Latest news with #MeditationsonTrees
Time of India
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Pundoles Ode to MF Husain this June
Critic and Curator Uma Nair has been writing for the past 35 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is a progressive sojourn. She learnt by looking at the best shows in Washington D.C. and New York. As author her most important books are Reverie with Raza and Meditations on Trees by Ompal Sansanwal. LESS ... MORE 21 Lots created in 2004, under the acronym OPCE ( Our Planet Called Earth ) go under the hammer at Pundoles on June 12th, 2025. These 21 works belonging to an original set of 100 works are Husain's paean to the earth on World Environment Day 2025. One of the most articulate as well as artistic voices in newly independent India, Maqbool Fida Husain 'has been unique in his ability to forge a pictorial language which is indisputably of the contemporary Indian situation but surcharged with all the energies, the rhythms of his art heritage'. This epic sale at Pundoles reflects the journey of Husain, between latitude and longitude, of how he was drawn to images that captured the true essence of Indian traditions as well as international lifestyle, whether it was in urban or rural settings. M F Husain's words of 1959 swing back : A cartload of leaking milk Lights up the lane And a boy begins to eat up the town With shoeless walks On empty steps We cruise through stirring 21 Lots and see that he frequently drew from his own childhood experiences and memories to create paintings that were grounded as well as legitimate. These works at auction reaffirm Husain's lasting international resonance, securing his place as one of the most influential modern artists of twentieth-century India. It was Ebrahim Alkazi who said that it was this melding of experiences and memories that made Husain paint ' with the same visceral truthfulness and sense of commitment as the woman grinding corn, the potter at his wheel and the same lack of pretension.' Still life with Carl Jung His still life study of a chair with 4 books in Lot 4 ,has a rifle, a vintage hunter's hat and a single boot as an ensemble to create a story of specifics. The hunter's hat and rifle add to the pain and pleasure of hunting. The books are a lexicon in satire and work is also a testimony to time, specially Carl Jung whose book lies under the chair while Karl Marx's Das Kapital , Rabindranath Tagore's Gitanjali and TS Eliot's Wasteland sit on the chair. Between these four texts we see a running commentary of the publishing dynamics that ruled the world in the 20th century. Masterfully rendered with Husain's confident contours and an evocative yet elegant palette it is the consonance of the visual and the verbal, the power of the human mind of great writers as well as T.S Eliot's poetry that bring back his words so many years hence: And I will show you something different from either Your shadow at morning striding behind you Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you; I will show you fear in a handful of dust. Antiquity and modern dancers Two works that translate the beauty of dance at Lot 5 & 6, are a treat for tired first one is a contemporary composition of a western dancer with a dove resting on his hand while a bottle of wine rests on his raised had watched Merce Cunnigham in New York and came back to discuss it at Vadehra Art Gallery in 2004. ' I watched him create surprise in an instant. A critic who sat next to me said that Cunnigham liberated dance from established practice as well as historic convention.' In a quaint way Husain too celebrated the infinite possibilities of human movement just like Cunnigham and this portrait bears this truth in all its moods as well as a sense of reverie. The second work has two once ethereal and earthy, Lot 6 has a pair of vertical feminine figures who are at once a blend of the ethereal as well as the sculptonic earthy symbolism. The ethereal is one takes a swirl as she is attuned to the contemporary choreography of a modern dancer while the second reminds us of little Ganesha in her hand is a reminder of the fact that Husain was well acquainted with rasa and he wanted to play between the contrasts of being in movement as well as anchored. In these two feminine forms created in subtle strokes we see how he tuned himself into the disciplines of several performing arts. For Husain , his paintings were pulsating visual narratives of the vibrations of dance, music and sculptural intensities presented in a thrust of jagged thrust lines and colours. The feminine form for Husain was an ' abbreviated rhythmic stroke of the universe.' These two figures are born of a distinctive visual language ,conveying a refined poetic sensibility and quiet elegance. Nataraja in tandava The image of a sculptural Nataraja Lot 7, in smooth, sleek lines is a dulcet image of soft, secular detailing. Let's not forget his knowledge of Indian mythology was deep. Most of his collectors too were staunch Hindus with deep faith. Myth for Husain was perhaps more than an umbilical attachment. Myth was born of the beauty of stories that rippled amidst the human figures that strode his canvases. This figure of the pared down minimalist Nataraja in Tandava is a celebration of a composite Indian