PAFULLA TAI - A GOAN CREATIVE GEM

 NAGUESH  RAO  SARDESSAI

‘Space and time are interwoven with each other. Space is unending and timeless. It cannot be destroyed. It is eternal. I find it deeply spiritual. The artist in me strives to depict it through paintings. And that is my eternal space,’ said Prafulla Dahanukar, leading contemporary female painter, whilst explaining her paintings titled ‘Eternal Space’.

If space, which Prafulla strived to depict, through her abstract paintings, is unending, timeless and eternal then Prafulla, as an artist, has effortlessly merged into that fathomless, mysterious expanse of space leaving behind a legacy of artistic wealth and a huge amount of goodwill. Her contribution to the nurturing and growth of artistic sensibilities within the Goan populace is commendable.

She was on board of the ‘Kala Academy – Goa’ for more than three decades and along the way enriched the premier art and culture institute with her valuable guidance and inputs. A pillar of strength and a guiding light for several artists from Goa, she made it a point to take special interest in the promotion of Goan talent in the rest of the country.

If Goa can be called the ‘Cradle of Art’ then Prafulla’s birth, here in this land, cannot be an accident. Having spent her younger days in Mumbai, after her birth on the 1^st of January 1934, Prafulla completed her training in fine arts from the prestigious Sir J J School of Art in Mumbai with a gold medal. This was followed by a silver medal for her painting in the Annual Exhibition of the Bombay Art Society.

Government of France awarded her a scholarship to study fine art in Paris in 1961 after which she returned back to India. She followed her return with several solo and group exhibitions.

However, Prafulla began to shape her artistic career and making a mark on the international scene whilst, still studying, in Paris where she held an exhibition of her paintings. And since then, she participated in many international art shows in Germany, England, Hungary, Australia, Japan, Portugal, Iceland, France, Switzerland and several other places. The High Commission of India sponsored her first solo show, in London, in 1978.

With more than fifty one-woman shows, several prestigious awards, success at noted auctions that includes Osean and Sotheby and works in private and institutional collection such as at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi; Prince of Wales Museum, Mumbai; Lalit Kala academy, New Delhi and Central Museum, Nagpur; Prafulla remains the most passionate and idolized Goan woman artist.

Looking beyond her personal interest in particular, Prafulla worked for the whole artist community in general and served their cause. She was on the committee of the Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi from 1974 to 1979 and the President of Bombay Art Society for from 1993 to 1998. She was the trustee of the Jehangir Art Gallery for four decades and President of the Art Society of India and the Chairperson of The Artists' Centre, Mumbai.

Murals created by Prafulla adorn many prominent buildings in Mumbai, Pilani, Kolkata and Muscat (Oman). She is recognized for these stunning murals created employing ceramic, wood and glass.

Besides being a visual artist, Prafulla took keen interest in music and its development. She was one of the founder members of Sangit Kala Kendra with late Shri Aditya Birla and was a committee member of the Music Forum. She was on the Board of Trustees of the Indian National Theatre.

The members of the 125 year-old Institution the Bombay Art Society turned up in huge numbers to vote in the entire team headed by Prafulla Dahanukar with a thumping majority in the month of May 2010. She was recently honored by Jehangir Art Gallery, Mumbai by sponsoring her retrospective.

A feisty woman with zeal for life and deeply philosophical approach to art, music and life, Praffulla had a very humane side as well. She worked for the underprivileged and disadvantaged through an orphanage called Bal Anandgram in Lonavala where she remained the main trustee.

‘Her intensity comes across in her works which she considers to be an extension of herself – her moods, her perceptions, her personal philosophy as it has evolved over the years,’ says Dr. Sarayu Doshi.

True. She’ll remain in the empirical world through her works of art and inspire the generation to come to work with passion and intensity. 

ANANT VIKAS JAIN'S 'SPANDAN'

NAGUESH  RAO  SARDESSAI

Anant Vikas Jain is back again with second edition of ‘Spandan Goa’ bringing some interesting works of art created by aspiring as well as established artists from across various states of India.

Showing at the Art Gallery of Entertainment Society of Goa, Anant Vikas revels in dabbling in art and allied subjects. This serial entrepreneur and art enthusiast hails from culturally rich and colourful state of Rajasthan. Having graduated in commerce from Kolkata, he immersed himself in running various business enterprises accumulating vast experience and achieving enviable success. With over two and a half decades of entrepreneurial experience and having business interest in gems & jewellery, diamond tools and power tools, Anant Vikas is currently organizing events and exhibitions with an aim to promote art and artists.

