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http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?Page=article§id=45&contentid=20070426022025578b224492c#
Zestful exploration
Goa has a lot to offer in terms
of arts, culture and
literature. Read on to find out
Thursday, April 26, 2007
PHOTO: A sunset at the Colva beach in Goa. Many people
believe that it's time for a re-assessment of the Goan
contribution to modernity in the arts.
* * *
I was in Goa over the weekend to do a reading, (my first in
Goa) and not even the knowledge that two thousand people in
advertising had descended on Panjim and monopolised half the
beachfront could dampen the occasion. There was so much to
celebrate, and I don't mean sun and sand.
To begin with, a group of concerned citizens had just
succeeded in preventing the very beautiful heritage precinct
of the old Goa Medical College from being turned into a
shopping mall by Delhi promoters. Of course there's the fear
that the vested interests involved will try again, but for
the moment there is a fine exhibition of Goan art curated by
Ranjit Hoskote showing there.
He writes, "In studio after studio, I had the moving
experience of seeing marvellous folios being drawn out from
the bottom drawer of the desk, from below the bed, from
behind kitsch asides." The work had been put aside because of
the lack of feedback and a sense of isolation. But he has no
doubt, he says, that Goa "will flourish as a global centre of
creativity, and that its artists will maintain their spirit
of zestful exploration."
This sense of "zestful exploration" is what animated the Goa
Tourism Development Board to sponsor the project, and the
literary and cultural events that accompanied the exhibition.
Vivek Menezes, who organised the cultural events believes
that it is time for a re-assessment of the Goan contribution
to modernity in the arts, which he sees as "monumental even
while it remains woefully misunderstood."
Modernists such as FN Souza are well known, but
there are other major names that have been
neglected. Among such artists is Angelo da Fonseca
who studied at Shantiniketan and who used the
Bengal style with Christian themes, much to the
horror of the devout who hounded him and called him
mad. He has pride of place in this exhibition.
(Luckily for me, he lived in Poona where I grew up,
and I learnt a great deal about Indian art from
him.)
Another innovator who was hounded and considered mad was the
late 19th century poet Joseph Furtado who was the first to
use "Indian English" in entire poems, long before Nissim
Ezekiel or Salman Rushdie. He lived in Furtadovado in
Pilerne, a village near Panjim, and one of the highlights of
my trip was a visit to the area, thanks to the kindness of
Vivek Menezes.
Furtado moved to Bombay, and, as I recall, his books were
self-published. In the preface to one of them he wrote, "My
first volume appeared in 1895. Since then seven others have
been published, every successive venture leaving me poorer
and poorer, bringing me more and more the sneers of the
people among whom I move."
After I read, and Rahul Srivastava who used to write a column
for Mumbai Mirror and I had some sort of conversation on
stage, and took questions from the audience, Naresh Fernandes
of Time Out fame presented a very interesting illustrated
talk on the contribution of Goan musicians to the "sound of
India" as represented by pre-synthesiser Bollywood films.
And a local newspaper announced the celebration of Konkani
Film Day and the screening of the first full-length Konkani
film, released on April 24, 1950. The film, based on the
novel Mogachi Vhodd by Dioguinho D'Mello was directed and
produced by Jerry Braganza, considered the father of Konkani
cinema.
Rahul Srivastava, who moved to Goa some time ago,
finds the place "volatile" and full of energy. What
a relief it was not to hear that cliché about the
relaxed attitude of Goans, susegad even once the
entire weekend!
* * * * *
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main29.asp?filename=hub280407Palettes_borrowed.asp
Palettes Borrowed from the Sun
Curated by Ranjit Hoskote, a just-ended exhibition of
contemporary Goan art is one of the finest in living memory,
says Sonia Faleiro
As shadows shiver across the waterfront, Panjim's Escola
Medica Cirurgica de Goa lights up, vast rooms to voluminous
corridors, and bathing in the glow are Goa's new cultural
marvels -- its young artists.
There's Shilpa Mayenkar Naik, watching bees burst from banana
leaves in charcoal Tranquillity, and Siddharth Gosavi, a slim
figure standing beside Instincts, a voluptuous cheetah head
snuck into a human torso, boot-shod feet sticking out towards
the canvas edge.
This is 'Aparantã: The Confluence of Contemporary Art in Goa'
(April 11 to 24), 265 works gathered by curator and poet
Ranjit Hoskote from the 2006 Farmagudi 'Palette on the Hills'
art camp -- the genesis of the project -- and from private
collections and museums, to create Goa's finest collaborative
art exhibition in memory.
---------------------
Govern-or-General
by Viraj Naik
Madonna and Child
by Angelo Fonseca
Natuur
by Shilpa Mayenkar Naik
Being Kumari from the series
by Vidya Kamat
---------------------
Sanskrit for 'that which lies just this side of the beyond',
Aparanta is a feat in expansiveness, offering a taste of a
pioneering contemporary Goan, and in fact national, art
heritage with the father of Indian Christian art, Angelo
Fonseca (Madonna and Child, 1960), the founder of the
Progressive Artists' Group of the 1940s, FN Souza (Still
Life, 1960), and Laxman Pai, who helmed the Goa College of
Art in the 1970s.
