Visual Art and Culture

Ventilator & Dangal: The films that have mesmerized the audience with powerful subject and treatment. During the last summer, I went through a number of new movies like Dear Zindagi, Bahuballi -2, Ai Dil Hai Mushakil and so on. But, of all the movies, I liked these two movies especially very much -Ventilator and Dangal. Both the movies have been well received  by one and  all and appreciated very much because of the simple content and honest approach.  Film: Ventilator Directed By   Rajesh Mapuskar Produced By :  Priyanka Copra Starring:  Ashutosh Gowarikar, Jitendra Joshi, Sulbha arya sukhanya Kulkarni-Mone and so on lang uage: Marathi Year: 2016                                                ...

                                                                 The monsoon has arrived much earlier than expected this year. It was to come two days later , and we were awaiting its arrival with all the eagerness. The previous day was very sunny , bright and warm. The Newspaper said that the monsoon had reached Kerala state in time and proceeds towards karnataka state within couple days. Every species was eagerly waiting for the monsoon as the summer days and nights had become intolerable with increased suffocating heat. The very next morning, on getting up, I found the overcast sky indicating the nearing of the monsoon. The cloudy sky and the windy weather persisted all through day but without any drizzling. The following day, in the morning, it had started raining silently. Chill wind brushed our ch...

                                                    Recently I had been to a joint named seven Beans in the neighboring town. Since a long time the joint has been in news  and I wanted to see it myself personally. The interior looked different, rugged and artistic. The place has been designed in such a way that one can go there and immerse oneself  couple of hours very comfortably in interaction with friends, without any disturbances.  For me , the space seemed to have combined the characters of a club and  a restaurant. It was spacious, artistic, and  full of life with youngsters coming in and going out of the cafe constantly. I think the joint is mainly meant for the youngsters who can come and spend long ...

Sculptor Vilas Kulkarni [ first one from the right]                  When our show was going on in the Jehangir Gallery,Mumbai , at the same time, in the same place, Delhi artists were exhibiting their works in the spacious auditorium gallery. In the auditorium hall, postbox sculptures made in the fiber glass medium stood as testimony to the bygone period and caught the attention of each and every visitor's attention since the post boxes are connected to everyone's life. Delhi based artist Vilas Kulkarni had this concept of post boxes in his mind since a long time but the concept got materialized when he was planning for his Mumbai show. When asked about these sculptures, he was emotionally remembering the olden days. The technology has smoothened the ways and people are getting news very fast today but the new gadgets cannot bring the warmth and emotional touch that the letters used to bring, the artist ...

Jamini Roy : Born on 11th April, 1887, Beliatore, Bankura District, West bengal. Died at the age of 85 on April 24th 1972 Jamini Roy is an unforgettable Indian artist, who has contributed immensely to the Indian Renaissance of art . Though Jamini Roy had studied academic style of painting in the beginning, he turned to indigenous art study and developed his own style due to the impact of national movements and the awareness of Nationalism. The four painters namely Abanidranath Tagore, Gagnendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore, and Jamini Roy are considered to be the pioneers of Indian Renaissance of Art. It was E.B. Havell, an English art administer, art historian, who had great respect and love for Indian art showed Indian artists to appreciate the beauty and merits of Indian Art. He was the principal of Government School of Art, Calcutta. As an art educationist, E.B. Havell, in the interest of Indian Art and Culture, created a model of education based on Indian Culture and...

Monsoon          Acrylic on canvas       by  Madhu Desai        Sensation    mixed media on handmade paper    Monsoon 2     Acrylic on canvas  by Madhu Desai

…                                                               In recent years , summers have become unbearably sultry and suffocating. The whole night, the dry weather keeps one awake and tossing on the bed restlessly though the fans make herculean efforts to cool , comfort and take to a dream land. With difficulty, one closes the eyes to snatch some sleep but the mosquitoes' feather touches shoo the sleep away. The eyes keep moving to the clock every now and then but it seems the needles have become lethargic to move. Slowly, when the dark sky is turning in to light pale blue, the cool breeze starts enveloping and swinging one into sleep. Early morning birds start interacting with one another in melodious ...

                                                                                            The Samkhya philosophy deals in detail with Prakrti and Purusas and presents an analytical enumeration of the principles of the cosmos. The detail study of Panchabhutas, the five elements, becomes central to this philosophy. Nature has innumerable surprises in store for us provided we give time to focus on. Observing and interacting with nature is very essential for the progress and promotion of human beings to another level. The samkhya philosophy attempts to give an explanation about the complexity of elements.             We grow watching flies and birds, trees and rivers, the moon and stars in the sky. Can we imagine l...

