2010 Q1 - Magazine

As we enter a new decade one can’t help a feeling of apprehension, exactly what future are we heading towards. The Copenhagen Summit on climate change and global warming has done little but offer compromises and platitudes. As always, the environment takes a backseat to economic development. Not surprising seeing that we have witnessed probably the worst recession of our times, with the highest unemployment rates – who has time to think of slowing down when there are mouths to feed? Progress has taken its toll on the planet; we can only hope that the same progress will yield new, environment friendly technologies and soon! Little wonder then that in this issue of the magazine we decided to explore how environment friendly are the different mediums of producing art. We would like to wish all our readers peace and serenity through the coming year.


Art and the Environment








There will always be appreciation of good art - there will always be art critics who will discuss the composition, colour choice, brush work ... executed by an artist, but has anyone ever stopped to consider at what cost to the environment was the artwork created? These days when one speaks of environmental costs and tradeoffs, who is to measure the ‘carbon footprint’ of an artistic creation? There are many mediums and techniques of creating art but one wonders if the artist or the collector ever considered the environmental impact of the process and materials used in creation?


Looking on the bright side, let’s start with which art is definitely 100% environment friendly. In the Indian context one has to admit that tribal and traditional art are top contenders for the “Most Eco-friendly” award! These artworks are created by artists who have learnt over generations to live in harmony with nature and their art and the process of its creation reflects this understanding of sustainable living.



Most tribal artists use handmade cloth on which to paint which is itself made by using environment friendly techniques on hand powered looms. In the Warli tribal artform, the background colours are derived from red earth called ‘gerue’ or cow dung paste and they use rice paste as the white colour to create the artworks. Similarly in the case of traditional Indian art like Madhubani, Gond or Patachitra the artists use natural or vegetable dyes – the yellow is turmeric, the black is from the soot of lamps, the green is from crushed leaves...Even the instruments for paint application are natural elements like tree twigs or grass brushes. So if any leftover paint is washed away at the pond or river side, it is nothing more than, to paraphrase the bible, “dust to dust.”


When there is any form of industrial processing involved, there are bound to be some synthetic and chemical elements. Paints consist of three main components: Pigment gives it color; the binder or resin makes the pigment stick when the paint is applied and forms a solid layer of paint; and the carrier or solvent keeps the paint in liquid form and evaporates once the paint is exposed to air.



Other additives are sometimes used to thicken paint, plasticizers, antioxidants, fillers, wetting agents, retarders... the environmental and health impact of which have not been well researched. Preservatives used in paints are especially hazardous; those commonly used are paraformaldehyde or formalin, phenol, mercury compounds, bleach, and a host of commercial fungicides and pesticides.



Thus, while traditionally made watercolours would be considered environment friendly, the modern manufactured ones are not necessarily so. Traditionally, painters would manufacture their own water colours using natural ingredients like organic pigments, gum arabic, honey or corn syrup, white wheat starch, glycerine and water. Now, commercial considerations require that some natural ingredients like gum arabic (whose supply is erratic) are replaced with synthetic alternatives, also, to increase the shelf life of the paints fungicides and preservatives are added. Certain pigments like cadmiums are synthetically created. Also, the paints are packaged in plastic containers which are not environment friendly when disposed. Water based paints such as acrylic paints also contain chemicals such as glycol ethers and alcohols as the carrier. Oil paints contain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as the carrier as well as chemical dryers which may contain lead or manganese. None of which are environment friendly.



The process of print making, that is intaglio, would be considered high on the scale of environmentally detrimental art. The zinc plates used, the chemicals and acids used for etching, the inks used for dying...all contribute to harming the environment.



The top position of environment unfriendly art needs go to the art of photography. The development of photographic film requires the intensive use of chemicals which have a high biological oxygen demand. A bleaching agent commonly used in darkrooms is potassium ferricyanide which when poured down the drain decomposes to release cyanide gas!
The best way to ensure that art is as appealing to the environment as it is to aesthetics is for the artist to opt for environment friendly art supplies whenever possible.



For instance sustainability in art can be ensured by using recycled, handmade paper; using organic paints, digital photography, reusable plates and careful disposal of chemicals when making prints etc. Everyone needs to do their own bit for the environment and when art does so much for the emotional realm; should not the art community too do its bit for the physical realm?


