WHY SANSKRIT- HINDI SIGNIFICANT, HOW TO PROMOTE IT?

By Dr. Shiv Kumar Ojha original version in Hindi. 

Translation by: Pankaja JK. 

The book is my first complete book translation assignment and whole process was a knowledgeable journey. The book has many features other than being a language book. It highlights Indian culture and how everything in the Universe is meticulously studied by our ancient gurus and assembled in various books. Be it cosmological, astronomical, linguistics, medicinal or spiritual knowledge, we have information on every aspect studied careful and preserved through generation, till date.

Speaking about language is not only interesting but studying it in depth, applying it in regular use and admiring its beauty is a fabulous experience.

Sanskrit is the base of all Indian languages, also known as Devanagari languages. This book highlights on the scientific nature of Sanskrit-Hindi language. Unlike English where consonants and vowels are place together and in haphazard manner. Indian languages have a proper sequence, arrangement of consonants and vowels as separate entities and therefore understand these languages and remembering them are easier than any other widely used foreign language. There is proper way of pronunciation and writing. All these aspects are introduced and explained in this book. 

Interestingly, the author Dr. Ojha himself communicated in English throughout his professional period, as he is the Ex- IIT professor IN Department of Aerospace Engineering, Mumbai. He has also travelled worldwide. But still he is rooted in our culture and embraces Indian culture and language. Therefore we see that every at the age of more 83 years, he studies Indian culture and language. He is also the author of 11 more books based on Indian culture. I am proud he trusted me to translate this very important book for him. Even though there were times when we disagreed on some points of words to be used or expressions, and discussed it for days together, ultimately agreement was possible and this book was published with his sole permission and approval. 

Those people who are interested in Indian culture, Indian language calligraphy and Fine Arts should once go through this book to have an idea of vastness and beauty of Indian language. The book is available on demand and it is worth to keep it in valuable treasure of your books at home or in office. It will not only benefit you as an individual but also help impart rich Indian culture knowledge to your friends and family. In this modern and advanced world where Western culture is highly over-shadowing India’s rich culture and heritage, this is one opportunity for us to preserve it as our personal social responsibility.

by Pankaja JK. 

  

Gati- Paintings by Subhash Gondhale (SuGo).

Gati is the latest series of painting by SUGO. Here Gati is that of Bramhanda or Universe.

Artist : Sudhash Gondhale

The name of the series is in Devanagari language and it means motion in English. This series is a progressive thread of the concepts that SuGo has been working on since a few years. While telling about this series SuGo revealed an interesting fact that these paintings are his unbeknownst creations that first took shapes on canvas and then he realized that this is the concept of motion of Universe. So, according to him it is his unwinding of thread from the spool of subject that he has been dealing since a few years.

It would be interesting to rewind the memories of his earlier series to understand this developed series called Gati. Following paragraph briefs us about his intellectual series of thought.

Indian Vedic culture and its impact has always been favourite subject of SuGo.  Bramha to Bramhanda beautiful and complicated concepts mentioned in Indian Vedic scriptures have now been added to his quest. Progressing in his art, he has transcended to being an artist of deeper considerations with such mysterious, awesome and mesmerizing topics. To simply put it artist SuGo has succeeded in reaching closer to merging of philosophy with art and scientific temperament with his unique concepts of painting series since a few years. Apart from his landscape and reality based paintings painted in various mediums he has touched upon the philosophical, physical and spiritual subjects in his  latest but little earlier exhibitions which dealt with Mantra or Motifs. Mantra series highlighted onthe therapeutic value they lead to peace of mind develop concentration and takes oneself away from vice motives, thus cleansing the soul and developing a sound mind that leads to a sound body. Along with this concept, he dealt with Calligraphy in Akshara series where profound impact of motifs like ‘Aum’, ‘Swastik’ and ‘Rhim- rham on body and soul. He reflected on sound but audible meditative aura was serenely created by using colours proposing mysticism and feeling of transcendence. He symbolically linked letters with every minute element that creator Lord Brahma (Supposed Creator of this universe) amalgamated together to create this Universe.  Bramhanda or Universe is made of animate and inanimate objects and these are termed as Utpatti (Creation), Sthiti (Position or Status) andLaya (Rhythm). After creation and positioning of every object Universe came live with the momentum of these objects. When objects have momentum that makes the Universe live. This motion or momentum is Gati and Gati is the main topic of this series of painting. It is one of the major factors of Trinity (Space, Time and Motion). Thorough these paintings artist reveals how Universe works and how does momentum or Gait makes Universe live.