Having recently made Goa his base, he works with artists from across the country and endeavor to showcase their talent with an aim to boost their career and attract commercial success.

From providing a platform for young painters, sculptors and photographers to organizing private exhibitions for renowned artists across India, Anant Vikas intends to bring a cultural synthesis. ‘Just as there is a need for religious and spiritual leaders in our community, there is also a need for artists,’ says Anant Vikas in admiration before adding, ‘The artists help us step outside of ourselves and experience the world from a new perspective.’

Twelve artists from across the country, that includes three from Goa, will be collectively showing fifty of their art works. Suresh Buddha, Cheerattan, Suresh Koothuparamba and Anirudhan Ettuveettil from Kerala, Manishek Gupta and Shalini Jha from Mumbai, Era Tak from Jaipur, Vidya Lakshmi from Tamil Nadu, S B Shariff from Hyderabad, Sujatha, Ninoshka Nadia Dias and Shweta B. Satardekar from Goa are showing their creations.

Suresh Buddha’s finely painted leaves in various states of compositions are pleasing. Manishek, currently working as assistant art director in films in Mumbai does include period forms in contemporary settings loaded with recent issues. Ninoshka’s Portuguese influenced Goan windows bring back the drifting world of Portuguese era into focus. Shalini’s realistic work adds freshness. Cheerattan’s unusually composed yet neatly executed work fits in the contemposrary genre. He makes very poignant statements and infuses cinematic appeal. Shweta and Sujatha’s women centric paintings speak of their preoccupation. They have together, successfully, managed to articulate their views. The rest of the artists have done justice to their art and the exhibition.

‘Through art, we explore the essence of truth and consistency, reminding people to work with nature and love,’ is what Anant Vikas states with a view to spread this message, which is the need of the hour.  

Besides art exhibitions, Anant Vikas organizes various other events across India such as shopping festivals, trade fairs, brand activation, workshops, summer camps and social events for special kids.

Spandan show, in April this year, will go to Jawahar Kala Kendra, Jaipur as  ‘SPANDAN Jaipur’.

The show in Goa will be inaugurated today at 11.00 am.

The works will be on view till March 3, 2014.

ASHARANI'S RURAL IMAGES

NAGUESH  RAO  SARDESSAI

 

Asharani Y B is back again in Goa with her latest creations that are subtly different and qualitatively more refined. She’s currently showing her works at the ‘Harshada’s Art Gallery’ at Miramar.

Armed with master’s degree in fine arts from Vijaya Kala Mandir, Gadag, soft-spoken Asharani does hold on to the cultural roots and that reflects in her works.

Asharani is coming from a district in Karnataka that has rich in art and cultural wealth. The famous Hoysala temple in Belur, architectural monuments in Halebid and the more famous Jain pilgrim centre -Sravanabelogola are a few examples.

It is but natural for her to gravitate towards art and make a mark. In Goa with her contemporary works that have a ting of folk and miniature element in it, Asharani has beautifully captured the essence of rich heritage housed in her district.

‘Reflection of Moods’ has on display, ten medium sized paintings with predominant female forms coyly posing within the picture frame. The whole demeanor of these forms reflects grace and decorum inherent in our culture. Asharani’s paintings make a larger positive statement about the cultural ethos as well.       

Using figures and representative forms, Asharani does realistic works with women as her protagonist. Preoccupied with the subjects that deal with relationship that spans various other live species with human beings, she laces the same with poetic twists and colourful hues.

Giving a contemporary twist to her paintings, Asharani has managed to bring the miniature nuances into these compositions without diluting the essence of modern vocabulary. Birds and human figures have a symbiotic relationship in her works that add a humane touch and holds universal appeal.

  

She is documenting, in a way, the traditional lifestyle and elements. Moon and flowers remain regular features in her works. Each of the forms are embellished with rationed and subtle decorative patterns that remains inconspicuous yet add appeal to the pictures.

Couple gazing in at the eternal space, in one of the paintings, with moon for company displays hope and dreams; whereas, woman, chirping bird and moon in another work speaks of the man-nature relationship.

Asharani employs pleasing hues and neat brushstrokes. Her works are connoisseurs delight.

