Meetup on 13th Nov at my Studio

Yesterday had invited a group of artists to my studio to showcase my works. I sincerely hope to make it a yearly event.

Bhopal has really matured in all these years as an Art hub. At least now its not very difficult to find serious creative artists. Something that was very difficult say before Bharat Bhawan put Bhopal on the art map for India.

I believe I have refused to be a slave to style. and have experimented with various techniques. Size has never been a hinderance So you will find a small 12x8 inch work along side a few huge 72x 108.

Ganesha , Horses, Wave, poetry in Colour and Landscapes are already what you might be familier with, Of all these works which are not in the website are Benares Series, which is very close to my heart

Horses on the run ..

have been working on a few horses. Here is a work in progress.

Bhopal Gas Tragedy - an old writeup

Those who know India might be aware that Diwali/Dussehra is the time of the year when we do a thorough cleanup of entire home.. Its a messy affair so lets get straight to point.

I found an old writeup while doing the yearly cleanup. This should be around the some time after the Bhopal gas disaster. I still remember the melancholy hidden in every stroke. Reading it, felt bittersweet.

The write up (in my mother tongue - Hindi is definately better) contains the similar thoughts i had crudely translated in my older post (dec2 2008). Do follow the link if you want to see the paintings that ensued.

Windmills

(click on photograph to enjoy the high res image)

It was raining cats and dogs while travelling via Dewas from Indore to Bhopal.

The windmills were shrouded in rain clouds and an atmosphere like above ensued.

Returned from Trip to Pune and Nasik

Just returned from my trip from Pune and Triyambhakeshwar. Nashik.
A memorable trip. Nature and the Landscapes were as if coming alive for/from my paintings.

A fallen tree was like a giant sculpture.

My Yesterday

Yesterday was Makar Sankranti as well as Sakat Chouth

Sakat Chouth and makar sankranti means 2 kind of Khichdis (white/yelllow) the taste is magically superior compared to any other day. Also lot of Til Gud. It was also my grad daughters birthday. Simply marvelous stuff.

So many things to celebrate so little time. Thats how is India.

ArtScape- India Art Gallery

ArtScapes, show of India Art Gallery has begin - on till 15 Jan 09.

These guys are really doing some amazing work to promote Indian Artists. The 'thing' I like is that they provide such a eclectica of works that their exhibition are really a feast for the eyes. They have a mix of figurative as well as abstract art. Sculptures as well. I guess their gallery space should be one of the largest in Maharastra replete with fabulous lighting arrangement. Recently they did an exhibition of works by Shantiniketan artists.

One of my Horse trio is on display in Pune at IndiaArt Gallery.

A work I earlier blogged about here and here has appeared on the brochure as well. Unfortunately, due to some issues it was not framed.



There is no substitute to visiting the gallery in person at

Indiaart Gallery
At Kala Chhaya,
270/D, Patrakar Nagar Road,
Opp. Vikhe Patil School,
Off Senapati Bapat Road,
Pune 411016
India

However they have also kept an online show here

Enjoy :)

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Since past few days, Mumbai tragedy had been a nightmare.God bless those who were victims of it. However 2nd of December reminds me of one tragedy that I was victim myself.

I remember distinctly,I was just back home after my bypass surgery. The nightmare i was seeing would just not end.
People on the street all short of breath, having eyes full of watery discharge, Screaming,trampling over each other.

I had woke up to a pungent smell something similar to the smell of red dry chillies on hot oil. My eyes were continously having a discharge and No matter how deep i breath it always felt short. When I looked around, everyone was in a similar state. Very soon heard someone screeming "Jahrili Gas, Maroge Sab" (poisonous gas all will die).

Fortunately we were among those who survived. OVer the coming weeks the death toll mounted up. Even after months .. everything living continued to die. Just like that.Even today I can feel the anguish and the tragedy that struck us.

Shortly after the Bhopal Gas Tragedy There were a few works that I did to take that pain and anguish out of me.

(We were fortunate to have a Hill nearby which we climbed. With higher altitude the gas thinned out. But not many of my city dwellers were this lucky. )

Migratory Birds

Since sometime back I had been quite fascinated by migrating birds. There are many places in India where these birds flock.

Inspired by these flock of vagabond birds I had been working on a new series.

Here is a working sketch on the concept.

Fake Paintings and the concept of ARN Number

Yesterdays newspaper contained a bitter reality about the Booming Indian Art Market. The link is here

Intrestingly the newspapers did not mentioned, how police got to know that this gallery was dealing in fakes. I think it is quite difficult to spot fakes unless the artist himself mentions it. As it is there is there is already a dearth of art historians/research scholars who would study and verify the artist with the study of his brush strokes or the pigment quality.(There is someone in Pune Maharastra who is a pro but I do not think there are many like him).