In this series it is an interesting fact that he has reached the stage where enthusiasm to probe deeper into working of Universe or Bramhanda has unknowingly, without his own conscious efforts, got transpired on canvas.

Though translated meaning of Gati sounds easy and one interprets that it must be related to pace or speed of Universe; it is not that simple. Here he paints Gati ofBramhanda or Universe in unison with other factors that are absolutely necessary and all of them together form Trinity. They cannot be separated from the concept of motion. Motion is that part of Trinity that wholly completes our Universe. Trinity is the Space, Motion and Time.

Universe itself is a complicated matter and to understand it, its formation has to be simplified. Intellectuals right from Aristotle to Newton have purposely tried to study and analyze it. Artist SuGo has intuitively given a thought to the simplification of the concept of working and liveliness of Universe by highlighting the motion of the Universe or Gati and presented to us its omnipresent power. 

Very pleasantly he paints omnipresent power and Energy of Gati that makes everything in Universe alive and has momentum; he taps upon the core of it. Space has potential motion but it can come into action only when it has motion in successiveness or Time, otherwise it is impossible to find movement in Space. On the other hand Time exists and has value only due to Space and Motion. And speaking about Gati or motion of Universe, it is clear that it comes out of Space and passes into Time and so links Space and Time.

SuGo also reveals the creative power of Gati in the images. Each image seems to have momentum.

Along with the creative power of Gati, artist also highlights on it as Energy. The paintings vibrate with energy of light, air, sound waves etc. These activities have their own intensity of motion depicting different levels of energy in their Gati.

Motion is responsible for execution of energies and this is its very nature. Ultimately perceptibility of Gati is genuinely displayed by SuGo.

This series is a creativity added with a scientific temperament and a must watch for every art lover.

by Pankaja JK ( Art Blogazine.com )

PIN POSTER : DELHI

Namdeo Laxman Dhasal was a Marathi poet, writer, Buddhist activist and a staunch follower of Dr.Babasaheb Ambedkar from Maharashtra, India. He won the Padma Shri in 1999 and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sahitya Akademi in 2004

Art from Pakistan : Revival of the fittest - Quddus Mirza

A group exhibition of recent graduates at O Art Space, Lahore who attempt to expand their visual vocabulary and formal concerns

Hamid Ali Hanbhi: The Colours Of Paradise-2

What next? This short phrase becomes a long, unbearable sentence for the recent graduates of visual arts. Four years spent at an art institution provide a sense of security, satisfaction and self-confidence that fades as soon as the students leave their alma mater.

The world beyond art schools or the real world is different, difficult. Dealing with galleries, buyers, critics and hoping for curators’ attention are arduous but necessary tasks in order to make a name within the art circles. Many disappear with the dust of time, and a few manage to make their mark. Politeness, connections and school-of-thought matter but, more than that, it is the newness, originality and excellence of an artwork that ensures their future survival.

We are witnessing that stage in the lives of some artists, especially in the group show ‘Beyond Today’ that included Ahsan Javaid, Ehsan Memon, Hamid Ali Hanbhi, Syed Hussain, Unab Sumble and Usman Khalid. The exhibition held from March 31-April 14, 2017 at O Art Space, Lahore offered something important than art: a drive and desire beyond the protective membrane of an art institute. The fact that these artists who graduated from the NCA and the Punjab University not long ago have been working regularly, and exhibiting frequently is appreciated, but it is their attempt to expand their visual vocabulary and formal concerns that is more crucial and significant.

