Writeup by Deba
Patnaik
Returning
to my birth state Odisha after decades, three things
surprised and impressed me. One, burgeoning of Odishan
artists, second the passion, excitement and dedication
of many men & women to dedicate to art practice & production publicly
and privately in schools and studios and thirdly their courage and
determination to practice art in metropolis and cities of India.
The
artists are young and ambitious, and want to try out different experiences,
realities and materials of productions. The three artists are from three
different locales and backgrounds. Hara though born in Odisha,
his education and art training and much of his adult life were spent outside
particularly in Shantiniketan . Susant is from a semi urban
south Odisha town Hinjilicut
and Ramakanta is from sea side rural eastern village Masakani. Both Ramakanta and Susant received their art schooling from B.K.College of Art and Craft, Bhubaneswar
and Khalikote
Government College,
Khalikote respectively, both in Odisha.
All three now live and practice in Baroda.
None of these artists come from artist families, but they themselves took the
decision to devote and practice fulltime painting. One would suspect for them
locating themselves both as a person and as an artist could be a matter of
intellectual and creative identity.
With
my previous association and involvement as a teacher and administrator in art
universities, museums and institutions in foreign countries, I dare say I found
in these artists art practice and production comparable vigor and
experimentation. This covers range, depth, materiality, surface, colour,
pigment, figuration and iconography.
The
works of these three in the exhibit are different and diverse. They appear to
be developing distinctive approach to the art of their painting. Hara’s work is
misleadingly simple, the colour that he uses, the figure he draws all seems to
have placidity, blandness and a sense of lifelessness, but what he is done in
such paintings, seems to me, to explore the process of figuration, colour
combination and representation. It is a very clever attempt. The “ Ready for Assemblage” painting is a curious one in this
group in terms of colour form and organization. This assemblage of chaotic
objects, body parts, where the colours are more vivid than in other paintings,
Hara might be figuring out human reaction to commercialised
artificial body parts as well as the purpose of the human body. He might be
curious about how viewers react and respond to dismemberment and people with artificial
body parts.
His
painting raises some questions: the choice of colours, the faces, the mood of
the painting and the organization with in the frame. For example the painting
of the couple totally expressionless, gloomy,depressive, devoid of any feeling, sitting close
together under a roof where an abandoned sewing machine lays. Look at this
image again. Does not it evoke in mind the question of the nature of
domesticity and human relationship?
The
other painting “Untitled” where the entire demeanor, stare and
placement of the figure, the multilevel composition and juxtaposition of trees
and electric poles is masterly. Textural variation of the surface as well as
the general impact of the mood that the painting emanates is an accomplishment.
Which is the place? What is the figure doing looking straight out with such a
dark and ominous look? In fact Hara has deliberately made him a stylized
figure. Through this painting one could read that Hara is questioning and
pondering over the very human condition and existence in a creation not by
humans but a creation being tampered with. The image of mannequin flashes
before us.
Susant`s painting are rich lush in colour and packed with all kinds of
objects and references, mechanical and otherwise. One feels at times some of
these canvases are too crowded and complicated with geometric drawings. I could
sense complex working of Susant`s mind while doing
the paintings. But the attempt to combine several creative texts as well as
vocabularies present difficulty in deciphering. It seems to me Susant`s mind and imagination have a “primitive” kind of
quality and try to blend several cultural, social and religious folklores and
narratives. He seems to be working through this maze to find his own voice and
language as a painter. Paintings such as “Holy Performers -l” are strong and
powerful. Who are these figures dark and gloomy looking? Are they part of
sacred rituals that has lost their bearing. Are they
holy performers trying to recover their role and identity? This painting is
allusive. It raises the questions of where and how those figures and characters
of the paintings locate and assess past cultural performance, religious events
and traditional practices. The circled Krishna
figure in the middle looking towards the viewer simultaneously watching what
the men are doing within a particular territory turns the entire image semi
iconic.
To
me in Susanta`s gaudy crowed and busy paintings one
element strikes out and that is faces of boys either in circles or within house
geometry. They lend a contrasting mood and tone to the pictures and add to the
complexity of meaning.
Another
element I notice in the painting is while Susant’s
world of paintings is rural and distant from city life, Hara’s is the
expression of jammed city life and Ramakanta’s
paintings the urban is suggestive or evoked on the margin.
Ramakanta`s work demonstrates a deftness of hand maturity and
in developing an art space within the painting and a tantalising
imagination. All the three artists in a distinct way fall in the tradition of
the figurative and narrative. However the narratology
and figuration in Ramakanta are so juxtaposed that
his paintings scope the range of symbolic abstractionist. They drop hints and
clues elements and ideas, but no specific definite single answer. To my mind
this artistic strategy is a way of interrogating and situating the function,
role and place of art creation and the artist.
“Figuring
location” is a deliberate choice of title for a variety of reasons. On account
of dispersed the birth places of the artists, where they work; their choice of
calling indicate their own questioning and struggle. Particularly now that they
are situated in charged and historic environment and I wonder how they are
negotiating through or mediating through their life aspiration career goals and
role of art consumption in society.
Ramakanta`s work in this way confront several questions.
Especially his repeated use of tiger motif as it is a part of his art
vocabulary. Does tiger symbolize only muscular strength and violence.
Does the man figure match that in a combination and juxtaposition suggest and
emphasize social domination political power and individual manipulation, I am
not clear the artist is certain at this stage, but it is exciting that he
grapples with such issues as an art practitioner. That striking painting “Behind the
Red Pillar” both in colour compositions, in geometry of space and object might
as well ask how does humanity figure and locate itself in this cosmos. This is
a fundamental challenge we human face, but more poignantly the artist does both
as an imaginative strategy and creative decision.
Ramakanta deals with themes of power, physical prowess and
violence .A beautiful cat perched on an empty slab like red chair’s back,
blossoming tree behind gives out the look of wonderment or surprise as if in
this beautifully layered and textured yellow and green doted environment there
is an intruder. I find this painting, I admit, charming, complex and
intriguing; the cat is after all little sister of tiger showing tiger skin back
and tail is a domestic animal and endearing pet. I am also tempted to read a
symbolic and intellectual meaning introduced in the painting. The intellectual and symbolic connotation being the place of violence
and power in human world and nature. How violence, domination, power of
various kinds such as political, economic, social and personal some times
miraculously co exist both in human and jungle world..
In
other paintings there is a variety of themes and ideas. The paintings
demonstrate Ramakanta`s technical skill, clever
imagination and intelligence. The very use of unexpected disparate objects in a
painting gives yet a density and depth. Almost all paintings evoke a sense of
loneliness, apartness and uncertainty of physical space. In his paintings to
locate a definite place or mood or pictography is difficult. This ambiguity
suggests Ramakanta`s curiousity
and quest to delineate a physical, artistic, psychological space, but the
answer still remains tentative and beyond fixity.
It
seems to me figuring out location is in the very nature of the artists life and
being. How does an artist resolve issues growing out of such
a journey determines the nature and quality of the art and the artist.
Deba P. Patnaik
Bhubaneshwar
Prof. Deba P.
Patnaik is a poet, curator, literary and art critic
has authored essays and books on visual and performing art in India, USA, and Europe. Presently living
in Bhubaneswar,
Odisha.
