FEATHERS AND FUR

NAGUESH  RAO  SARDESSAI

The famed Bengal Tiger staring at you, baby elephant cozying under the protective cover of its mother, birds chirping through the silent void and various other pictures, by Carl D’Silva, captivate the visitors at the Gallery Gitanjali, Fontainhas, Panaji, where he’s having his first major show titled ‘Feathers and Fur’.

“You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus,” said Mark Twain. Carl, with a conventional art school education, took it quite seriously and pushed the boundaries of imagination and sharpened his focus on the emotive aspects of wildlife.

He goes beyond the visible to capture that which is rarely illustrated. In fact, Carl just doesn’t illustrate but at times infuses drama in the seemingly bland subjects. A distressed rooster staring at the broken clay pot that is fashioned on its form; or the frightened rat at the precipice of a depression in the marshy ground ostensibly engineered by a full-grown elephant; or even for that matter a tortoise staring in askance, from the sterile sea-bed, at the army of whales gliding by, are some of the theatrical and interactive works that provoke a dialogue. Carl entices his viewers with moving stories laid out in pictorial embellishment.        

Carl’s tryst with wildlife began early on. Part-time job at the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) in the mid nineteen eighties and a meeting with the famed Ornithologist, Dr. Salim Ali strengthened his resolve to work in this direction. Accompanying wildlife ecologists during their field studies enhanced Carl’s vision and knowledge of Indian Natural History and assisted in honing his technical skills.

Even though a career in conservation and wildlife art is extremely demanding physically taxing, Carl was determined to hold on. Success and recognition came calling in the early nineteen nineties when he became the first and as yet only Indian to have his paintings selected for exhibition by the UK based premiere Wildlife Art (consortium), the Society of Wildlife Artists at their annual juried show in London’s Mall Galleries. European art connoisseurs picked these paintings for their collection.

Carl’s talent in illustrating Field Guides on birds has been in great demand in Europe and in India. His completely new set of 64 colour plates depicting 538 species for Salim Ali’s revised edition of ‘The Book of Indian Birds’ elicited encouraging remark from Andrew Robertson in one of the issues of "Newsletter for Bird-Watchers". He states, “Certainly the artist has captured the 'jizz' of most of the birds admirably which indicates a familiarly with the living birds in the wild that is a prerequisite for accurate drawing."

He as to his credit the honour of illustrating a British sponsored field-guide to ‘Birds of the Indian Subcontinents’ which led to production of specialized books on ‘Birds of Bhutan’, ‘Birds of Nepal’ and ‘Birds of North India’. He has also been a major contributor to specialized monographs like ‘Parrots of the World’ and ‘Pheasants, Partridges & Grouse of the World’ and the ‘Birds of East Asia’ that was published in September 2009. The ‘Birds of Mumbai’ published by IBH in 2003 is a best seller.

Carl had convened a show titled ‘Wildlife in Art’ at the Institute Menezes Braganza Hall in the early nineteen nineties. Works of students and professionals rubbed frames and enlivened the premises.

Carl’s refinement and skill in accurately capturing the nuance in the wild world and the species pervading therein, is globally acknowledge. This has helped catapult him to a position where he is one of the most sought after artist for high quality illustrations. 

His painting on big canvas enlarges his oeuvre and embraces the viewers into an enticing comfort zone.

Carl, widely acknowledged as India’s leading Wildlife Artist, is responsible for introducing world-class standards in modern Wildlife Art and attracting appreciative attention from across the world.

The Gallery has introduced a ‘Meet The Artist Hour’ every evening from 6 to 7 during the exhibition at the venue. This is to facilitate wildlife enthusiast and students to interact and strike a dialogue with Carl and partake the wealth of knowledge Carl is bursting with.   

Limited edition prints on canvas will be available for fifteen percent of the price quoted for the original painting. The Gallery will encourage orders for commission work as well. 

Gallery Gitanjali is currently showing 'Feathers and Fur: A wildlife painting exhibition' by naturalist and artist Carl D’Silva between 24- 30 August 2013.

The exhibition was opened by H.E., the Governor of Goa , Shri Bharat Vir Wanchoo.