FROM EDITOR'S DESK

This is the Eight Issue of "ART ECHO"(an organ of Shilpangan).

All the outset we express our deepsorrow as Mukunda Devnath , the legendaryArt Teacher of Barak Valley has breathed hislast. We all bow our head in his memory. Hewas a great art organiser and lover ofhumanity. He could create the atmospherethrough his devotion that one could passone's lifetime as Art faculty in this valley also.

We also show our respect to thememory of Prakash Karmakar, the greatartist of this Era.

We have published different articles onvisual art in this issue also. Moreover, wehave published writing from abroad. We arehappy to declare that we have received therelated INTERNATIONAL STANDARD SERIALNUMBER (ISSN) which we will quote fromthis issue onwards . We renew our vow tostick to our goal again.

We always welcome the valuedsuggestions of our patrons .

Let all be happy.

Yves Klein

Born : 28 April1928Nice, FranceDied : 6 June1962 (aged 34)Paris, FranceNationality :

FrenchField : Painting,

Performance artMovement : Nouveau RalismeWorks : IKB 191 (1962)Monotone : Symphony (1949)"The essential of painting is that something,that 'ethereal glue,' that intermediaryproduct which the artist secrets with all hiscreative being and which he has the powerto place, to encrust, to impregnate into thepictorial stuff of the painting." -

Yves Klein

CONTRIBUTORSRahul Bhattacharjee, is a Delhi based art criticsand writer.Raj Kumar Mazinder, is an Assistant Professor,Department of Visual Arts, Assam University,Silchar.Dr. Nirmal Kanti Roy, H.O.D Department of VisualArts, Assam University, Silchar.Sumeet K. Chaudhary, an independent art critic,artist and writer based in Baroda Gujarat.Rollie Mukherjee, is Desire paths publishers,Vadodara (Baroda) based Independent artist-critic-poet-research editor.Dr. Ayiriddhi Bhattacharjee, is an AssistantProfessor, Department of Mass Communication,Assam University, Silchar.Abhibrata Chakrabarty, is an Assistant Professor,Department of Visual Arts, Assam University,Silchar.Kumar Ajit Dutta, is a Guwahati based art criticsand writer.Rajiv Banik, is Silchar based researcher andfreelance Writer.Jhimli Nath, is Silchar based freelance Writer.

Cover ArtistVinita Dasgupta

Ramkinkar speaking on his Lalit Kala award receiving ceremony ay

Nandan, Viswa Bharati University. From left Dinkar Kaushik, Shankho

Chowdhuri, Ram Niwas Mirdha, Ramkinkar Baij and Surajit Sinha

Infrequent Photo

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Chief AdvisorProf. Tapodhir BhattacharjeeEx-Vice Chancellor, Assam University, Silchar

AdvisorDr. Nirmal Kanti RoyDr. Meghali GoswamiRajkumar MazindarDr. Ganesh Nandi

Publisher & PrinterSandipan Dutta Purkayastha+91-9864374011, 9401236225

EditorTapojyoti Bhattacharjee+91-9435503475

Contributing EditorDhaneswar Shah (New Delhi)Kumar Ajit Dutta (Guwahati)Ashok Barma (Silchar)

Managing EditorSanjay De

Cover DesignKanika Chanda

Asstt. EditorPinak Pani Nath

Creative & ProductionMithun Paul+91-9401140888

Marketing & AdvertisingAnanta Das+91-9854145448Binay PaulJoydeep Bhattacharjee

PhotographerArup Mazumder

Silchar CorrespondentAnurupa Bhattacharjee

Karimganj CorrespondentManas Bhattacharjee

Art Echo Office Address :Mahaprabhu Colony (Sri Gauranga Pally)Malugram, Silchar - 2District - Cachar, Assam

Ph. No. : +91-9864374011, 9401236225, 03842-262178 (O)Fax : 03842-262125, e-mail :artechoshilpangan@gmail.com

Copyrights of the articles belong to the respectiveauthors. All the views expressed in the writings areof the respective authors. The publication does notnecessarily subscribe to the views expressed bythe contributors.