Ahsan Javaid: General Rule.

Actually for a recent art graduate, the real challenge is to maintain a balance between his identity formulated in his graduate work and the need to produce something new. Somehow, the artists in ‘Beyond Today’ found interesting solutions.

Hamid Ali Hanbhi astonished the viewers last year due to his remarkable skill in rendering stills from movies with English subtitles along with a conceptual sophistication through joining two visuals to make a single narrative. In the present exhibition, he kept his craft and observation intact and moved away from his previous imagery. Here a large canvas is composed of (Afghan) burka-clad figures in varying hues, which also remind of Chinese artist Fang Li-jun, who paints identical faces with smiles that verge to grimace. (His, and several other Chinese artists’ choice of making identical features could relate to the way outside world perceives all Chinese people as uniform, as well as the boom of Chinese industry that has spread cheap and affordable ‘similar’ products across the globe).

In the context of our situation, a woman in a burka that completely conceals her identity is like someone without any features. So Hanbhi’s canvas with burka heads of same size, yet in varying shades alludes to how the real personality and character of a female is jeopardised once hidden underneath that attire. The shift of colours suggests the way society or male eye views the change when it comes to women is merely cosmetic and superficial.

Unab Sumble: Profound Reflection-2.

Ehsan Memon: Girah-1.

This issue of diffused identity is also addressed in the work of Syed Hussain, a painter trained in the discipline of miniature (2015) and belongs to the Hazara community from Quetta. In one work, the meticulously rendered drawing of three figures — looking like a black and white photograph — the central character is blank. Likewise, in two other small works, one sees yellow surfaces with portrait of two individuals. Each resembling some kind of picture identity card (even though the execution reinforced that it is a ‘drawing’), since these have official stamps, letterings in Chinese and Hindi, and a number of signatures, all alluding to the remains of those who were lost due to natural causes or for political reasons. In fact the issue of ‘disappearing’ is different for a member of the Hazara Shiite community who if not kidnapped has to shield his face, since the features betray his sect, hence making him an easy target. Religious sects out to exterminate each other is an aftermath of General Zia’s military dictatorship that perpetuated religious differences within the Muslim population of Pakistan. Ahsan Javed in his painting composed the folded posters of General Zia, so one is able to discern the outline of his face and traces of his army uniform. The work serves to connect the present with the past, but more importantly it added a major point in the artist’s imagery. Javed painted folded drapes of different draperies including those with scared texts and for sale outside of shrines (2016) but in his recent work, using the same strategy, he points to the essence/cause of culture instead of its mere outcome.

Another artist, a former class fellow of Javed and Hanbhi, Ehsan Memon made a dark shape of a roti along with a composite image of multiple sections of a naan completed in black and grey. Only if a person still remembers his immaculately fabricated breads, he would be able to connect current works on paper to his past pieces, but failing that, these appear more like exercises in tonal separation.


Probably the problem lies with the artist’s association rather bondage with his pictorial matter. During his degree show (2016) Javed was replicating reality into art in such a way that one was unable to distinguish between the two. A formal concern in the art of 1960s but in our local circumstances the choice of continuing as artist or opting for another profession is as crucial as the academic debates about the distinction between art and life.

However, in the current exhibition that frame of reference (previously seen in his cardboard box, bars of wood, collection of coal) is lost because now it is the outcome — the roti which assumes the main point of interest — more being a decorative device than a deeper concern to reflect upon reality.

Often our conceptual concerns are deep inside us, like our veins and arteries, without us being aware of them, yet performing their tasks. The work of Unab Sumble indicates the scheme in which an artist blends diverse pictorial expressions for concocting a narrative about one’s existence. Normally an artist adopts one peculiar language and continues expounding in it, but it is rare that he or she inculcates multiple modes of descriptions into one work in order to formulate a narrative that depicts our situation and state.


Sumble combines naturalistic depiction with selective application of patches of colour to create visuals which affirm that what an artist is making is not a replication of his immediate optic response, but his idea of reality with its varying dimensions — initiating from personal observation to art history.

