Rural painting, urban photography merge in unique 'Experimenter'

Rural painting, urban photography merge in unique 'Experimenter'

                                                                                    

IN A unique fusion of the urban and the indigenous folk an traditions, the Warli school of paintingsofan indigenous artisan in rural Maharasthra has been brought to metro art galleries.

A collaborative exercise between the tribal artist KajeshVangad from an adivasi coastal village Dahanu and Gauri Gil of Delhi. 'Ways of Seeing', brings alive the landscape viewed through the eyes of 50-something painter havingdrawn the lypical tribal motifsincluding animals in his inimitable style chiselled through generations and captured through the lens of Gill.

"In this unique bond, you might christen it as jugalbandi between two artistes as in the domain of music. And I guess I could translate his indigenous art form or customise it for the urban audience," Gill, whose 'Experimenter* has taken this initiative.explained. Bringing together two apparently disparate drawings the two complimented each other. Gill said.

"This is a unique art form called photo-painting aimed al bringing tribal art, a distinct tradition thriving for centuries, in the polished form freezed through lenses, Gill said.

"Though he can't speak in Knglish. but in local dialect and Hindi. Whenever we took our exhibition abroad as well as in Indian metros, hislanguage and my language merged at one point. We started collaborating when I first met him two years back during one of my countless sojourns to India's heartland and we bonded instantly," Gill said recalling her first tryst with Vangad.

"In his art forms he revisits his own places, the rivers, his school where he studied upto class-V.thcdomesticanimalsand I only photographed the same and shroud it with the veneer of modernity," Gill said.

"Vangad reasoned hegot perhaps more than he lost despite leavingstudied at an early age as he could execute the welled up thoughts through paintings instead of words.

"Any rural painting, be it in Santhal Parganas or Worli or faraway Africa, has a distinct connect like music," he said.

Posted in: News 2014