culture in which the scale and scope is one that brings alive the unforgettable Lord of the dance. However it is the sand coloured , shaded image that catches our intrigue and we wonder at the many references that flow out of its graceful poise. Human hands and feet for Husain were more than mere limbs ,they were vehicles of power in the ultimate principle of human existence. Gandhi in monochrome Gandhi in monochrome at Lot 8, with a dove replacing his face, is a date with India's freedom struggle. The pocket watch, the dhoti, the many people following during the Dandi and the lone sickle wielding farmer all become a page of the past and the present. Gestures and grace weave into the firmament of politics and realities. In the paradoxes of life's acts and scenes he made an elegant and eloquent dissection of space, lines and kept reinventing figure and form with the strokes of prismatic precision. Ebrahim Alkazi elegantly encapsulated in his monograph on the artist, 'behind every stroke of the artist's brush is a vast hinterland of traditional concepts, forms, meanings. [Husain's] vision is never uniquely his own; it is a new perspective given to the collective experience of his race […] Husain's concept is intensely poetic: with a stroke of genius, the entire mythic world which has enriched the minds of the common people is brought vividly alive. Past and present, myth and reality are shown to exist simultaneously in the Indian imagination' (E. Alkazi, M. F. Husain: The Modern Artist & Tradition, New Delhi, 1978, p. 17). Humphrey Bogart leaning on a lamppost Husain was an artist with wings on his travels around the world sharpened his wit and humour. Humphrey Bogart at New York (Lot 2) leaning against a lamppost is both kinetic as well as cinematic. At once we recall the unforgettable Casablanca. Husain followed Indian as well as international traditions of dance and drama, music and cinema to create his own corollaries in conversation. Art born of tradition skewed into contemporary format became his catalyst. And Bogart was a symbol of the classics in cinematic history. In this painting he replays a scene, and the hound that nestles against the lamppost is a canine star. Strokes for Husain were lean and lithe. ' He can draw and paint with complete surrender to the sound and graphic representations of these modes. Musical rhythm or pure sound finds its way easily into the schemes of the paintings' (R. Shahani, Let History Cut Across Me without Me, New Delhi, 1993, p. 1). IMAGES: PUNDOLES Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Oldest materials and beauty of the environment
Critic and Curator Uma Nair has been writing for the past 35 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is a progressive sojourn. She learnt by looking at the best shows in Washington D.C. and New York. As author her most important books are Reverie with Raza and Meditations on Trees by Ompal Sansanwal. LESS ... MORE At the Bespoke Art Gallery at Ahmedabad, it is the English Methodist hymn that hums in our senses as we glimpse the world's oldest materials, pen and paper and clay that extol the beauty of the earth as trees, as ceramics and a steel wired sculpture to harness World Environment Day that falls on June 5th ,2025. Tribal artist Bhajji Shyam India's tribal artist Bhajju Shyam creates a tall Vriksha that melds miniature tradition as well as textural nuances in his work that at once serenades the tireless striving of familial groups that tirelessly venerate the ecological the lens of his life in Madhya Pradesh Bhajju's painting and drawing as a testimony to trees all over the universe as sentinels of time. Leena Batra celadon Senior ceramic artist Leena Batra's celadon pot is a humane ledger of the genesis of ceramic studies in form and fervour. Leena takes us back to the term 'celadon ware', also known as green ware, which refers to a type of ceramic with a soft grey-green-coloured glaze. The effect is achieved through applying an iron-rich liquefied clay 'slip' to the ceramic before it is fired in a kiln. During the heating process, the iron oxidises to leave a delicate and lustrous green its later European name, the celadon glaze technique originated in China during the Shang (1600-1046 BC) and Zhou (1046-256 BC) dynasties, when potters began experimenting with glaze recipes. Saraswati's towers of tea ceremony Anagama fired stoneware stand like sentinels in silence as Saraswati's towers of tea ceremony bring in different elements that extol virtues of everyday living. Density, depth and texture all become her leitmotif in a series that tell stories of time and tide in glazes and gravitas. Saraswati who lives in Auroville says that her towers tell stories of life and humans and households. Within the details and dynamics we move from the mechanics of the craft of clay and firing to portray compelling characters in form, develop effective narrative structures, and edit ourselves into focus to the more profound questions of artistic resources and reflections that will remain as cherished memories and experiences. Keshari Nandan's Picasso platters Of verve and vivacity in stoneware are Keshari Nandan's stoneware platters sculpted as a tribute to Pablo Picasso who created his ceramic ware and painted owls and bulls over