By Naguesh Rao Sardessai
A noble attempt by Ranjit Arora to forge a synthesis of various artists with differing backgrounds is on display at Goa Kala Academy’s Art Gallery.

Ensemble, an aptly named group show of six artists from Madhya Pradesh and two from West Bengal, reveal common fears, hopes and desires and creative manifestations of the same.
Babua Das, Basudev Ghosh, Ranjit Arora, Sanju Jain and Teji Grover exhibit their paintings; Manjusha Ganguly her collages; Shampa Shah brings her ceramic sculptures and Sonia Rashid presents her smoke-fired stoneware. Each have a distinct approach yet deep down all are forged by the subconsciously accommodated idea of a primitive, primal and pristine world, which they feel is on the precipice of its existence.
Babua and Basudev, coming from Kolkata, share a common concern - concern for human beings being disconnected from fellow human beings, and for the ever-nurturing nature. The formers approach is graphical whilst Basudev employs pictorial metaphors and loosely structured forms to address seemingly abstract concepts.
Basudev is a voracious reader of quality literature and Franz Kafka has occupied major space in his intellectual ideas. “A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us,” said Franz Kafka, the enigmatic German writer of Jewish lineage.
For Basudev, it emerged as the absolute truth. The apparent hopelessness and absurdity that seem to permeate Kafka’s works apparently shifts over in Basudev’s works and hope and desire filter through. Themes of alienation and persecution are repeatedly accentuated with a glimmer of optimism and underlying joy. The ‘Bridge’ repeats through his paintings as a symbol of joyful coexistence and aspired camaraderie across the various segments, class, faith, nations, etc.
For Babua, the focus is on the subconscious assimilation and adaptation of influences from the pristine nature around us. The very physical act of human mating is projected through various layers by Babua, and implemented in his understanding of the creative process. The creation of an art piece, according to Babua, runs parallel to foetal development and the outcome relies on the precise combination of male and female chromosomes.
The right forms from the local life and nature around drives the artist in him to paint a conglomeration of flora and fauna that has the human as an integral part. He embellishes this with brilliant colours and enticing textures. Babua is primarily drawn to the works of Henri Rousseau as it locates him most of all in his childhood experience of oneness with natural surroundings.
Manjusha teaches in a college in Bhopal. With a PhD on S H Raza and having several years of experience as a creative individual, Manjusha loads her work with quality and refined details. Her switch over to practicing ‘collages’, distinct from her formal academic training, has given her rich dividends. High quality pictures from the acclaimed magazines get transformed into beautiful work of art that entices the viewers with its complex juxtapositions. Nagaland enamoured Manjusha, and the virgin mountains, mystique beauty and sensuously misty air prodded the creative artist in her to give the ethereal experience a form. These collages represent the same magical experience through the teasing translucency of special tracing paper and sensitive compositions.
Ranjit, a self taught artiste, whose transformation from an art lover to being an artiste was but natural has been a collector of quality art from India and places abroad. With over 300 works and still growing, Ranjit does indulge in promoting art by organising exhibitions and group shows. Cutting down on his social life, he engages himself in painting in his inimitable style. The nuances of tribal art permeate his graphic vocabulary and take its own shape. Birds, animals and mundane forms merge with the intricately constructed surroundings and stand out as a homogenous entity with an identity of their own. Fine dots, linear details; visual texture embellishes the subtle and minimal hues spread across the paper or canvas. Collectively, Ranjit’s works connect viewers to the primordial life form.
The layering and the texture created with handmade pulp is what enhance the mystery of unfolding space in Sanju’s works. She refuses to give a sermon or preach philosophy. Her work is pure and straight. Sanju expects the viewers to connect with her untitled work at their own level and draw their own sweet meaning. The multiple layering and shimmer that this produces adds a mystical touch to the pictures. Usually accustomed to painting on a large format, Sanju has presented smaller versions here in Goa. The work has the capacity to suck in viewers’ attention and give them a joy ride.
A subtle translucent layer of gauze like material over the paintings keeps everything ambiguous only for the viewers to engage and disengage and draw their inference. Poet-art critic Prayag Shukla has noted that “Sanju conceals as well as reveals the images …” This dual visual suggestion seems to be at the very heart of Sanju’s vision as a painter. The subtle hues and compelling abstract pattern that grows during the process recurs and latches on in the subconscious reservoir of the viewers.
Sonia Rashid’s work in the current show is burnished and smokes fired stoneware. Cotton cloth and other combustible material are soaked in copper sulphate and iron oxides and then adhered to the pot during the wood firing which is not applied with any glaze. The pink flashes that are visible on the surface of the pot are the result of the combination of oxygen and heat from the fire. This work is inspired by Jane Gibson's creations.
“This work of mine deals with the triumph of grace over the pull of gravity as I witness it in plants and life in general around me,” explains Shampa. Her works reflect her personal experience with the process of life, death and life again. An encounter of a fire raging in the dusty shrubs outside a house that destroyed the habitat followed by another encounter wherein the new occupant’s compound was blooming with fresh trees and shrubs arrested her attention. The mystery in the cycle of life engaged her to create these ceramic pieces.
Noted Hindi poet, fiction writer and painter, Teji Grover’s paintings are her own signature, the way her poems are. An activist at heart, Teji employs earth-friendly natural pigments that she creates from flowers, spices, barks of trees, berries, etc, which she picks from the forest and prepares at home.
Living on the banks of the Narmada, Teji is engaged with protecting the sacred river and cows, which she feels represent our own existence. She took a resolve to paint in an earth-friendly way. Cave paintings found all over the world impressed her. Twigs, leaves, petals, flight of a bird and such forms percolate into her seemingly non-representative work. Innocent lines, spontaneous curves, tactile texture, ambiguous yet evocative forms promise a moving visual experience. The sensitive manner in which she handles the use of pigments on the canvas and the depth of her paintings also reflect the poetic elements of her persona. Hues and words play a complimentary role in her life. This undisturbed flow of creative outpouring either with words or colours liberates her from an all too human world and aids her in experiencing spiritual bliss.
(The show is on till February 8)