LINE ART

NAGUESH  RAO  SARDESSAI

‘Special Drawing Camp’ organized by the Directorate of Art & Culture, Government of Goa, saw an eclectic mix of styles, genre, isms and concepts under one roof.

Institute Menezes Braganza Hall, Panaji,  had the veteran artist Vamona Ganesh Navelkar mingling with the youngest of the lot amongst the twelve participating artists. The selection of participants had a wide swing in age that made the workshop a worthy event.

Conceptualized by feted Goan artist Theodore Mariano Mesquita and young Normon Tagore with the technical inputs and feedback from Abstract painter Suhas Shilkar, the Department of Art & Culture took on the mantle and rightfully supported the concept of stressing on – line - the core element in the whole process of creating a piece of art.

This primary element is overlooked and workshops of whole lot of other aspects are taken up. ‘We put in this proposal of a special workshop on line drawing,’ says Suhas, the co-coordinator of the event before adding, ‘as we felt that the generation today has missed the wheat for the chaff.’

‘We need to urgently focus on the basics instead of going in for the huge paintings and creative splendors that holds no ground,’ said Suhas with suppressed dejection.

This eight-day camp had the artists work only on paper as against usually preferred canvas. Besides the four mentioned earlier, Nirupa Naik, Francis D’Souza, Sanjay Harmalkar, Charudutta Prabhudessai, Mohan Naik, Loretti Pinto, Kedar Dhondu and Julio de Souza worked in the camp. In fact, the choice of the said artists was largely based on the artists’ consistent preference for the surface and their felicity of expression. Each artist gave space to their free expression and came out with interesting piece of art.

Vamona’s sinewy lines with poetic rhythm embedded in them spoke his heart out. Nirupa Naik worked with lines, dots and miniature decorative forms that are washed with pretty hues such as pink, sap green, soft blue etc. ‘I prefer to highlight the beauty around us and enliven the atmosphere that has moved towards gloom and despair,’ states Nirupa with a innocent smile. Francis does have dismembered forms and questionable compositions that unsettle the viewers only to draw them further in the subject. Regular social life gets a personalized interpretation.

Moving away from his off-late graffiti influenced paintings with poignant social messages, Norman display his masterly skill with pure lines. Figure studies and a study of a couple stands out of the lot.

Loretti’s concern of the environment and her disdain for the mining and mega-projects come through her powerful works. She is one artist who has blurred the line of an artist and an activist. Her drawings are illustrative and she holds a tremendous command and displays admirable draftsmanship.

Kedar speaks of the violence and the degradation of social life. He is never apologetic and speaks straight from his heart. One of the works has the azulejo at the Menezes Braganza hall framing a stormy scene. Is Kedar speaking of the chequered history and the storm it can spin out if not handled in a sensible way? It’s open to interpretation.

Julio’s sharp lines and palpable distortions have given way to photo-finish figures and seemingly violent and grotesque faces. Screwdriver pierced through the eye, keyhole temple, and blobbing eye etc. with some scribbles interspersed activate interest in the piece of art.

Mohan paints rural life that he saw and that he hopes to preserve it through his works. He is one artist who has stuck to the old school of art such as miniature and reinterpreted it in the modern context. He has, in Goa, given a new lease of life to miniature.

Sanjay, essentially a noted and celebrated portrait artist, did some of the stunning here at the camp. Late Ravindra Kelekar, Asha Bhonsle and others got a new life through his masterly strokes of colours. A depiction of a fisherwoman and the scene at the traditional ‘Shigmo’ enlivens the surrounding.     

Theodore’s surrealistic and neatly drafted drawings, visually palpable and inviting abstracts of Suhas and Charudutta’s sarcastic compositions and caustic statements using the visual language and self created vocabulary make this camp a grand success. 

‘I’m happy to interact with the other practicing artists and this experience has bridged the generational gap,’ said Sanjay, expressing satisfaction at the successful completion of this camp of which he was one of the promoters.

‘Let’s see how we can push this concept ahead to cover other artists and fan out by being inclusive rather than exclusive,’ said Suhas explaining his plans ahead.

The paintings created here will be on display in a special exhibition in the immediate future.