The works of M K Parandekar (born in 1877) and Devdatta Padekar (born in 1978) span a century and this is also a period of varied art styles and genres. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Gallerie Ganesha is putting together a group exhibition titled Tracing Art Through A Century that will showcase this diversity at the upcoming India Art Fair in New Delhi.
Tracing the long and eventful journey of the gallery that was founded in 1989 by Shobha Bhatia, the show will exhibit works of 30 artists ranging from veterans like Parandekar, Gopal Ghose and Jamini Roy to the younger ones like Padekar and Avijit Dutta.
Shobha Bhatia, Director, Gallerie Ganesha, said, “The many artists who have been a part of the gallery’s journey are showcased broadly on the basis of their styles and genres. We are showing the works of old masters, modernists and contemporary artists. There is also a section dedicated to tribal and folk art, which has been an intrinsic part of our journey with many exhibitions dedicated to keeping the folk tradition alive. As we have consistently followed our objective of promoting and nurturing young talent and bringing old, unsung masters into the limelight, there will be works by such artists.”
Parandekar was born in Kolhapur, Maharashtra in 1877. His father was a Sanskrit Pandit who also painted pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses in the traditional style. Parandekar was famous for his landscape paintings and had mastered both the oil and watercolour mediums. He excelled in portraitures and figurative drawings. Veteran artist Gopal Ghose, who was born in Calcutta, West Bengal in 1913, was initially influenced by the Bengal School. He reworked the genre of landscape painting, investing it with expressionistic qualities. K S Kulkarni, an alumnus of J J School of Art, Mumbai was the founder member of the Delhi Shilpi Chakra. He drew his inspiration from all kinds of folk and primitive art — Egyption, Indian, Mexican and Incan. He could work within the Indian tradition with as much ease and consummate skill as he could adapt the mores of some of the western masters.
Among the younger artists, Paresh Maity is a prolific artist with 69 solo exhibitions to his credit. He gradually moved from atmospheric sceneries to representations of the human form. His more recent paintings are bold and graphic, with a strong colour and unusual cropping. He has painted for the newly built Terminal 3 at New Delhi airport where he created the biggest painting of his life and probably the longest in India.
Padekar studied at J J School of Art, Mumbai and the three prime qualities that he aims to incorporate into his work are simplicity, subtlety and innocence. His work is figurative to a great extent and aims at depicting communication between man and nature while Avijit Dutta’s passion with the resurgent subject of ‘timeless passage’ transcends mediating eras. The visual language explored within the picture frame is infused with myriad meanings, defining the space explored within.
(Poonam Goel is a freelance journalist who contributes articles on visual arts for unboxedwriters.com)