them. Keshari creates a sculptural identity by creating an owl and a bull on a pair of platters. Keshari and award winning ceramic artist reminds us that Picasso used his playful approach to the medium, and embraced the motif of the owl, its presence recurring prominently through many of his ceramic works. The allure of the subject was stimulated in Vallauris, alongside his growing appreciation of ceramics, as the owl was an ancient symbol of the neighbouring town, Antibes. The connection with the figure of the owl was deepened when the artist discovered an owl with an injured claw during his time in Antibes. Picasso's partner Françoise Gilot documented this experience in her autobiography, Life With Picasso, stating 'one of his claws had been injured. We bandaged it and it gradually healed. We bought a cage for him and when we returned to Paris, we brought him back with us and put him in the kitchen with the canaries, the pigeons and the turtledoves.' A great lover of animals, Picasso gained a great affection for the bird, incorporating the muse into the many whimsical ceramics he went on to create. Vineet Kacker's quartet of Buddhist iconography Vineet Kacker's quartet of iconographic symbolism in his single square study as well as three chorten like Buddhist compositions all have an aura of quietude and meditative stillness. Three works belong to his In You I Am series in high fired stoneware while we are drawn toward the beauty of glazes and square plate Transmigrations reminds us of archaeological excavations that bring back the past and regale our senses as we visit the pages of glazes in the other three works have their own aura of enchantment and the transience of life. His quartet of works draw from the landscaped iconography of the Himalayas, while his built forms reference the sacred, and personal engagement with sombre spiritual disciplines. His sampling of sequences from familiar imagery to living traditions create a corollary of conversations of multiple ceramic techniques within a single piece, recreating both landscapes and iconographies. His rough textures and the use of layered dry glazes create surfaces that reference the ancient and time-worn. The contrasting shiny embellishments allude to that which is luminous and timeless. Dhananjay Singh's Tree The centrepiece at Bespoke Art Gallery's Purusha Prakriti show is Dhananjay Singh's Tree created out of steel wires. This work becomes the contemplative ethos of the show that heralds the environment as an emblematic symbol of civilisational cultures. As a lifelong admirer of flowers and plants, Dhananjay is particularly fond of trees and has never stopped depicting them from his youth to his later years. The present work belonging to the Devin Gawarvala collection was part of Saffronart's exhibition Alchemies of Form, a show of sculptural masterpieces at Bikaner House this year for the India Art Fair. The sculptor uses simple yet expressive leaves in steel as well as wired steel to portray the trunk reminding us of minerals as well as the botanical beauty of trees as exemplary spirits in the infinite pages of nature's bounty. In the saturated material suggestions and the power of trees that fill the earth this sculpture brings alive the Swiss author Herman Hesse who said: ' Trees are sanctuaries.' For founder and collector Devin Gawarvala of Bespoke Art Gallery, commerce, culture and collecting all come together to create a synergy that points at the need for being guardians of cultural preservation in the odyssey of preserving contemporary art practices and all that is therein. Images : Bespoke Art Gallery Ahmedabad Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Picasso's iconic works at Gagosian NY
Critic and Curator Uma Nair has been writing for the past 35 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is a progressive sojourn. She learnt by looking at the best shows in Washington D.C. and New York. As author her most important books are Reverie with Raza and Meditations on Trees by Ompal Sansanwal. LESS ... MORE Paris museums have plenty of Picassos, but Paloma Picasso's collections at Gagosian in NY are singular and gripping, reflecting a daughter's taste, love and experiences for her father. Pablo Picasso stands tall for his iconic portraits and groundbreaking contribution to modern art across the world. This collection is fascinatingly strong and brings back Pablo Picasso's words of 1945. Lifelong practice 'What do you think an artist is ? An imbecile who has only eyes ? On the contrary, he's a political being, constantly alive to heart-rending, fiery, or happy events . . . Painting is not done to decorate apartments. It is an instrument of war for attack and defence against the enemy.' Gagosian says the essential element of Picasso's lifelong practice, precisely what keeps his work both relevant and timeless, is his ability to stay fluid, in contradiction, always in restless anxiety and flirting with making a failure of it all. Picasso: Tête-à-tête, presented in partnership with the artist's daughter Paloma Picasso presents the full span of the artist's career—1896 to 1972— including nearly a dozen works that have not been shown for decades. Drawn largely from Picasso's estate, Picasso: Tête-à-tête is the final exhibition to be held