Besides attending various art camps and having solo shows to her credit, she has won awards for her paintings at the Dasara Art exhibition in Mysore and Tasmiya Art House exhibition at Shahabad. Besides this, Asharani has been decorated with various noted awards such as Savitribai Pule National Fellowship award, Delhi; 24^th All India Lokmanya Tilak Art Exhibition, National Award and many more.

She is bestowed with Karnataka Lalit Kala Academi Fellowship as well.

Asharani’s works are in private and institutional collection in India and abroad.

The current show will be on view till February 28, 2014. 

ART INSPIRED

 NAGUESH  RAO  SARDESSAI

‘Art Inspired’, an amorphous group of artists that is open to expansion, has recently organized an exhibition of art works titled ‘Chitrasangam 2014’ at the ESG Art Gallery in the INOX courtyard, Panaji.

Ten enthusiastic artists with varied educational and professional background have united to showcase a truly pure confluence of diverse ideas, concepts, styles, ideologies and efforts – as the title of the show suggest.

They have given collective approach a new ray of hope. Bringing assorted genre and seemingly paradoxical and unconventional art pieces under a single umbrella with a view to consolidate the collective social standing of artists remains the primary aim of this newly formed group.

Led by Damodar Madgaonkar, the brain behind this group, the exhibition showed the works of Cassica Castelino, Clarice vaz, Julius Rocha, Mridula Shanbag, Prerna Neelavar, Medha Monteiro, Shammiulla Sayyed, Sunil Shirodkar and Antony Mascarenhas

Spiritual to downright terrestrial, realistic to surrealistic, representational to abstract and philosophical to comical – one can find multiple approaches to art in this current show featuring these enthusiastic and refreshingly approachable creative minds.

Each of these artists has given space to their dormant feelings through the displayed works. Cassica, the lone academically trained artist in the group, and Damodar endeavors to tap the subconscious and uncharted realm. Spiritually oriented Cassica infuses her paintings with uplifting messages. By painting the canvas with serene and meditative scenes that idealizes beauty and idealism, she intends to increase the pulsating frequency of the surrounding as seen in one of her painting titled ‘Lavender Field’. Damodar grapples with the world of dreams and attempts to give pictorial shape to the mysteries hidden in the subconscious. ‘Dream Of The Desparate City’ has all the fantastic forms dancing randomly over the canvas to create a visual orchestra.

In ‘Perception Of Freedom’, Medha captures the essence of Goan architecture and touches upon the fundamental character of human beings. ‘Among all the God’s creations, only man has made cages for himself and others,’ says Medha before adding, ‘and now seeks freedom and happiness.’

Prerna’s metaphor laden canvas makes a poignant observation of irony that life throws up from time to time. Dreams, at times, grow far bigger than what is practically manageable. Man, as in ‘Contrast’, is holding the pinpricked balloon sporting a grim expression.

Senior citizen Mridula displays ingenuity and passion. She is a nature lover and does explore the stunning beauty in this God’s creation. Her work titled ‘Man In The Boat’ produced during her college days is a fine example in deftness and keen sense of observation. Apt hues and neat composition adds charm to her works.

Anthony uses graffito technique by which the artist makes a deliberate mark by scratching or engraving on a large surface such as a wall. Her he does on the paper and canvas. Anthony’s work titled ‘Old Warhorse’ displays uncertainties and lifetime struggle of an old man.

Shammiulla is a noted professional photographer and creative artist who dabble in spontaneous paintings. Deeply committed to protecting natural wealth and an extremely upright individual, Shammiulla has displayed a tapestry of bright green leaves developed by the usage of palette knife. The works reflect his photography background.

Julius does speak of the problems looming over mankind like wars, famine, poverty etc. A religious person, he attempts to highlight the plight of the downtrodden through his paintings and wishes to bring about awareness in the people and motivate them into action.

Sunil preoccupation with the social ills like gambling and dhiryo (bullfight) prods him to paint them in his independent way. Work titled ‘Dhiryo’ reflects the passionate and deft brush strokes of the abstract expressionist. An installation that is made out of a discarded fuel tank of two wheeler bike and satin cloth brings alive, albeit in a stylized form, the bull used in the dastardly yet passionately watched ‘Dhiryo’.

Members don’t harbor vague hope of bringing in a paradigm shift in the approach towards pure art; however, the originator of this group has introduced a novel and democratic idea. Certain percentage of the sale amount will accrue in a collective pool before getting uniformly shared amongst the exhibiting artists.