An Evening With Ram Kumar

"kai mhantos...kuthe aahes" me vicharla

"sewri hun train board keli aahe. paach vaje paryant VT la pohochen" asa ek mahitpurvak vakya mitra mhanala

sandhya kaali sade paach la prince of wales museum madhe Ram Kumaranchi "Longing"navachi documentary dakhavli jaanar hoti...saade paach la museum chya baher bhetaycha tharla...me sadharan 5 vajta office hun nighalo...horniman circle la aslelya office hun Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS) majhya saathi 10 mins walk..Mumbai cha haa bhaag jaanu kahi itihasani purna bheejlela...Asiatic Library...Horniman Circle...Bombay House...Bombay Stock Exchange...Kala Ghoda...ashya ek se ek aitihasik buildings aani locations...hya ashya itihasik imaaratinchya gallyan madhun aaj Ram Kumaran cha itihas baghayla jaat hoto...

barobar 5.15 la museum chya gate baher pohochlo...masta peki...paus jhalela...aani thoda thoda toh padat hi hota...sandhya kaal chi te vel...janu kahi ekdum perfect settingach hoti...Ram Kumaranchi documentary baghayla...me mitrala phone karnar eetkyat mala ëekde eekde" ashi haak aiku aali...valun pahila tar majha mitra, rahul inamdar, disla...kaali cotton chi half pant, black round-neck t-shirt...haatat laamb dandyachi kaali chhatri and pathivar american tourister chi bag...tee pan vishesh mhanje kalyach rangachi...janu kahi kalya rangashi majhya mitra cha jhalela chuupa kararach asel...abstract painting chi chatak hyanech mala lavli...aani hyach eka dhyasa madhun aamhi ramkumar chi film pahayla raja shivaji vastu sangrahalayat aalo hoto...

( abstract che ubharte sitare - Rahul Inamdar)

Lalit Kala Academy ni modern artists var commission kelelya documentaries madhali hi ek film hoti...screening chya dishene amhi gelo...Raja Shivaji Vastusangrahalaya chya garden chya ujwya bajula he auditorium aahe...auditorium chya dishene valaatach baher thevlelya chaha pannachya soyee ne manala ek ahladdayak anand jhala...pavsane gaar jhalelya tya mantarlelya vatavarnaat...garam samosya chi ubb kahi veglich hoti...tyatach samorcha museum cha hirwa gaar parisar tya vatavarnat chamatkarik vatat hota...

kadhi na sampava asa tya chaha cha shevatcha ghoat ghetla aani cup washing crates madhe thevun aamhi auditorium chya dishene nighalo...ek sadharan private screening saathi pure astil ashya pannas-saath khurchya audi madhe asatil...amhi ujwya bajula pudhun teesrya ranget basalo...suruvatila...evening host mhanun lalit academychya baieeni ek paach minitancha...ek intro talk dila...pudhe audi che lights madhyam jhale aani bhimsen jinchya aalapa madhe documentary la suruvat jhali...

samor screen var navvaditle na vatnare Ram Kumar canvas var chitra chi suruvat karat hote... "...these r just guidelines...brief structure of what i want to draw...but as the painting progress i may override them.." asa hey tyancha vakya ekach kshana madhe tyanchya shaili baddhal barach kahi bolun gela...pudhe Ram Kumarancha survati cha pravas, tyancha france madhe jhalela shikshan...teethlya samajik jeevannacha tyanchya chitrakale var jhalela prabhav...tyanchi hussain shi asaleli dosti...asa vidvid ghatnanni ranglela RKencha charitra pahayla milala...tasa avghya 40 mintachya chitrikarna madhe hya digghaj kalakar baddal sangne ke kathinach...pan tari hi documentary madhe tyanchya vyakmatwa che barech barkave tip nyacha prayatna kelela disla...tyancha te saadha rahana...usavlela...shirt...kadhi kaali ekdum fit asleli pan aata pattyachya sahayane basnari tyanchi ti pant...80s chi chasmya chi frame...hya saglyatna hya tapasvi mansacha darshan jhala...saadhi rahani uccha vichar...hyacha RK he agadi jwalant udhaharan...

   

(figurative shailitli RKenchi paintings. france madhe astanachya tyanchya ekate panacha prabhav hya chitranmadhun spashta disato. ranga suddha monochromatic aani thode faar dull aani industrial)

hya vayat hi...rangaan cha achuk mishran...brushcha alagat pan damdar rekhatna...he sagala kamalicha hota...pudhe RK ni aaplya varanasi chya prabhava baddal sangitla...figurative te abstract...ha pravass RK ni aaply varanasi chya vastavya nantar kela...varanasi chya aadhi...tyanchya paintings madhe france madhe rahilya mule tyanchya chitravar ek vegala asa industrial shaili cha prabhav hota...paintings genrally monochromatic hoti...pan varanasi ne matra hya chitrakarachi ranganshi khari saangad ghalun dili...varanasi chya ekandarit asalelya sanskrutik jeevannacha RK var jabardast prabhav jhala...teethe aslele...ghat...vesha vyavsay...ghat varil smashan bhoomi...mandira...varanasi chya gallya...market...ashya saglya vichar manthanatun RK encha abstractcha pravas suru jhala aani nantar te salag daha varsha fakta varanasi-themed titlesach kadhat hote...

