---------------------------------------------------------------------------
**** http://www.GOANET.org ****
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Happy New Year Twenty-Ten
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This short essay was written to commemorate the opening of Amchem Sobit
Daiz, an exhibition of artworks dedicated to her forefathers by Sonia
Rodrigues Sabharwal.
Flyer:
http://tinyurl.com/Sonia-Invite
Amchem Sobit Daiz is among the most significant art exhibitions ever to
take place in Goa. With this historic suite of artworks, drawn deep from
the wellsprings of our culture, Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal makes a
compelling case to be ranked alongside the very greatest of our artists.
These soulful, joyous images of Goa belong with the best work by Laxman
Pai, Francis Newton Souza, Angelo Fonseca and other Goans who have
constituted what Ranjit Hoskote has called “an invisible river”,
enlivening and influencing the trajectory of Indian art for more than a
century.
Born in 1968, Sonia belongs to the last generation of artists that came
of age when it was nearly impossible for any young Indian to conceive of
making a living from art, the entire subcontinent was home to less a
handful of decent galleries, and there was very little interest in
contemporary art. As a result of these conditions, Sonia’s is a
generation of artists that is distinguished by the trait of persistence
– they believed in their work when no one else was there to support it,
they laboured in critical and curatorial isolation and struggled to find
sales.
All this is particularly true for Sonia and her peers among the young
artists of Goa, about whom Hoskote has said “the lack of a context has
left them afloat in a void of discussion.” It is a vexing situation that
has now persisted for generations. Goa keeps producing some of the best
and most promising artists in the country but very few ever receive
substantial commercial or critical rewards. Here, we need to acknowledge
the ongoing failure of the critical establishment in India to understand
the nature of the differences in Goa’s history which have set it apart
for centuries, even while it simultaneously fed and shaped the modern
cultural expression of India via a long series of pathbreaking individuals.
No Goan can ignore the multiple religious and cultural identities that
compete, dialogue and mingle in her own self, and all around us.
Fonseca’s sari-clad Madonnas come from this aspect of our character, as
also Souza’s chalices embossed with tantric symbology. But it is
precisely this profound cultural fluidity that continues to confound the
canon-makers of India – Goan art undeniably has a different DNA that
distinguishes it, and falls outside their pet narratives.
Unfortunately, the standard response to this difference, in the rare
cases when it has been acknowledged, is to treat it as a deeply
inconvenient truth. The disrespect has become a chronic condition, an
institution in itself. It extends to an absurd refusal to acknowledge
that something called 'Goan Art' even exists, a denial that is
particularly galling when it is issued right here in Goa.
Because of all these reasons, Amchem Sobit Daiz is more than just a
landmark show for Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal. It is evident that she has
entered a new and mature period of her career, and that she must now be
reckoned with as a major force in the cultural expression of the Goans.
Her best artwork is in this suite derived from Goan culture, and Sonia's
loving, perceptive soul is mirrored in each painting. But this show is
also a powerful testimonial to the finest and highest traditions of what
is undeniably Goan art. Taken together, these marvellous artworks make a
case which cannot be ignored. In the completeness and self-confidence of
these paintings and drawings, in the ambition, scale and execution of
this marvellous show in a gallery as fine as in any Indian metropolis,
Amchem Sobit Daiz represents a paradigm shift for the art and artists of
Goa.
For this immeasurably valuable gift, conceived and presented in the
timeless bhakti traditions of Goan this land, I offer my sincere
gratitude, and heartiest personal congratulations to Sonia Rodrigues
Sabharwal.
Mog Asun Di.
Vivek Menezes
Brochure:
http://tinyurl.com/Sonia-brochure
Amchem Sobit Daiz
an historic suite of paintings
dedicated to our Goan forefathers
An exhibition by Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal
The Exhibition will be open from 11th to 23rd January 2010 between
10.30am and 7pm
Ruchika's Art Gallery
Casa del Sol, Opposite Marriott
Miramar, Panaji, Goa
www.ruchikasart.com
Goanet A-C-E!
www.goanet.org
