SANJAY HARMALKAR

 

NAGUESH  RAO  SARDESSAI

Strokes of cinematic posters wed the refined luminous hues of pure portraits to bring alive the personality that permeate through pigment applied over the textured canvas.

This is the portrait art of celebrated Goan artist, Sanjay Harmalkar. Known for his humble approach and no-nonsense attitude in every aspect of life, Sanjay pours himself in the act of painting that is akin to an ascetic losing his self in the divine realm.

Art connoisseurs are enamored by his skills yet he remains an enigma in the real world. Raw and rustic, Sanjay’s paintings are class apart with refined glow that they exude whilst hanging on the wall.     

     

Noted personalities such as India’s Nightingale Lata Mangeshkar, Business Tycoon Ratan Tata, Sena Supremo Late Balasaheb Thackeray, Freedom Fighter Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak come alive through his masterly strokes.

Sanjay prefers to employ academic approach with deft and bold brush strokes that exude confidence. Subtle commercial touch that has shades of cinema posters of yesteryears and eye-catching hues sprinkled seemingly inadvertently together infuses aesthetic potentiality in every of his portraits and other paintings.

Hatching and crosshatching that one can see in his pen and ink portraits have minute details that call for special attention.  

Passion is abundantly visible in his paintings. Specialized in Applied Art from Goa’s premier art college - Goa College of Art, Sanjay plunged into commercial art business. Went on to successfully manage an advertising agency that had to its credit several noted brand and business houses as its client.

He chucked everything up to take a plunge into the political arena. Man with a sensitive heart and a humble approach, Sanjay did make a mark there winning many admirers and supporters.

The artist in Sanjay did not let him remain dormant for long and by 2005 Sanjay partially detached himself from active politics to paint a body of work of exceptional quality. Sanjay bounced back with an exhibition of portraits at the Goa Kala Academy’s, Art Gallery and made a mark as an artist of caliber.

Being an artist, his bias towards creative artistes is understandable. He prefers to paint famous personalities from varied fields with special preference towards the creative artistes. Besides melody queen Lata Mangueshkar, he painted portrait of composer and Hindustani violinist Sridhar Parsekar, composer and music director Dattaram Wadkar, noted poet Bakibab Borkar and many others.

Portraits painted are having a pride of place in some of the prestigious institutes and personal chambers of business magnet. He has painted Goan business magnate Vasantrao Dempo and Naguesh Dempo besides Royal personality like Jitendra Deshprabhu and his father.

Business Tycoon, Ratan Tata offered an audience to Sanjay in his personal chamber after he was enamored by his artistic skills. 

Portrait of Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak is installed at the office of the Goa Union of Journalist and noted poet Bakibab Borkar’s portrait can be seen at the Goa Konkani Academy and the Institute Menezes Braganza, Panaji. Ram Manohar Lohia’s portrait is displayed at the office of the Freedom Fighters’ Association. Sanjay’s social commitments entice him to gift portraits and raise awareness. 

He has painted the Goan life in all its details and documented in his inimitable style the lifestyle of Goan rural folks. Be they the fisherwoman or the flower seller or even the toddy tappers.   

Portraits painted by Sanjay are spread across the globe in virtually every notable country of repute be it Germany, England, Canada etc.

This time around he has sculpted a huge 12ft tall statue of Lord Parshuram, the God who is credited with the creation of paradise called Goa.

A passionate singer, Sanjay is a great fan of the yesteryears legendary playback singer Mukesh. As a tribute, for several years now, on his own birthday, Sanjay has been single-handedly organizing a musical night dedicated to Mukesh.

He has participated in workshops, camps and has several solo shows to his credit. Sanjay’s, sticking to the realistic genre, intends to popularize and attract the younger generation towards it.  

This multifaceted personality has recently been appointed Chairperson of the prestigious Institute Menezes Braganza, Panaji.