GOA, GOANS AND ART: PLENTY FRUIT, LITTLE APPRECIATION By Rudolf Ludwig Kammermeier [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ART IS ABOUT GIVING, like science and religion, unlike commerce and warfare. The first three stand on the positive side of human values. A community or society is measured by its history and not only by how much creative energy can be materialized, and how much can be destroyed. Commerce and warfare are traditional allies, generated and controlled by power. The first three represent the trio of the renaissance idea -- godness, beauty and truth. They all hover around the concept of the mustard seed: out of a very small seed a big plant emerges. Look at Einstein's equation E-mc2. These few letters, well understood, could change the world entirely. In social terms, beauty and truth are crucial to the development and well-being of any society. Again, beauty or creativity has to be nurtured in all forms and sizes: from the small garden, the local handicraft up to the academic painter. Artists are walking seismographs. And only lesser individuals do still ingore them; but generally this fact is accepted everywhere. Any sensitive artist, whether in music, theatre or art, delas with his environment either consciously or subconsciously; this is the important aspect of art because it gives clues to where a society stands and where it's going. Come to Goa and Goan society, I try to imagine that there is a transformation on the way. But I am not sure. The fact is that Goans have treated their 'seismographs' with a cold shoulder at best. Nevertheless, Goan artists do well, if not at home, then outside Goa or even abroad. In the case of the previous generation of artists, they belong to the best India has produced, and therefore, I will briefly discuss a few of the important artists: FN Souza, Gaitonde, Prafulla Dahanulkar, Anandmohan Naik and Mario Miranda. The present generation is mainly active within the boundaries of Goa, but it's too early to judge. However, there is no doubt that some of them may play an excellent role in contemporary Indian art. Francis Newton Souza, the enfant terrible of Indian art, was born in 1924 in Saligao, lost his father as a child and his caring mother moved with him to Bombay. His character was described as one of ambivalence, thriving on adrenalin with violent as well as creative outbursts. He knew no bounds; the rebel was expelled from school, as the Jesuit fathers did nto appreciate his pornographic drawings on the walls of the school lavoratories. He was sixteen then, free, and decided to become an artist. He joined the JJ School of Art in 1940, where he trained in the solid tradition of Eastern and Western academic. Souza matered these academic norms and turned to political activism. His rebellious nature and patriotic stance resulted in his expulsion. In 1947, Souza initiated the Progressive Artists' Group (PAG) together with other upcoming painters like Hussain, Raza, Ara, Gade and Bakre. With the formation of this group, Souza set the stage for contemporary Indian art. In 1949 Souza left for London. His early years in London were difficult and empty. He earned some money by occasional journalism and with irregular commissions. He made a breakthrough in 1955 at the newly opened Gallery One. Souza's themes revolve aroun dhis Catholic background and his criticism of it. Theodore Mesquita wrote, "... he meditates subversively upon the various instances from the Old and New Testaments. He reflects and transcends all the narrative contours inherited, and evokes his relation and identification with the picture of Christ being an effigy of his existence through which he ponders. Reflecting the spirit of atheistic existentialism, he (Souza) once wrote, '... and you there on the top of a single furnished room, smoking, standing at the window, expressionless city man that you are, your suffering is far more complex than the obviously simple tortured expression of one crowned with thorns and impaled with nails.'" Souza died three years ago in Bombay, no family members were at the funeral and only three from the art scene came. One of the three who came to Souza's funeral was Anandmohan Naik. He is a Goan by descent but has lived mostly in Bombay. Souza and Gaitonde become doyens of Indian art, but it was not the case with Anandmohan Naik. I think he is one of the most underrated artists in the present Indian art scene. In the 'sixties and 'seventies, he was a key figure in Bombay and his house was the meeting place of many of the now-famous artists. He taught and instructed them. He is an alumni of the Shantiniketan school of art, and studied under Ram Kinker Bej, an artist of extraordinary qualities whose sculoptures are rated in line with Rodin. Anandmohan Naik is one of the very few artists today in India who has mastery over a rare medium like 'old egg tempera'. He went away from Bombay for many years and when he returned, he found himself sidelined. Nevertheless, his earlier work is one of the most influential in India, that paved the way to abstraction. Vasudev S Gaitonde is generally associated with abstract art. Born to Goan parents in Nagpur, he never lived in Goa, unlike the other Goan artists who were at some stage of their lives in Goa. A contemporary of FN Souza, Gaitonde studied at JJ School of Art and sympathized with the Progressive Artist Group. However, he remained on the fringes of the movement. He was evidently searching his own way. A social transition was imminent at that time; artists were searching their wayout of the thick layers of dust of the colonial academician. Some did it the radical way, others preferred by inventing new indigenous sets and patterns of a new language. Gaitonde chose the road towards abstraction in a manner no one else has. Single-minded, a quite Zen-like character in deep thought, he seeks after the ultimate thruths. He does not even call his work 'abstract' but refers to it as 'non-bjective', implying a metaphoric language like you find in the Koans of Zen Buddhism. Gaitonde is generally accepted as India's foremost abstract painter, recipient of the 'Padmashree', the 'Kalidasa Samman' and 'J.D.Rockerfeller Fellowship Award', he has invluenced diverse schools of abstraction, like Kolte, Laxman Shrestra and others. Gaitonde was particularly close to another important Goan painter, Prafulla Dahanukar. They even shared a studio. Dahanukar is quite the oppposite character -- a dominant appearance with a commanding voice and intelligent sparkling eyes. She translates the remote intellectual Koanic Zen language onto her canvasses, while Gaitonde's approach, though meditative, is heavier and more 