(varanasi madhe rahtana RKenna bharatiya sanskrutiche vividh ranga jawalun pahayla milale...teethlya anubhavane janu tyanna ranganchi navi olakh karun dili...abstract shailitil ranganchi udhalan asaleli hi RKenchi taieela chitra (oil paintings))

pudhe eka prasna madhe filmmaker ne RKenna tumchi style kai asa vicharla asta RK mhanale "i dont go for any particular style...or colours...painting is continuous process...one painting leads to the next one...its all about finding YOURSELF" asa mhanta-mhanta audi che lights ujaal jhale aaani bhimsenjinchya tya awaazat aamhi RKenchya duniye tun baher aalo...

audi madhun baher padtana RKenchya tya vakkyane...documentary cha naav "Longing" ka aahe he samjavun dila..."its all about how much you long to find YOURSELF"

An evening with Art

its a day or two late in writing about this event but as they say better late than never....it was friday again and i was clear in my mind what i was going to do this friday evening...it was India Art Festival ( 19th - 22nd Dec, 11 am to 7.30 pm) at Nehru Center, Discovery of India building, Worli, Mumbai....with more than 500 artists presenting their work, it was going to be a visual treat...
hoping on to the train at Churchgate, I got down at Mahalaxmi and got into a taxi to head towards the majestic Nehru Center.

Nehru center - Discovery of India Building

The design of the building has its own charm - its kind of a mesh which spirals up towards the sky...The campus is also home to Nehru planetarium...but today my eyes were fixed on galaxy of artists...

As i entered the building i was greeted by hundreds of paintings displayed along the walls of ground floor and i got the hint of what to expect in next two three hours. The best part was my friend and upcoming abstract artist in mumbai circles - Rahul Inamdar, had his stall put up at the festival too. well that meant I had my VIP passes ready for me ;) ( as you see it helps to have connections at the right places :D )

as my buddy guided me through maze of stalls, i got a fleeting glance of art from all the corners of India...from rajasthan to west bengal, from assam to mumbai...

we first headed towards Rahul's stall...and boom!!! didnt he do the arrangement in perfect way...i felt as if the sun just shined in front of me...

Rahul Inamdar's exhibit

The theme of his exhibit is "Space"... that space within us where we are cozy with ourselves and when in contact with it we dont need any thing from the outerworld...the lighting was perfect and it was the best arrangement of stall in the whole set-up, leaving ample "space" for the visitors to actually get dissolve in the space o f 

p a  i   n     t        i          n               g                   s              .              .              .

after reaching at stall, we had impromptu evening snacks - coffee n some nice cheese sandwiches...with my hunger pangs satiated...i started out to douse my artistic hunger by going around the stalls...

what i saw left me amazed...some of the artists had created some wonderful piece of art...putting their heart n soul on canvas...most the paintings were figurative but what caught my eye were abstract paintings...i specially have liking towards abstract paintings...abstract painting has a life of its own and takes on it own character...to put it in perspective, at a recently conducted painting's auction conducted by world famous Christie's auction house, an abstract painting by world renowned artist Vasudev S Gaitonde sold for a whopping 20.5 crores...phewww...leaves u breathless ain't it...

well as i meandered through the exhibition i lost my track of time only to realise that it was end of day's play...the clock has struck 7.30 pm and it was time to wind-up...but in my heart it was still "Yeh Dil Maange More!!!" just when Rahul said - 'how about another exhibition?' well those words were music to my ears...i was like "neki aur puch puch" and lo we headed towards another exhibition of abstractionist Prabhakar Barwe...

The Prabhakar Barwe Retrospective is held at Percept Art, Raghuvanshi Estate Compound, Lower Parel (W) until 28th Feb 2014...it is exhibition of Barwe's works from 1955-1995...some of the paintings are on loan from private collectors while some of the never-seen-before paintings are from artist family's collection...

some of the works are simply fabulous...and such is gravity of some of the paintings that one can end up spending hours standing in front of a single painting...and then that made me realise the might of Barwe...to put in perspective i watched paintings of atleast 50 artists at art festival in two hours whereas here two hours were not enough even for half of Barwe's paintings...truly an enriching experience...it was 9.15 and as the realities of outer world brought us back to our senses, we left the Barwe's world with an eerie sense of incompleteness only to yearn for one more visit....

Skin - the mural