at Gagosian's flagship 980 Madison Avenue gallery in New York. Gagosian closes its doors in New York with a Picasso show that rings through its magnificent spaces in a never before unveiling by his daughter Paloma . The sculptures, drawings and the paintings all create a carnival of form and fervour and his words sing till eternity. ' You should constantly try to paint like someone else. But the thing is, you can't! You would like to. You try. But it turns out to be a botch. . . . And it's at the very moment you make a botch of it that you're yourself.' Founder and galleries Larry Gagosian says: ' I have been fortunate to present more than twenty exhibitions dedicated to Pablo Picasso throughout my career, and it seems only fitting that a blockbuster show of the artist's work should close out our time at 980 Madison. It is incredibly exciting to partner with Paloma on her first major international exhibition, and to bring to light so many works that have never been shown before. The finest portrait is Femme au béret bleu assise dans un fauteuil gris, manches rouges (Marie-Thérèse), 1937. Almond, watchful eyes glow , the eyelids, the mouth, the fragmented angular fingers — splay out as well as dominate in in this fluid, half-classical, half-Cubist profile. Marie is a gentle, graceful spirit. This portrait is an elegant cadence of colours and fragmented forms that become a singular whole. The cubist idioms, the colours in softened sensual hues, this portrait is perhaps the testimony to the fulcrum of his creative genius. His formal experimentation and emotional intensity is embodied in Femme au béret ( Marie Therese) shown in profile but with her features presented frontally in the style that he had pioneered in his earlier portraits . His employment of a bold, primary palette and an emphatic handling of colours tones mark this work out from the depictions of the early 1930s and chart Picasso's evolving relationship with his muse. Femme au vase de houx (Marie-Thérèse) The second portrait of Marie also from the same show is treated a little differently but ever so charismatic and enchanting. The still life and the portrait create an ensemble of elegance. Picasso's feminine portraits sing to us so many years hence. The crimson red lends this work an intensity that is only heightened by the colours of Marie's face as well as her clothing, the yellows, blues and greens, which are thrust into such bold relief through their contrast with the near-monochrome background. Meanwhile, the almost lavender-infused skin becomes like cool marble in contrast to these vivid colors. Picasso has filled the composition with jagged lines, peaks and striations, not least through the hatching of the hairnet of the title, bringing the sense of edginess and volatility that is often associated with his depictions of Dora. At the same time, the statuesque poise and the curves and swirls on her cheek bring out a sense of tenderness that is heightened by the skin tones, which themselves recall some of Picasso's earliest, less-stylised images of his lover. Stirring still lives and monochromatic magic Through the show, so ingenious in display we can gaze at monochromatic morsels that pull the human faces and bodies into geometric the few sculptures and the drawings and paintings we sense the passion and force of this artist who gave the world a new language. Sometimes it is brooding colour tones within contours of vitality, sometimes it is the lithe lines of a sculptural flat linearity. Corridors of the past The beauty of these unseen works is hinged on the words of Picasso himself that bring forward the corridors of conversations in the past. 'I shift about too much, I move too often,' Picasso told André Verdet in 1963. 'You see me here, and yet I've already changed, I'm already elsewhere. I never stay in one place and that's why I have no style.' This was evident in Picasso's very first exhibition, a show of sixty-four paintings and an unknown number of drawings at Ambroise Vollard's Paris gallery in 1901. In his review of that show, the critic Félicien Fagus wrote, 'One can easily discern . . . numerous probable influences. . . . Each is fleeting, no sooner caught than dropped. . . .The danger for him lies in this very impetuousness, which could so easily lead to facile virtuosity and easy success.' Run your eyes over the masterpieces from small to medium , and you are met with the sinuous, flowing lyricism that has been inspired by Marie-Thérèse Walter. At once we sense the atmospheric terms and fecund forms as well as pulsing colour and brilliance of an artist who still engages in mediums and materials. Picasso's daughter Paloma Picasso says: ' I was delighted when Larry suggested we work together on a significant exhibition. Showing my father's work as he wanted it to be seen—in conversation across subjects and periods—is a fitting tribute to his legacy. A number of the works we selected haven't been seen since my father had them in his studio and to have them reunited with important examples from other collections will be a very special event.' Images: Gagosian NY Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Kala Sutra at Singapore unveils magic and caprice