Concept of ARN number.

ARN number (Artist Reference Number) is unique Artist reference number that is to be assigned to every painting that goes out of the studio. Image of painting in my website has same name (and tooltip)as the ARN. The same number is written behind the painting also. (More details on the nomenclature later)



The basic fact that this is on net allows a person to have a second opinion apart from the authenticity letter for the work he/she has bought.

We have tried to keep it there for all the new paintings since Nov 2007. Slowly we are trying to incorporate it with all the past paintings too. It is a long and arduous process. But in the end it guarantees, paintings that I have made are properly catalogued. I intend this information on internet to be available free of cost to anyone who wants to verify works made by me.

This is not a silver bullet for fake paintings, but I think it makes sense.

India Art Summit

Since past few days I was in Delhi got me an opportunity to visit the Art Summit. This is the first art fair of modern and contemporary art called "India Art Summit". Along the lines of international art fairs like FIAC, Art Basel and Freeze, this is India's step into the asian art fairs circuit


Artist got an opportunity to meet so many art lovers and numerous art galleries. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it was not a commercial event. More or less it reminded me of the Kumbh Mela. . Everybody taking a holy dip in River of Colors.


I am returning to Bhopal tonight.

PS: A few Pics from the Summit are attached below

Bull

Stumbled across a good litho by Picasso here
the whole development process is seen here

In the end Bull is made with the minimalistic lines.



The development of this bull is quite different from the curvalicious forms of dog owl camel and dove which he did

Brochure for upcoming Exhibition in Mumbai

2 days back received the printed brochures for my coming exhibition. Uploading the soft copy for those unreachable by snail mail.




I have used a passage from my diary. from my earlier post
The exhibition is in Jehangir art Gallery, Mumbai

Do drop in if you are in Mumbai, entry is free.

Exhibition details
From 26 Nov to 2 Dec
11am to 7 pm,
161-B Mahatma Gandhi Road. Ph +91-022 22843989

Taxis in Mumbai are not quipped with GPRS however the WikiMapia URL is here
:)

Page from my diary

I write occasionally .. but only in Hindi. putting across a sample page from my diary.


Good translations are always difficult to achieve .. at the most it can aspire to go close to the actual written word but its never an exact substitute. Many times language has no word for which source language has a very commonly used word. and then there are always limitations of the translator .

Those who can not understand hindi, an attempt at english translation follows.

Verbalizing pictures! They are quite vocal themselves. Its just that we need to give time and have patience to begin this conversation.

Filling up blank canvases makes me feel alive. However, these days applying colours has become less of "blank canvas need", and more of expressing inner self.

How does one say in words what they feel. Even if they do, are they able to do justice with mere words. Putting inner feelings in words is not even close to expressing ones self.

Sound of music and spread of colours help us where words fail. Like a gentle breeze over autumn leaves emotions,feelings, inner turmoils spread themselves in the ambiance. One may listen to this whispering or deem it to be "silence".

My canvas surfaces have been a witness to my experiences.

Primer for reading paintings

This is a particularly intresting post

My Kid Could Do That! esp has some intresting point to make.
worth reading. :)

Got a MacBook

Few days ago i started using MacBook a little more than often.

I must confess switching from Windows to Macbook at my age will be a steep learning curve.
Not that i claim to be windows veteran., Its just that Mac seems to work in a more reliable way than windows

Its a different experience altogether.

Book Publishing

Since past few months idea of publishing a book has been doing rounds. Now being an septagenarian myself, I know the old style way of doing this .. finding a good publisher and find someone to finance the whole process and take the risk of having 5000 copies with a hope that they will be sold eventually.

And then i come across this fantastic post by David Maister on Self Publishing . He is already a distinguished author of best seller books. He has pointed some excellent starters for achieving this in Internet age.

1) http://www.lulu.com/
2) Getting listed on Amazon

I am collecting all the bits and peices together. and will be looking forward to Davids experiences (He is always so generous with sharing his thoughts )

It has been a long time i had been working on paintings and have evolved a style of my works esp horses and landscapes. Internet and webpages are good for sharing small ideas and events but if you want to tell a 70+ years long story, you need a book. Neat and Tidy compilation of all the works i have done and the evolution of thought process that binds them together.

Lets see how it goes.

Horse Doodle

Horse doodle ...


Any guesses on the Brush that i have used. ..


The one below is in Pencil .. no prizes for guessing :)

Visit to Delhi

I am in New Delhi since past few weeks.
Going to the various Art Galleries and gathering reactions of people about my work.
Have got a few paintings with me for the galleries.

Some of my new works

Uploading a few of my new abstract works.

I am going to New Delhi (India) for a few days