By Vijay Bhandare
“Painting is freedom. You have to wake people up to revolutionise their way of identifying things.  You have to create images they will not accept. Force them to understand that they are living in a queer world.

A world that is not reassuring. A world that is not what they think it is.” – Pablo Picasso Very provocative and profound indeed, this quote by the legendary cubist painter Pablo Picasso pertinently describes and supports the title of this art exhibition “OS CRUZADOS” (The Crusaders). The seven crusaders will nudge us to probe deep into the nature of their mind and feelings to redefine symbol and symbolic thoughts. By using the characteristic method and techniques, they delve into the abyss of their personal psyche and bind them with that of others with a common filament, without infringing on each other’s space, in order to objectify the subjective world, so that we can contemplate and understand them.
Aadhi Vishal’s dream world cannot fail to delight in its evocative nostalgia. His works are very innocent and childlike. His light hearted amusing drawings executed with rhythmic, sensitive lines and ethereal solid forms flow seamlessly in the pictorial space. His obsession for this delightful metaphor makes the viewer travel back, aboard a virtual ‘Time Machine’ into the “retro world” of his childhood memories, where anecdote takes on a new shape and form and boldly connects with the artist’s psychological state and blissful events in his life.
Kedar Dhondu taps his psyche to produce a chain of potent, startling Freudian images, which are sometimes sinister, bizarre and gaudy. These conspicuous images open a door into the irrational world of his subconscious and the unconscious state of mind and present them for his work. His preoccupation with the exchange of relationship between the consciousness and unconsciousness and the amalgamation of both are propelled in his work, helping us acquire a deeper understanding of the extraordinarily diverse and widespread use of psychological, surreal sensation re-emerge in his paintings and drawings as bearers of an altogether diverse connotation.
Rajesh Salgaonkar’s illustrative qualities speak for themselves and represent the images the way he perceives it in its most precise of forms. His narrative style combines striking composition with subtle depiction of forms. Narrow yet intensely pure palette, but are largely monochromatic, his depictions, the unfathomable world of underwater, exploring fishes and other deep-sea imagery, as a metaphor for the mundane, often seen as a playful representation of these ornamental sea creatures, adorning and evoking feminine innocence and beauty! His forms are simple yet lyrical evolving a kind of female iconography, which is playful and elegant.
Shripad Gurav gives us a glimpse of the impressive body of etchings with painstaking details and brilliant use of chiaroscuro in his compositions. They reveal a sense of wonder at creation and a keen curiosity in the tonal variety and sensitivity of the medium to evoke a visual appeal. One of his works titled “Daliesque” shows the profile of surrealist painter Salvador Dali, with his signature moustaches twisted arrogantly upward with a flower on it.  The key feature of this miniature sized etching is the prominent eye wide open, which is reminiscent of the surreal movie ‘Un Chien Andalou ‘(An Andalusian Dog, [ 1929]) in which, the eye is cut open by a razor.
Shripad’s works are not less than a sharp razor, which would cut open our inquisitiveness towards his subject matter.
Vaishnavi Shankhwalkar’s space is made up of many irregular organic, embryonic shapes arranged on textural ground. Colour and composition is the guiding force in her work, which juxtaposes her fantastic imaginative power inflated by the sheer force of life, harmoniously balanced, which has evolved through the interaction of various layers of thoughts and feelings. Through her works, namely, ‘Bond’, ‘Let Me live’, ‘Parental Love’, she celebrates the poignant connection between time, childhood memoirs, parental bond and ecology.
Viraj Naik’s “Reaction”, a series of linocut prints, with a highly refined, distilled lines and grooves, scooped out of the linoleum sheet cuts the satirical human form with skilful rendition of facial expression and evocative body language, making a statement on the socio-political events of the land that affected him deeply. The symbolically used heavy motifs in his artwork, creates a rhythmic unity, constantly thriving on its simplicity yet delicate, aesthetically appealing prints. It expresses both, emotional and rational attributes – rhetorical and discreet leaving an indelible imprint on our minds. All his improvised forms come from the obscured region of his subconscious psyche, which is a nursery of his hybrids forms.
Vitesh Naik expresses the images that are peculiar to his own world. His urge to express human feelings retains the upper hand. Vitesh’s obsession with creating sexual symbolism in a contemporary visual statement with his mundane, indigenous imagery of sometimes exuberant or sometimes hysterical, cynical, stoical expressions and gesticulations in a surreal happenings, based on the principles of minimalism, using them as metaphors, which are apparent in his paintings titled, ‘Ambivalent’, ‘Amatory I & II’, ‘Brave heart’, and ‘God Father’.
Refreshingly iconoclastic…‘Os Cruzados’ is a psychological insight and unorthodox approach towards depicting the significant contextual to make the subject matter intriguing.
With a welcoming whiff of fresh air full of invigorating energy, for sure, this exhibition is not a ‘quick in –quick out’ affair in view of the fact that every artwork displayed here is an act of exquisite insight into the minds of these crusaders and there is no limit to their imagination. The creative outpouring is mirrored in the works with power to enchant the onlookers!