Artist Deepak Gaunekar ‘Untitled’
A Delightful Array of Colour and Texture
The State Art Exhibition, previewing Jan. 21 at the Kala Academy in Panjim, showcases 74 works from some 30 Goan artists, with varying themes, delightful colours and a wide array of expression in oil, acrylic,
watercolour, mix media, charcoal and pencil. The exhibition, inaugurated by Kala Academy chairman and MLA Vishnu Wagh, also includes photographs and sculpture. Vallab Namshikar’s colourful semi-abstract portraiture catches the eye, as does Gaurish Poke’s vibrant splashes and strokes in red. The children’s faces portrayed in Ajay Kothawale’s works each tell a story without words. Hitesh Panikar, Siddarth Gosavi and Sanjay Naik all composed works merging man and animal. Sripad Gurav combines mythology and the ‘now’- with the deity Hanuman hovering over high-rise buildings, the dark background accentuated with white, drawing in the viewer. Vitesh Naik’s signature is the social scenarios of Goa, with people socializing in tiny liquor bars. Shilpa Naik’s ceaseless fascination with ants continues.
The scenic beauty of Goa has always been a muse for many artists, though we don’t see much of it here. An exception is Beena Vansekar’s semi abstraction. Darshan Shetye has a pleasant watercolour of the façade of an old Goan house. Vasudev Sheyte’s large format portraiture was thought provoking. ‘My inspiration is the merging horizon of life beyond and the echoes of thoughts of the tech world, and I feel joy when viewers can relate to the subject’, he said about this painting.
The etchings by Shivraj Shety, Sachin Naik, Rayan Aberu and Preeti Prabhakar contain disconnected symbols, and figures both surreal and straightforward.
In this exhibit, canvas and paper share space with sculptures in fibreglass, clay, terracotta, and stone. Gopal Kudaskar beautifully sculpts the face of a man tinted in silver, and the brain detailed in brown.
Vidyadhar Kundenkar has a sculpture titled ‘Extra Territorial’ made with bicycle components, while Rajendra Mardolkar has assembled an interesting figurine with nuts, bolts, and screws, welded together. The largest sculpture is a beautifully decorated elephant, carrying a gas cylinder, portraying the old and new world.
In the 18 photographs on display, there are depths of reflection, the play of light and shadow, and a kaleidoscope of colours. It was great to see compositions in black and white. Siddhivinayak Naik shows us seascapes – the impact of the reflection of light on the water, another a silhouette of a boat setting off the sunset. Chandan Goankar brings us a man on the seashore, as the waves come in. Presley Fernandes captures scattered toys on the floor of an old Goan home, and Swapnesh Mangoankar has timed his composition in capturing a boat and the reflections in the water.
Gauresh Poka’s candid picture captures clearly defined figures in the breaking of the ‘dahi hundi’- a ritual performed on the festival of Janmashtami, (Lord Krishna’s birthday). The photograph is stunning!
Sajjan Bhater’s multi-hued intricate interiors of the ceiling and murals in a church show a delightful combination of colours. Presley Fernandes captures colourful puppets in a row, while Kapil Madokar has a candid shot of a boy playing with a car tire on the road with a Christian shrine in the background, among other exhibits. It captures a moment in time which will never reoccur.
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On view till 25th January at Kala Academy- Campal
