JAMMU & KASHMIR: Where’s a will, there’s a way. This saying fits perfectly with self-taught Kashmiri artist Manzoor Ahmed Bhat. Manzoor, a village man with no higher education and no formal training, has created and mastered the unique stone art of using coloured grinding stones for stone art painting on his own without any outside help.
He is the only artist in the country practising a unique stone art called ‘mosaic art’. “I was interested in artwork right from my childhood. Initially, I used to make pencil sketches and then paint them with water and oil colours, etc. However, I was not satisfied with it and wanted to do something new and unique,” 35-year-old Manzoor said.
“I wanted to create art of my own, something magical which nobody had ever seen or heard of in the world,” he added.
While Manzoor was looking for some new art form, he took inspiration from natural landscapes and the idea of stone artwork struck him.
“For the last 21 years, I have been doing this unique stone artwork. This is God’s gift to me. I am self-taught; nobody taught me this artwork as no one knows about it,” said Manzoor, who hails from a village in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district of J&K.
As Manzoor got acquainted with the world of stones, he learnt about the colour, texture, shape and size of each stone.
“I tested each stone to determine which one can be used and which one cannot. It is not ordinary stone artwork; it needs a lot of hard work and effort right from finding perfect pebbles to crushing them to colours,” he said.
Manzoor collects pebbles from hiking spots, streams and river beds by travelling across the Valley.
“After finding the pebbles, I crush them in the mortar at home to make art material for unique ‘mosaic art’. With different coloured grinding stones, I create different shades by using admixtures,” Manzoor said, adding, “No machine work is being involved in crushing the stones”.
Now that he has mastered the art, he turns the coloured grounded stones into amazing portraits and landscapes by fixing them on plyboard canvas with adhesives.
The artwork on a plyboard canvas, he said, needs a step-by-step approach. “I have to work very intricately. It takes a lot of time and concentration. I put my heart and soul into the making of these stone art paintings,” he said.
It takes him at least 3 to 6 months to make a single painting, depending upon its size. Manzoor has made different kinds of eye-catching artwork of stones during these years. His stone artwork includes landscapes depicting mountain frames, rivers and lakes, etc and portraits including that of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, ships, horses etc.
He lived in oblivion for years as only a few knew about his unique stone craft. He is working as a salesman to make both ends of his family earn as he was not earning a single penny from his unique craft.
But the tide is now turning for Manzoor, with people reaching out to him after learning about his unique artwork.
With the support of the Department of Handicrafts and Handloom, Manzoor recently held a two-day exhibition of first-of-its-kind stone art at the Government Arts Emporium, Srinagar.
“A lot of people visited the exhibition and enquired about the art. Some of them also expressed a desire to buy my paintings but I told them that at this point in time, I am not going to sell my artwork,” Manzoor said.
According to Manzoor, he has so far completed 100 stone art paintings but has not sold any yet despite getting offers from customers.
“I intend to make a bank of stone art paintings before going for sale,” he said.
His art has so far remained unregistered because officials could not figure out under which art form it could be registered.
“However, now I have been assured by officials that my art will be registered in the ‘Innovative Art’ category, which will help promote this unique art form,” Manzoor said.
He intends to hold more exhibitions to promote his unique stone art before putting his work on sale to earn a decent livelihood.