Critic and Curator Uma Nair has been writing for the past 35 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is a progressive sojourn. She learnt by looking at the best shows in Washington D.C. and New York. As author her most important books are Reverie with Raza and Meditations on Trees by Ompal Sansanwal. LESS ... MORE Kala Sutra, contemporary Indian art exhibition held annually in Singapore, showcased works by prominent Indian artists. This collaborative event between Phi Events and Sanchit Art Gallery had within a multiple mediums and materials and compositions that regaled. The 2025 edition, titled 'The Lineage of Light,' held at The Arts House in Singapore had two distinctive famed masters – Dipak Bannerjee, the pedagogue of Benares Hindu University and Neeraj Goswami, India's meditative Guru and modernist master. With them was the young figurative fantasia specialist Nandan Purkayastha. Mystic symbolism of Dipak Banerjee Dipak Banerjee's mixed media on canvas world is worthy of scrutiny. Banerjee was influenced by tantric symbolism and his understanding of geometry gave his works a cohesive formula of perfection which withstood the formulae of time and space. He wove into his work the principles of 'Purusha Prakriti' and the traditional nuances of Indian miniature painting. His work Kali created in 2013 is a veritable masterpiece of magical elements in mythic rituals. The work is reflective of deep symbolism. Banerjee graduated from Government College of Art, Kolkata. His first job was to collect different cultural motifs which he used to copy from the walls of temples in Kolkata. He went to Paris in 1965 on scholarship. He studied printmaking under William Hayter of Atelier 17 as well as the master printmaker Krishna Reddy. Modern mandalas This Kali painting looks like a modern mandala, a medley of geometry and symbolism. The tantric elements and the motifs of Indian miniatures are all meshed into meticulous variations that exude a deep spirituality within and without. His command of a free fluidity of lines and the warmth of colour zones all become a precise permutation of in-depth accuracy and balance of choreography. His second work Vishnupada, has about it an antique aura that is unseen in today's world. This is a reflection of his understanding of cold and warm tones, the fluidity of lines and their linear graphics. He said during one of his shows in Delhi in the 1990s, ' I am not a practicing tantric but I gradually moved to the tantric mode of self-realisation during my many explorations. In my collection of temple motifs, I was unconsciously gaining an album of tantric symbolic motifs like Purusha Prakriti, Vishnu, Sahasra, Nathji and Kundalini, which presented the spiritual dynamics of content in ancient Indian art. So you could say that the journey which began in Paris got its final direction through the lanes of Benaras.' Attention to detail and the earth-toned colours talk about the spiritual and the sublime. Ornamentation in linguistic alphabets was the norm in his work. Miniature divinities settled into the cosmic realm of his design dynamics. These variations make his works iconic. Within the dictums of tantric symbolism, we see an intense expression of evocative elegance. His work was a quest that transcended beyond space and time, and was a communion with the Absolute. Neeraj Goswami's meditative symbolism Neeraj Goswami's canvases reaffirm his brilliance as an artist of rare timbre and compositional classicism. Goswami is a voracious reader and his work is born of contemplative idioms. In his early years in the 1990s he would speak of Kant's empirical analysis and philosophy. 'Kant wrote that reason itself is structured with forms of experience and categories that give a phenomenal and logical structure to any possible object of empirical experience.' But when we speak of the transitions in art these categories cannot be circumvented to get at a mind-independent world, but they are necessary for experiencing their natural behaviour and logical properties. Bhraman a stroll in red space is about the treatment of the form. It brings on the fascinating facet of transcendental meditation and the underlying harmony of empirical experience. The second work is Musical Float. In both these works we see a certain sophistication of quietude, an intuitive intent, that tells us that the artist's gaze can be one of admiration and appreciation and deep attention to details. Goswami has over the past 40 years presented the allure of gesture as well as the perfection of poise in his manner of fusing form and colour in prismatic indices to tell us that the human form is an enduring and eternal form which is also deeply powerful as a visual lexicon. The manner of divisional dynamics as well as the fragmentary felicity both become imperative studies in precious observations in the hands of this contemporary master. Nandan Purkayastha's earthsongs Detailed and stylistically nuanced the canvasses of Nandan Purkayastha are an integration of a contemplative practice of drawing from imagination as well as his own proficiency in techniques of controlled contours within the frame of his own fantasia. Botanica and The Eternal Cosmos are two top notch creations that grab your gaze for form and fervour. These two canvasses exhibit the arduous labour that entails the cultivation and refinement