   In the present context of globalization and consumerism, it  becomes the duty of every citizen to conserve and preserve history and culture for the future generations. Here is an example of an extraordinary man with a beautiful vision. He was a banker by profession, but at heart he cherished immence love for  art  and architecture. The Hastha Shilpa Heritage Village is the outcome of Dr. Vijaynath shenoy's vision and passion. If you are in India, pl visit Heritage Village which is in Manipal. Manipal is situated in Udupi district, in south Karnataka.  I had met Mr. Shenoy, a great personality with a deep voice and keen sharp eyes, some years back as he was  to our house on invitation  for breakfast. Before coming to our place, he had written a lengthy epistle to our association regarding the project that he had undertaken. The epistle with clean beautiful hand writing spoke of his passion for art and arch...

 For the last one week, the articles have been  circulating in News Papers and Magazines, in all languages, on International women’s day. Lot of articles based on feminism ideology  have been shared, read, discussed at different levels, but the  facts have  remained unchanged in many parts of the countries. Women have been subjected to oppression and harassment all over the world since many decades and it has continued. The word ‘feminism’ I had  heard when I was studying in art school. Later, the ideology integrated into my life and become a second skin. As a woman, the philosophy insisted, I became more and more conscious of the ideology and  its implementation .  When I subject myself to  self analysis, I realise that I am a born feminist because since my childhood I have clearly stated my likes and dislikes frankly and honestly. I have never tried to please anyone, not even my parents. So I was labelled as eccentric and different....

                  Every day millions of people retire from jobs all over the world, and among these, some are very happy and some very unhappy. The word 'retirement' starts hammering continuously as one is approaching the destined date and creates lots of flutter in one's life when it is nearing day by day. This word "retirement' denotes physical aspects, financial aspects, time factor, and a sense of fulfillment or a sense of guilt and loss. The retirement psyche differs from individual to individual. Some look forward to the retirement eagerly as they have some plans and objectives to pursue after their retirement. People with positive attitude want to have their second innings of life with different set of objectives, passions and perspectives. On the contrary, some people feel very empty , sad and frustrated because these people have no forethought, no clear vision as how to spend their remaining part of life. This problem...

    Jahangir with Falcon When we look at paintings, we slowly realise how these paintings communicate to us. Each line, each form, each colour, the spatial arrangement speaks volumes. By studying these paintings, we can realise what kind of culture prevailed during that period. The very word ‘culture’ itself denotes lot of things like material culture, the way of living, the behavioural aspect, tastes,  ideas, concepts and values. Keeping all these things in mind, one can have a look at these rich paintings for deeper understanding. When I look at these mogul miniature paintings in the backdrop of  fast growing urbanisation in recent years, which is a matter of concern for all of us,   these  paintings beautifully unfold before us the richness of vegetation, which the artists have captured in fine lines and colours. Now cities are growing both horizontally and vertically because of the greediness of real estate people and that too at the cost o...

When we see the black and white photographs, they certainly give us a kick, and take us to back to some particular period and unfold some beautiful memories, which have been treasured for the present. Through these photographs we come to know the material culture of the particular period and this material culture speaks about the economical and social conditions, fashions, gender equations and so on. These are documentation which communicate about family history. When I visited our village, in the big old mud house, I found a row of black and white photographs hung on the wall in each room. The photographs were in odd sizes, some big and some very small, framed in coffee colour frames. The photographs have turned yellow with the passage of time but they seemed very interesting. Some of the senior family members were photographed in their youth with their wives and husbands. Time waits for no one. When I shifted my focus from photograph to the elderly faces there was pain becaus...

    Films made with new technology, with minimum budget, with contemporary themes.......                                                               A few days back, I viewed a short film on face book uploaded by high school students, who are hardly in the 7th grade. This short film of three minutes duration is done with their mobile phones. Though the film is crude and abruptly finished, I appreciate their sincere efforts in finding the subject appropriate for their age, writing the script for it, selecting the locations- the whole approach seems innocent and funny but at the same time honest and beautiful. Due to television, computer and mobiles, today children have been gaining a lot of knowledge of various subjects. Internet has become a boon to everyone as it covers and enlightens on all subjects. Compare...

Art Diary in Your Travel Bag Now the travelling scenario has changed all around the world. People are very enthusiastic to travel, ready to spend, eager to see and explore the diverse cultures of distant lands. So, naturally, tourism has developed and offering attractive facilities like anything to tourists these days. Tourism industry all over the world has come out with various packages; these packages are quite affordable and enjoyable. As these packages are designed and planned to cater to all sorts of travelers taking into account of their age, gender, and food habits, these seem reasonable and very comfortable to travel with. The travel packages, to some extent, look a little bit restrictive due time and place restriction as these are planned by the travel agencies. Whether one likes it or not, one has to fit oneself in these slots if travel packages are preferred. But if one likes to travel on own, it becomes pretty difficult as one has to shoulder all the resp...