~ Razvin Namdarian


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Snippets











London Art Fair


Head of a Muse by Raphael




The 22nd London Art Fair will open in January 2010. Over 100 art galleries will participate in it, presenting 20th century British art and contemporary art by established names and emerging artists. The Arts Projects section is considered the most exciting part of the fair displaying curated solo and group shows and large scale installations. Talks and discussions are all a part of the program. The top galleries from across the globe will be here to kick off the first art fair of the new decade.
Finally, there is a silver line of hope that the art market has finally turned the corner as far as the recession is concerned. This December, art auctions by both Sotheby’s and Christie’s have witnessed sales that have crossed the pre-sale estimates. At the Sotheby’s auction of contemporary art in Paris, out of the 27 lots only one remained unsold, that is, a ale percentage of 96%. Also, the auction raked in € 8 million compared to a pre-sale estimate of € 4.6 - € 6.4 million. At the Christie’s Old Masters auction, the “Head of a Muse,” a preparatory sketch by Raphael used for a fresco at the Vatican (which was estimated at a maximum $ 24 million) ended up going for £29,161,250 at Christies which is the highest price ever paid for any Old Master work, other than Pieter Paul Ruben’s “Massacre of the Innocents” which had sold for £49,506,648 at Sotheby’s in 2002.


Regular Features


Interesting exhibitions seen in the past

Artist in focus



The city has been flooded with exhibitions in the past few weeks. Here is the few which we found interesting…
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Interesting Feature
In each issue we will feature an interesting feature in our website. This will help you get more information and keep you updated. This time we make it easier for you...
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Artists who have associated with us in the past 3 months
Our family of artists has been growing rapidly over the past months. The following are the artists who have joined us in the past 3 months…
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Art Extract
This section of our newsletter is towards increasing the knowledge and understanding of art for the lay person. Here you will find terminology, techniques of art explained. This time we explore...
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bCA Forum-
HI! I recently came across one of your articles on the website – www.desicritics.com titled ‘Indian Nudes and Prudes’. I have to admit I found the title quite intriguing...
Read more…
Ramchandra Kharatmal


Ramchandra Kharatmal is the quintessential artist. He does his work without any consideration of awards, art market...the goal remains to improve on his skills and compositions, with the best work always being categorised as “the next one.” Besides, he is also very interested in ensuring that artists from his home state Maharashtra get due recognition and is collaborating on creating an encyclopaedia (for want of another word) on artists from this state that is home to the financial capital of India – Mumbai. We learn more of this humble and reticent artist in an interview with him
Read More…





Stop Press


Associated International artists show at Museum art Gallery
bCA Galleries while promoting Indian artists globally also presents the works of foreign (non-Indian) artists in India. Towards this, we are pleased to announce that ...
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Artist in Focus – Ramchandra Kharatmal