of his own sensibility. We also observe the totality of an artist's passion for drawing as well as painting muralesque works that celebrate human and ecological and biological elements come floating into his frames. Humans and animals and birds and textural terrain all flit and swim freely in his aggregation of beings born of the spirit of harmony. This pair of paintings exudes a visual as well as intellectual vibrancy and attraction which, by far, exceeds their modest scale. Last year during his solo show in Delhi at the Bikaner House, Nandan said: ' Drawing as well as painting for me is more than intuitive as a journey, for me it is a deep rooted quest where my figures of humans as well as animals and birds are not just literal figures, but they are imbued with an essence of being or meaning born of mythological moorings .' These three artists at Kala Sutra in Singapore, used a configuration of intuitive embellishments, deciphering and adjusting their own observations and experiences into expressive paintings, born of years of thought as well as contemplative idioms. Images: Sanchit Art Gallery Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Phaneendra Nath's Odyssey of Metaphors
Critic and Curator Uma Nair has been writing for the past 34 years on art and culture She has written as critic for Times of India and Economic Times. She believes that art is a progressive sojourn. She learnt by looking at the best shows in Washington D.C. and New York. As author her most important books are Reverie with Raza and Meditations on Trees by Ompal Sansanwal. LESS ... MORE At Bikaner House in Delhi you have to walk up to the first floor of the Centre for Contemporary Art and savour a panoramic work of Phaneendra Nath Chaturvedi's butterflies in a small room to know the power and passion of this brilliant artist who trained at College of Art Lucknow. Looking at his work with his professor Jai Krishna Agarwal on Saturday became a moment of deep revelations and reflections between Guru and shishya. As the butterflies flutter over the surface of the canvas, it reminds me of the world's finest artist Yayoi Kusama's mosaic-like shards in their spread wings, each revealing exquisite patterns of orange, red, white and blue spots. For Phaneendra, the butterfly is more than a symbol of fragility and beauty; it is a symbol of service, of selfless spiritual significance, and a metaphor for man and nature. Nestled and sprinkled on pedestals in this room are his butterfly sculptures shining in modern steel and sculpted in the realms of technological finesse. The details and precision of the creatures' wings in many ways fuse with Phaneendra's own mesmeric style. Comprising an iridescent assortment of colours and hues, the sculptures bear a similarly diaphanous and lustred quality that enchants us. We gaze at the painting and the sculptures too and think of intricately tessellated backgrounds—a flattened plane of biomorphic swarms —sprawling and propagating into infinite space like cells under a microscope. Repetition is Phaneendra's elixir; he creates his own corollary with an 'all-over' method, the shapes evoking the enduring legacy of an infinite carnival of butterflies celebrating the ecological spectrum. Then in the largest room on the top floor is the man with flat wings, reminding us of an aeroplane. Whatever he paints or draws or creates with pencil and pastel, each work comes alive with unique perceptual effects. In his archetypal grim grim-looking, intimate figurative imagery, each work presents the artist Phaneendra's spectacular, pulsating vision. Phaneendra's fascination with the winged man is inextricable from his experience and appreciation of the world. ' On earth, man is only one dot among millions of others,' he says. ' We must not forget ourselves with the desires of our burning ambition. I feel that in our everyday struggles, we lose ourselves in the ever-advancing stream of eternity.' Take the lift and look at his winged man sculpture on the ground floor. Here he calls it Totem and you see a fiberglass sculpture of a man with an owl's wings. Precision and perfection tell us that this modern man in a pair of impeccable trousers is a testimony to time. The artist's pleasure in nature and its abundant variety of forms is palpable. Each individual wing, whether in a drawing on the two walls or in a single sculpture, is painstakingly rendered in both graphite as well as fiberglass. The open wings unfurl into swathes of space, exuberant in expanse. The series he has created as clusters over the last few years are delicately articulated. We must note that the artist's work became smoother, more orderly, figurative, and above all, more pensive. There is indeed a lightness as well as a gravitas to these subsequent paintings. The Good Wisher At the centre of the long corridor stands a monochromatic suited man created in mixed media on archival paper from the year 2016 titled The Good Wisher. Unpretentious and filled with a host of hidden emotions, the bouquet of flowers and caparisoned little bird on the shoulder become organic objects likely to speak to Phaneendra's own experiences as well as memories of formative fascination for both botanical as well as zoological species. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
