to add contemporary twist. Having his works in collection across the globe he is having an exhibition planned in Hongkong at the tail end of this month.
Bharat Yadav, at times, prefer to give a surrealistic touch to his works. Mainly working in Acrylics, the near amorphous forms of bulls and cows float on the canvas surface giving the paintings a magical touch. Born and brought up in the midst of these bovine forms, he says is the sole reason for the choice of this subject. He never fails to get fascinated by the gentle cows and rugged bulls.
Sachin's bold and deft strokes add a mystical aura to his seemigly spiritually oriented subjects. More philosophical in approach, Nagpur bred and Hyderabad based Sachin, tries to explore the realm of the subconscious and connect with the superconscious. his works are overwhelming in nature. He'll be showing this month in a group exhibition at London.
Babu Xavier, a Mario Miranda discovery, is a veteran in a way with over thirty solo shows to his credit. This science student, hailing from Kerala, has a huge fan following and collectors out to grab his works. He does make some political statements through his paintings. Having dabbled in varied medium and surface, his paintings on acrylic sheets have a unique standing.
All five Goan artists Subodh Kerkar, Harshada Kerkar, Santosh Morajkar, Chaitali Morajkar and Manguirish Radadhyax, did justice to their reputation with commendable works.
The other artists who lend their brush to 'Colors' were Chippa Sudhakar, G. Subramanyam, J. M. S. Mani, Jyoti Bhatt, K. Srinivasa Chari, Laxman Aelay, Masuram Ravikanth, Pradeep Puthoor, Sajid Bin Amar and Shymal Mukerjee.
Published in "The Navhind Times" in the month of October 08.

MONSOON MAGIC

MONSOON MAGIC


NAGUESH RAO SARDESSAI

Monsoon season, since long, has been a source of inspiration to the people on the creative side of the spectrum. Poets, painters, writers, singers, composers and the rest have waxed eloquent about the season. This is the season when the parched earth quenches its thirst and facilitates growth of green foliage and sooth the environment.

The Department of Art and Culture, Government of Goa, under the able Director, Prasad Lolienkar, put up an unique project this time of the year by organizing “Monsoon Expression” in mid-August. Differing creative genre worked in tandem to simultaneously produce a palpable orchestra of words, notes, tunes, paint, etc.

This weekend event, organized in Kala Academy complex, Goa, was a big hit with the audience. Sizable number of visitors was seen enjoying event. The event had a festive look with various creative personalities enlivening the atmosphere by throwing up their ideas and expressive creations.

Poetry reading session had a mixture of romantic to socio-political issues touched upon. If Fernandes touched the listeners with his acerbic lines Naguesh Karmali enthralled the audience with his simple yet touching poem. Vishnu Surya Wagh, Nutan Sakhardande, Leena Pednekar, Gopalrao Mayenkar were few of the others amongst the lot who presented their poems.

Vasantrao Khadnekar, Balkrishna Marathe, Aarti Nayak, Balkrishna Kelkar, Shashank Maktedar, Shakuntala Bharne, Shilpa Duble, Pravin Gaonkar, Nilesh Shinde and others presented their vocal recital. The veteran singer Dr. Alkatai Marulkar capped the last session of the festival with her soulful rendition.

Yogesh Hirve, Chote Rehmat Khan and Yogiraj Borkar had sitar recital whereas, Sachika Almeida, Sawni Hegde and Sapna Naik presented a dance performance.

An exhibition of paintings had on display works of veterans and seniors along with the upcoming artists from all over Goa. The likes of Sadguru Chendvankar, Hamid Farukhi, Nirupa Naik, Harshada Kerkar, Sridhar Kamat Bambolkar, Mohan Mayenkar and others put up their works.

Along side, the poetry reading session, dance and music performance, in the quiet corner room in the complex were contemporary Goan artists working their way, expressing their feeling about the monsoon season, with brush and paint on the canvas. Few of the artists like Sridhar Kamat Bambolkar, Willy Goes, Harshada Kerkar and Vijay Bhandari painted along with the performing artists giving the audience an experience in creative fusion of differing genres.

The department’s efforts gave the artists a platform to present their artistic streak and talent. This sort of events can be fine tuned and marketed to attract tourists and connoisseurs from outside the State, including the ones from across the globe.

It was a rare occasion to see the staff and director of a government department take it as a personal event and work together with a hands-on approach.

The show was co-ordinated by Sidharth Gaitonde.
Published in ‘The Navhind Times’ September 08.