Ramchandra Kharatmal is the quintessential artist. He does his work without any consideration of awards, art market...the goal remains to improve on his skills and compositions, with the best work always being categorised as “the next one.” Besides, he is also very interested in ensuring that artists from his home state Maharashtra get due recognition and is collaborating on creating an encyclopaedia (for want of another word) on artists from this state that is home to the financial capital of India – Mumbai. We learn more of this humble and reticent artist in an interview with him.
At what age did you become interested in art?
There is no clear age or period in my memory that I can pin point. All I can say that when I starting understanding colours and paints was the time that I began my journey into the world of art. There was a teacher in my school, in a small town called Sholapur, Mr. Sunil Potdar, who recognised my interest and talent in the 5th grade and nurtured and encouraged me through school. In fact it was him who was also instrumental in convincing my family to allow me to take art as a profession.
Was your family against you becoming an artist?
Let’s say that my father was a typical middle class person whose ambition for his son was that I should become a graduate in some field and then take up a secure government job. My mother, on the other hand, liked to paint and was quite talented. She felt that I should figure out what I enjoy doing and make my career in that field.
Tell us about your journey towards becoming an artist?
Once I finished my 12th grade I joined a government college in Sholapur where I completed the basic and foundation courses in art. I didn’t know much about the profession and again turned to my school teacher for advise. He suggested that I do my art teacher’s course first because at least that would assure me of a job and stable income in future. I had to leave my family and home town as there was no further education in art available there. I studied to become an art teacher at Bharti Kala Mahavildylaya in Pune. However, on completing the course I felt that teaching was not for me. I decided to move to one of the bigger towns that offered a good art education, finally choosing to go to a private art college Kala Mahavidylaya in Satara. My father said he couldn’t afford to pay for my admission, but my mother, who would earn a small income from her home tailoring business paid for my admission fees. To pay for my fees and boarding I began to take on small freelance jobs such as calligraphy, book illustrations, painting banners etc. It was while in college that I met my mentor and guide Vijay Dhumal.
Has winning the national award made a difference to the way your art is perceived?
I think that winning a prestigious award brings you into the limelight. People are made aware of you and your art. Your name is recognised in the art field. The award did not change the way I work but it definitely made people aware of it and gave my work a certain validation – it is award worthy!
What do you convey through your art?
I feel every artist through his work presents his perception of reality. My paintings are the way I communicate with the world at large, they are my opinions on social issues, they are my reactions to events in my life, in a sense they can be termed autobiographical. For instance, I started working on the ‘Childhood series’ after my son was born and my paintings in this series are actually an overlay of my childhood intertwined with his. My art is a reflection of my life, which should be with every artist, creative people are sensitive to things around them and that comes forth in their work.
The quilt is an oft repeated motif in your works, why is that?
To the common man the quilt is a functional object, a tool to keep away the cold. I see at as the story and history of a family. In India the poor people make quilts by stitching together pieces from old clothing; so a quilt is a patchwork of the whole joint family – a scrap from a grandmother’s sari, a pocket from the father’s shirt, a piece from the new baby’s smock, a fragment of the mother’s blouse... and each piece of cloth bears memories of the occasion for which it was bought, where it was worn and it retains the essence of the wearer. The Indian quilt is an ode to the Indian joint family.
You also do portraits and commissioned artworks, how difficult or easy is it to deliver what the client imagines?
Commissioned works are always complicated. One has to understand the client’s thoughts, emotions and then execute something that is an idea in his mind through your skills. It becomes more difficult when the client is unable to communicate exactly what’s on their mind, when they say things like, “I know what I want but I don’t know how to tell you.” I have to sometimes resort to intuitive thinking and most often the result surpasses what the client has imagined – that is extremely satisfying for an artist.
As an artist based in Pune do you find it difficult to make your art known in the country or abroad? What advice would you give to artists in small towns?
The main problem occurs because as an artist one is constantly creating and thinking of what to do next. There is little scope for marketing activities. I do make time to surf the internet to gain knowledge of what is happening in the art world globally and update myself. The internet has truly made our world a smaller place. For artists living and working in other small towns the only advise I can give is to make sure that your art is exhibited in at least two exhibitions a year and one of those exhibitions should be in a main art centre like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore...This way you ensure that your art is recognised not just in your own home town but also nationally.
Tell us about the project concerning artist’s in Maharashtra you are working on.
It is actually a project that is the brainchild of the publishing company Vivek Prakashan. If you go to West Bengal you will find information available on artists working there, but no such glossary exists for artists in Maharashtra. The working title is ‘Chitrashilp Kosh’ which can be loosely translated to mean an ‘encyclopedia of artists and sculptors.’ They have basically demarcated the state into zones and cities from which the information is to be collected. I am responsible for Pune and Satara. I co-ordinate with the artists, and collect all the relevant information on them. How many people know that probably the very first art school in India – the Nana Padnis Art School was located in Pune in Shanwarwada? The book should be completed in the early half of 2010.
Where do you see yourself and your art 10 years from now?
Definitely 10 years from now also I will still be working as an artist. As to what form my art will take I cannot say. I have recently been practicing the art of miniature painting, possibly some elements of this may reflect in my work. I have many drawings ready for sculptures, possibly I may do those. One can never say where your creativity will take you.
~ Razvin Namdarian