'present in the real world'. One can sit in front of Dahanukar's canvas and dream the whole day; you get lost in it. Gifted with a captivating personality, Dahanukar still plays a major role in the promotion of Indian art. She was the President of the Bombay Art Society, and presently she is the President of the Society of Indian Art and the ARtist Centre. She is also affiliated to, and has been a guiding voice to, the Kala Academy in Goa for thirty years. Mario Miranda does not exactly fit into the category of fine art, he is a cartoonist, but a truly special one. If Mumbai weren't so full of people, you could see the many cartoons he has done in that city, and how much more he could have done if they had allowed him! Instead of pollution, humour! Instead of guys with big money and girls with big boobs! And all that free on the walls. Science tell sus that the only real difference between humans and animals is that animals have no sense of humour. With this in mind, Mario Miranda becomes one of the real important individuals of the human species. His inspiration clearly comes from the Goan Catholic folks; you need only go to church, you see them all, and Mario also divines their thoughts. There is nobody who depicts Goans and their nature better than he. They are exactly how he shows them. The artists of the earlier generation had to move out of Goa to sustain themselves. There was no art in Goa. This changed in the 'seventies with the establishment of the Goa College of Art under its first principal Laxman Pai, himself an eminent Goan artist. With Pai's foresight and the artistic and intellectual skills of the head of the Painting Department, D Harihar, the college went ahead and produced in those first years, indeed, a number of excellent artists like Theodore Mesquita, Hanuman Kambli, Yolanda de Souza, Querozito de Souza, Nirupa Naik, later Mohan Naik, Suhas Shilker, Rajashree Thakkar, Sonia Rodrigues, Rajan Fulari. For whatever reasons, the flow of production of highly-skilled artists dried up; only lately we find again a slight increase in serious talent coming out of the Art College. It's often the opportunity that produces an artist. With more and more galleries coming up in the last few years, interest may have been sparked in the gifted youngsters who are taking art more seriously. Fifteen years ago, there was no one you could call an artist -- except those who had a secure government or teaching job; but they are usually non-productive. Then, a few gave up their professions and jobs to go out into the unknown: Subodh Kerkar gave up his medical profession, then Mohan Naik his teaching job, Yolanda de Souza her Government career, and others followed. I consider these decisions as the real birthdays of Goan art; all this, against great odds. In the beginning of the 'nineties, 'The Flying Dutchman' saw the opportunity and started his successful gallery. Mohan Naik, Suhas Shilker and Rajashree Thakkar were 'born' there. After his closure, Art Chamber, Galeria de Belas Artes was established in 1997-98 and continues this work. From a small grup of five or six artists, now suddenly all the latent talent got a chance to exhibit, not only young artists who never really exhibited, but lecturers, senior artists, and international artists as well. this was the time when people began seriously looking at art. Going round in circles, art had already become en vogue! One should not forget Subodh Kerkar; he was very5B successful even before 'The Flying Dutchman' came onto the scene, but he remained all these years a 'solo entertainer'. Only lately, he started using his gallery to promote local artists and those from abroad. Now, there are at least 15 galleries, apart from the museums and libraries and other institutions in the state. And the trend is growing. Kala Academy has hosted State Art Exhbitions for many years. Fundacao Oriente came with a delegation to Goa in 1994. The Portuguese Consulate General has taken up, very recently, the cause and promotes Goan artists independently on the national and international levels. But what gave art a real, as well as unexpected, boost was the Fontainhas Festival of the Arts in Panjim in January 2002. It made art more credible than it was before, and Goans saw, for the first time, the creationsof their homegrown artists. It must have been like a cultural showck ofr many of them! They streamed into the improvised galleries in the thousands -- something unheard of in Goa before. Coming back to the beginning of our story, Goa has changed and the development of art is clearly visible. However, it is still simmering under a cover: like a bird that is not yet born. It is just trying to break out of the eggshell. Art is still far from being a major force in society in Goa as it is today in Mumbai or Delhi. It only got noticed. On the other hand, during the 'nineties, politics in Goa went really out of control. I was always scared that the hunger for power of some might just one day kill that tiny vulnerable plant called art. If art is about giving, politics and commerce is the art of taking and anything is good enough if it serves the purpose to gain money and power. I see art still threatened every day. May be that's why I consider the International Film Festival of India a still-born child, because it is based on those wrong assumptions of utilizing an art-form for ulterior motives or using it for something else. Either art stands for itself, or there is no art. Muse is no prostitute; you have to be worthy of her -- or perish. It could be so different with the visual arts. They flow basically in the blood of Goans, whether it's tracked or not, like music. Art can play a major role in Goa if citizens as well as the government acdept it as a very precious gift, and not as a commodity, which a few people will always try to exploit. Because Goa is predestined to become the window of India of the world, it needs something special to attract people. Many come here to see something, or to experience something, and fall in love with it. -- ABOUT THE WRITER: Rudolf Ludwig Kammermeier has a Masters in Sociology and Philosophy and studied piano with Professor Steger, a leading pianist in Germany. He has composed four musical plays and worked in various theatres in Zurich, Vienna and Regenburg. He has curated several art exhibitions in Bavaria, and also the Christian art exhibition 'Bridging the Gaps through the Gospel' in Old Goa during the 2004 Exposition of St Francis Xavier. Since 1977, he runs the Galeria de Belas Artes in Calangute. This essay is from PARMAL, the annual journal of the Goa Heritage Action Group. 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