NAGUESH RAO SARDESSAI
Living legend (Bhishm Pitamah of Goan Art) of art in Goa, Vamona Ganesh Navelcar , recently (May) showed his works at the Gallery Attic, Panaji. Reticent and sage like reclusive, Navelkarbab - as this writer prefer to address - him needs to be pulled out of the closet at regular intervals. Left alone, Vamona would revel in sketching and painting. Understanding the dynamics of the market, hard selling his works and studying economics of the art world is scurrilous.
A very rare artist who loath the limelight, Vamona is a great admirer of internationally reputed Goan artists late V. S. Gaitonde (another reclusive artist) and F. N. Souza. Passion, even at this age, is what remains his driving force. His keen observation of the social establishment and the nuances therein inspires Vamona.
Not interested in painting pretty pictures and sceneries, he has off late begun to dabble in abstracts whilst continuing his preoccupation with human beings and animals intact.
Painting for Vamona is spirituality. No wonder he gets lost in the process like a yogi and signs his work with an additional name – Ganesh. This a symbolic gesture through which he offers each of his work to his family deity Lord Ganesh and his late elder brother with the same name.
Swami Vivekananda, Albert Camus, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, J Krishnamurthy, Bertrand Russell are few of the thinkers who have influenced him.
The recent show was titled ‘The Call’ and had on display over twenty-seven works with subjects ranging from bulls in actions to human figures to complete abstracts. Vamona takes the line for a walk and it is interesting to see the mark he leaves all over the paper. Sometimes these lines are evocative at other times they are just blobs expressing in the language of the soul.
Few of the works are highly expressionist. The abstracts, which he has rarely displayed, are symphonic. One can hear the music play through the black ink marks. The passionate outpouring does translate into commonly comprehendible visual language that facilitates easy connection with the lay onlooker.
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