Interesting Exhibitions seen in the past 3 months













Manu Parekh at Tao
Jamil Naqsh at Cymroza



Manu Parekh at Tao Contemporary Art Gallery
It is a rare treat when one gets to view an exhibition by an artist awarded the Padmashree, add to that an insightful curator like Ranjit Hoskote and a reputed gallery like Tao and you have the perfect combination for an art exhibition worth visiting. The paintings on view are selected from between the years 2004 – 2009 and are not a retrospective of the 70 year old artist’s work, but are sourced from the artist’s two series – Chant and Flowers from Heaven. Religious abstraction, symbols and colours have coalesced in his works as he portrays influences from cities of Benares, Vatican City and Jerusalem – the pinnacle points for their respective religions. He also draws inspiration from the meditative aspects of Tibetan Thangka paintings. His works are characterised by bursts of spontaneous energy. According to Ranjit Hoskote, curator of the exhibition, “in his work over the last five years, Manu has been working with the repetition of the chant as a pictorial device, while refining the hybrids of flower, organ and object that he has painted before, setting them in quite novel relationships of detail to scale.”
Jamil Naqsh at Cymroza
Cymroza Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of the works of famed Pakistani artist Jamil Naqsh in collaboration with the Nitanjali Art Gallery. Jamil Naqsh is regarded as Pakistan’s Modern Master. The current exhibition is a collection of works he has created over the years inspired by one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century – Pablo Picasso. Like Picasso, Naqsh too has a strong focus on ‘line’. Moreover his study of miniature painting under the master, Ustad Mohammed Sharif while he was in the National College of Art, Lahore is manifested in the attention to detail in his work. Pigeons are an oft repeated image in his works as for the artist they represent childhood memories of ‘pigeons strutting through the courtyard of his ancestral home and flying freely through the open windows.’ His works have an amazing play of shadow and light and the typical cubist style made famous by Picasso as well as a use of multiple limbs to give an impression of movement. His works which are on display are also presented in the form of a book which was released on the occasion by Mr. Harsh Goenka. In the book, the Jamil Naqsh is himself quoted as saying, “An artist needs to know everything, not just art, then only will he be a responsible artist.”
LaVA At Gallery BMB
Bose Krishnamachari dons many hats – artist, curator, gallerist and now one comes to know that he has also been a closet art collector. With over 600 artworks in his collection, he is now presenting his collection for public viewing in an exhibition called LaVA. Only 30 artworks will be on display from his collection which are not for sale and include such greats like Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol amongst the international artists. Indian artists represented here include, Riyas Komu, Sudarshan Shetty, Prajakta Palav and Yashwant Deshmukh.The exhibition is positioned as a travelling installation project. Comprising of 5,000 books, 1,400 DVDs and CDs most of which have been hand-picked from shops, streets, museums and galleries from major art capitals of the world. For 45 days, the gallery BMB will not make any sales and host this philanthropic project. As Bose himself says, “I am trying to make available, within my limitations, what I missed during my student years.” Incidentally, the very first work he purchased was by his art Professor Ingle, from JJ School of art who had had him rusticated!


Interesting Features- Art events









Art News is now Art Events at bCA Galleries art portal bNotes. This allows us to share with all our visitors details of not just exhibitions but also all art related events such as auctions, book launches and art fairs. We request all readers to submit any information they may have regarding art events to help us keep this section updated.
bCA Galleries presents a more user friendly way of viewing an artist’s artworks. Now on the artist’s webpage if you click on an image to enlarge it, you will find thumbnails of his other artworks displayed as well. You just need to click on any of the thumbnails to enlarge that image. Of course our ‘Zoom’ feature allows you to study all the minute details of the artworks as always.





Artists who have associated with us in the past 3 months








Our family of artists has been growing rapidly over the past months. The following are the artists who have joined us in the past 3 months


Avijit Roy
Deshaa Belani
Dnyaneshwar Jagadale
Indranil Banerjee
Jayshree Bhagwanani
JyotiRanjan Panigrahi
Mintu Deka
Paramesh Paul
Sudeep Mukherjee



The artists have been listed in alphabetical order.



Art Extract: Action Painting









The Abstract Expressionist movement gave rise to the art form dubbed Action Painting by art critic Harold Rosenberg. The thought behind this movement in art which gained precedence in the 1950’s was that the act of creating the art was equally if not more important than the final product itself. Jackson Pollack was one of the leading artists practicing action art and would dribble and splash paint onto the canvas. While his works were high in energy and drama, critics wondered how much of the final effect was due to chance rather than some pre-conceived composition of the artist. Other artist took to creating unusual styles of creating action paintings – the British artist William Green rode a bicycle over his canvases. Action art also gave rise to other art forms such as Spin art, where paint is first applied on a canvas or broad and then placed on a fast spinning platform. The artist then adds more paint as the painting spins, letting the centrifugal forces do the rest – the end result can never be pre-determined but creates a wonderful effect. Alfons Schilling was one of the first artists to be interested in spin art in the 1960’s. Many artists have tried to experiment with it, including Damien Hirst who created his first spin art series in the 1990’s. The other art forms such as installation, conceptual and performance art all are believed to have their roots in action art.






bCA Forum









HI! I recently came across one of your articles on the website – www.desicritics.com titled ‘Indian Nudes and Prudes’. I have to admit I found the title quite intriguing and decided to read through the article which presented the change in the attitude of India, from being one of revering the human form to that of shunning it completely in quite an interesting manner. Look forward to more such reads. – Ms. Hutokshi Patel






Stop Press








bCA Galleries while promoting Indian artists globally also presents the works of foreign (non-Indian) artists in India. Towards this, we are pleased to announce that Shola Carletti and Kazi Salahuddin Ahmed, two of the foreign artists we had proposed for the Artland show – Colours, have been selected to display their works. This is the first time that Artland is including the works of foreign artists in their annual show, which will be held at the Coomaraswamy Hall at the Mumbai Museum.