These older works anchor the exhibition, and their stories
tell of the conflict of being Indian after 400 years of
Portuguese rule; of the influences of a nomadic life in Paris
and New York on an already Westernised, if conservative,
sensibility; of Goa's vibrant intertwining of Hindu and
Christian socio-cultural mores.
As fascinating is the other important axis of Aparantã:
abstract memories in lush acrylics by the Tanzania-born Alex
J. Tavares and by Antonio e Costa, born in Kenya, whose
presence unveils a vital characteristic of Goan society --
the Goan Christian's search for escape and opportunity in
Portugal and its colonies in East Africa, Timor and Brazil,
as far back as the 16th century. (That ambition still
remains, with only a change in place from Africa to the
Middle East.)
Hoskote understands this well for he spent seven
years in the town of Margao and the next 25 in
Mumbai, terrified to confront the changes time had
wrought on his birthplace. A nod to life's
inevitable migrations resulted in the inclusion of
Delhi-born Dayanita Singh (who now lives in the
village of Saligao where, in 2002, she presented
her ongoing, iconic "Saligao Women's Series"), and
Keralite Baiju Parthan, who studied at the Goa
College of Art and presents a series of mixed-media
works.
Aparantã is a feat in expansiveness, offering a taste of a
pioneering contemporary Goan, and national, art heritage
Aparantã's great success, however, is its unveiling of Goa's
astounding crew of young artists. Mayenkar Naik, Pradeep B.
Naik, Chaitali Morajkar, Viraj Naik, and Santosh Morajkar are
all under 35, while Gosavi, the youngest at the exhibition,
is 26 years old.
Nothing about their work suggests Goanness, if there is such
a unilateral thing, and the very defiance of expected images
makes their work fresh, cosmopolitan and very exciting. Says
Hoskote, "These artists have a richness of process and a
variousness of material which ensures that they are not
plagued by the interchangeability which defines many of their
contemporaries in Delhi and Mumbai. Their work combines a
unique dialogue with the ancient past, the colonial period
and, in the case of some, a preoccupation with a
science-fictional future."
B. Naik, who is inspired by Goa's Indo-Portuguese
architecture, tears his paintbrush into sober acrylic images
in which animals and humans co-exist; Chaitali Morajkar
crafts hard-eyed female nudes; Santosh Morajkar has
eye-popping mythical creatures, while Viraj Naik's mixed
media is Alice-in-Wonderlandian, in equal parts charming,
terrifying and gratifyingly absurd.
"Goa has exceptional young talent," avers Parthan. "These
young artists have a distinct cultural talent given the
political background of Goa, and their work is intense and
introspective."
Nothing here suggests Goanness, and the very defiance of the
expected makes these works fresh, cosmopolitan, exciting. But
for how long will these children of Goa remain at home, their
state of ironies, where people come to retire from work but
not to work; a place to which strands of contemporary Indian
art are traced but whose influence on the national art scene
appears non-existent?
Much has to be done: an active gallery system is
necessary, as is curatorial involvement, so young
artists can feel mentored while remaining
independent of the throng of their metro
counterparts, whose submergence in Page 3 culture
is financially advantageous but inevitably
encroaches on the isolation serious artists
cherish. Unless these talents are nurtured, Goa
will continue witnessing its migrations, and this
will impact not just its contemporary culture but
also those who desperately wish to shape it. Shrugs
Gosavi, whom Parthan sees as a rising star along
with Viraj Naik: "The transition from Goa to Mumbai
or Delhi will be a natural one. The Goan art scene
is changing, but slowly."
Just how slowly is summed up by Mayenkar Naik, who says that
before meeting Hoskote she didn't know what a curator was. B.
Naik, who won the Goa State Art Award in 2006, points out
that it took Aparantã for gallery owners outside Goa to
recognise his work.
Viraj Naik, however, isn't waiting around. The most prominent
of the young artists -- with multiple state awards, shows in
Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata, and a solo show scheduled for
Mumbai this June -- he has, along with a few friends, started
an artists' collective in the industrial town of Vasco.
"There are no government facilities for artists, or studio
spaces available in Goa," he explains. "One can't always
travel to another state. It's so important for me to educate
myself in universal art trends and to be aware of my artistic
environment, so it made sense to create a space where artists
work and interact, and can meet their counterparts from
across India who stop by when they're holidaying in Goa."
Naik's is the sort of initiative Sanjit Rodrigues, MD, Goa
Tourism Development Corporation -- who conceived of what will
now be seen as a landmark art camp -- can relate to. "Art is
an important cultural aspect of Goa," he says. "But it took
Aparantã to show Goans what a top-notch art show is; to
explain the need for a quality catalogue, lighting and
curatorship. People asked me when I'll be taking Aparantã out
of Goa. But artists like Viraj Naik, Pradeep Naik and
Siddharth Gosavi now have gallery owners coming to them at
home, in the state."
And that's something Hoskote can certainly take credit for.
Apr 28 , 2006
CHECK OUT for other critical views on this event, written by
Margaret Mascarenhas, Rahul Goswami and Nandkumar Kamat.
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