Visual Art and Culture

we find  raga, a sanskrit wo rd,   in the famous book  Natya Shastra,  written by  sage Bharat .      Raga is defined as the act of coloring of    moods and emotions.    Ragamala    means    a    garland     of    ragas.     Raga is a musical form of swara, a melodic scheme,   on which Indian music is    based and rendered extensively.    According to traditional rules, these ragas have been formed and have alphabetical notes as the base, and  differ slightly from one raga to another.    These ragas are played  at particular   seasons and    at particular   time of the day. Ragas have been classified as dawn ragas, mid-day ragas, dusk ragas and mid-night ragas based on time theory. Mainly, the ragas have a strong association with nature and reflect the cycles and mood...

                                                                 As I remember, it all started almost three- four decades back. It is one man’s vision which has been materialized and zoomed to its zenith. No one ever thought the artist, the man behind the project, had nourished such a beautiful dream in the depth of his mind and a strong desire for it in the secret corner of his heart, all these years. To speak about the project, it is almost similar to the Rock Garden Chandigrah  by Nekchand  ,   in vision,   but the concept and outcome are totally different. It took years to realize his dream, a splendid dream in fact. The man behind this project is artist Sri T.B.Solbakkanavar. Before taking up this project, he was teaching in an art college, in Davangere, Karnataka. He took voluntary reti...

        The origin of this art can be traced back to Vijayanagar Empire, which had given royal patronage …                                                                                                                                      In the previous centuries, art and artists flourished only when the benevolent kings gave them enough encouragement, support and patronage. No doubt, only with the royal support art flourished and survived in India, in the early times. A deep look into the history of art unveils the facts that the rulers   of   India   were so   cultured and well versed in art, literat...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            ...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          ...

An old album containing several small and big snaps unfolds before me. I turn the pages passionately to catch the glimpses of my siblings, parents, relatives and friends.  With the passage of time, the pages of the album have worn out and become brittle; the photographs too have turned yellowish and look faded. The yellowed photographs frisk me from present to the past, with nostalgic memories flooding. The thin transparent papers alternating after each thick black sheet of paper have crumpled at the edges; some holes too have appeared in their fragile bodies. With the threads of space and time, these albums have preserved our memories and lineage gracefully over all these years. These albums stand as testimony for the evolving culture. Long skirt with a small top and a dupatta was the ideal dress for the grown up girls then.   Girls and women in their early thirties or so, sporting two plaits was quite a common sight. Slowly, the two plaits would turn into one...

Mondeger Cafe        Since my college days, as a fan of Mario Miranda, I have been following his cartoons till today. Introduced through The Illustrated Weekly of India to the Indian audience in 70s, Mario Miranda and R.K.Laxman both became familiar names within a short period. Both the cartoonists were totally different in their perception and approach to their respective works. Mario liked to capture the life of affluent and westernised people and unmask their reality beneath that show off, whereas Laxman liked to capture the feelings, aspirations and predicaments of a Mondegar Cafe common Indian man in different situations.   Both were equally good in sensitising the situation and bring out the best — both were equally famous.                                                           ...

On the way to Butan, we visited Kolkata for a couple of days in the month of Feb,2005. When we reached Culcutta, it was almost evening.   Our guest house was quite close to Howrah Bridge, and we could see the bridge through the room’s window in awe. From distance, it looked beautiful and majestic and with lot of commotion around it. For Kolkata, I have a strange fascination for multiple reasons. Since my school and college days, I have developed a taste for many Bengali writers — started with Sharatchhndra Chatterjee and moved to Nirad Chowdary — started with Rabindranath Tagore’s paintings and moved to Shantiniketan’s murals — from Bengali cotton sari to Bengal Dothi — from Rasgoola to fried fish in sesame oil in Bengal Club. After refreshing ourselves with tea and snacks at guest house, we set out to have a better and closer look at the life around. The towering look of the bridge across the Hoogli River was very romantic at the dusk, with sunrays adding golden touch to ...

                            The life of world famous artist Van Gogh has been a great source of inspiration to filmmakers and novelists.   As an artist I have read and reread the book based on his life Lust for Life many times. The more one reads this book, the more one becomes sentimental and emotional and gets attached to the character . His passion, dedication, love for nature, romance with colours and canvass ­— all interest and engross readers immensely with no end. From generations to generations, his life lived frenziedly has inspired many producers and directors to make films with multiple viewpoints. During his life time, he neither earned enough money to support himself and to lead a lavish life style, nor was he recognised for his outstanding brilliant works, which speak volumes till toady. A sudden tragic end to his life, at the age of 36, left his experimentation into the art field half-way...

New Year Resolution : if  today be sweet, why fret about tomorrow ?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         The year 2017 is ending very soon; and 2018...