IDEA :POSTER : CHANGE

PIN POSTER : Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, CSMVS

We would like to invite you to “Short Distances and Definite Places: A Brief Look at the Life and Work of William Gedney", the first event of the new exhibition that has just opened at the Jehangir Nicholson Gallery, CSMVS. Guest Curators Margaret Sartor and Shanay Jhaveri will do a walkthrough of the exhibition on the 14th of March at 6 pm, providing us with an overview of Gedney’s life and work.



Widely acclaimed as one of the key figures of American black and white street photography, Gedney’s work deserves to be shared with a wider audience especially the in-depth work he carried out in India. Gedney in India that has recently opened to the public as part of the Focus Photography Festival hopes to do just that.



Please do join us on the 14th of March at 6 pm. Tea will be served at 5.30 pm

 

PIN POSTER : Santiniketan : Kolkata

‘Living Lines at 360⁰’by Ashok Hinge Mumbai Artist

This series of paintings ‘Living Lines at 360⁰’ is an extension and elaboration of Ashok Hinge’s earlier series ‘Living Lines’. It is a thoughtful progress in the earlier developed concept of painting common man and society work.

The concept at 360⁰ is nothing but artist’s broadened experience of the world around him. It is a meticulous observation that has now intensified, with understanding and knowing the core nature, behavior, body language and approach of all types of people  in the society.

In the process of his observation and development of this concept he has simplified the human form, as he finds and states “We are nothing but geometric figures only”. This simplification also has profundity of each painted or sketched character. Importantly, he has sublimated his characters, and this is a splendid progress. Hinge’s paintings exemplify the similarity in character that can be found in different people wherever we go; just like the artist finds them around 360⁰. Paintings also create sensation in the viewers that at least one of them is based on their own character. The artist is projecting the sweat of people, through the dripping white colour to indicate hard work for success. Though this series, Hinge has showcased subjects like family bonding, gathering, celebration, union of friends & crowded market places which create rhythmic movements in the paintings. So the visual effects of the simplified images not only seem ‘attractive to the eyes’ but also ‘strikes the mind’. 

Recent work by Ashok Hinge- Mumbai

One more development that we see in this series is: the use of colours. Now, instead of restricting to painting and sketching black and white figures, the artist has experimented with various mediums, like - ink, acrylic and water colours.  He is instigated to use colours in this series because, with times, he has realized that every personality is unique in its behavior and approach and he has highlighted it through the use of colours to bring it to your notice. Every colour speaks of the body language and psyche of the character in each image. Even the crowd of people and their mental state can be read from the sketches and the colours used. Interestingly, black and white attracted our attention to the concept of common man in society and now the addition of colours makes us read the image as individual characters. 

Those who have been following Ashok Hinge and his creation would certainly feel the ‘Freudian instinct’ foraying in him.

The exhibition is not only going to be a visual treat but a speculation of an observational excursion of artist’s mind. Let us visit and get intellectually nourished by giving a thought to the manner in which the artist cultivates his idea and elegances in his paintings to make them more enthraling.

The exhibition will be held at

Nehru Centre Art Gallery (Circular) - Discovery Of India Building, Ground Floor, Dr. Annie Besant Road, Worli, Mumbai - 400018,

From: 7th March to 13th March 2017

Between: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m

Contact: 9930103369/ 9960586014

PIN POSTER : Nehru Centre Art Gallery : Mumbai

"Bombay Black" Clark House exhibition kalaghoda art festival jehangir Art gallery 7-12 February 2017

Bombay Black occurs around the time of the Kala Ghoda festival where the disappearance of a man mounted on a horse now calls for reason to have an art festival. The square is called Kala Ghoda, though the legendary back horse now lives in the quiet communes of the Bombay Zoo. The myth of the Black Horse instigates the idea of the city of Bombay and its relationship to the colour black , where through an exhibition we construct the many lines of aesthetic and social folklores that exist around colour.

curated by Sumesh Sharma and Yogesh Barve , Clark House Initiative . Exhibition Designer Sanjay Londhe