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OBITUARYThe Legendary Artist and Mentor MukundaDebnath : the Torch Bearer of Barak ValleyDr. Nirmal Kanti Roy 1

OBITUARYProkash KarmakarArt Echo Correspondent 3

Vinita Dasgupta Re-tellinga story tellerRahul Bhattacharjee 4

Contemporary scenario ofFilm Art Practices in Assam : A Brief OverviewRaj Kumar Mazinder 6

Comic-Culture in IndiaRajiv Banik 12

Site Where Art Awakes : 3rd Regional ArtWorkshop' 2014 at SilcharAbhibrata Chakrabarty 14

Face To FaceRollie Mukherjee 17

x ~ !e!#%y x! _ 21

A review of the show - (In) to the middle of the"stories"Sumeet K. Chaudhary 25

Suchitra Sen: the mystique 'mahanayika'...Dr. Ayiriddhi Bhattacharjee 28

Barak Art Fair - 2014Jhimli Nath 30

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The Legendary Artist and Mentor Mukunda Debnath :the Torch Bearer of Barak Valley

Dr. Nirmal Kanti Roy

It was probably a Sunday afternoon in the mid eighties,when I saw him for the first time at the Government Girls HigherSecondary School, Silchar. It was an annual art exhibition ofThe Fine Arts Academy, Silchar and he was the principal of thatinstitution. He was instructing the students and they werelistening to him attentively. At first I did not notice too much abouthim but found him very dynamic and motivating. I was a regularvisitor of the Academi's annual art exhibition and used to admiretheir exhibits a lot.

My first interaction with him was, when I approached himto learn fine arts. From there my journey towards art startedand he became my mentor and inspiration in the field of creativity.

My visit to his house as a student gave me an opportunityto see him as a persona rather than artist. He was a man ofdiscipline, hard work and dedication. Apart from the teacher student relation, he was veryfriendly with his students, but at the same time never compromise with his ethics and moralvalues of teaching. He was a versatile artist, who was equally master in various aspects of finearts such as painting, sculpture, design, print making etc.

As a student of Kala Bhavana at Santiniketan, he got the opportunity to study under thelegendary artist like Nandalal Bose, Ramkinkar Beij and Binode Bihari Mukherjee. He was verycreative and dynamic in nature.

Apart from painting he also excelled in the making of sculptural pieces. He created someexcellent sculptures which were expressionist in character. Being a student of Ramkinkar Baij

he was highly influenced by him which was reflected in hissculptures.

As Kala Bhavana itself was established by the concept andthe philosophy of Rabindranath Tagore, therefore his stay atSantiniketan allowed him to come across an ambience which wasnot there in Barak Valley at that time. So, he came back with apositive attitude to start an institution with the notion of KalaBhavana. Thus in 1977, under his dynamic leaderships and effortThe Fine Arts Academy was established in Silchar. He was thepioneer and architect of art education in Barak Valley. He sacrificedhis personal career and dedicated himself to developed arteducation of this valley.

As a teacher he was very strict and could not compromise inquality and sincerity. He was aware about the weakness of eachindividual student and tried to solve their problem in different wayand that was his uniqueness as a teacher. He used to say that " Iwant my students to earn more name and fame than me and thatwill be my success ".He used to work along with the students togive them motivation and encouragement in the true sense. Hehad his own style of painting or Gharana . His signature style reflects

OB I T U AR Y

1

amongst his disciples till date. Most of his students are now well established in different part ofthe country.

In The Fine Arts Academy, the art history classes were given equal importance. He had agood collection of rare books on art. At that time the syllabus of Baroda and Santiniketan weretaken as reference and a combination of both were finalised as a syllabus for the institute. Twoother members of the institute, Shyamalendu Chakraborty and Tribeni Prasad Chakrabortywere also involved in the process of preparation of syllabus for The Fine Arts Academy. Lateron both of them used to take theory classes while practical classed were conducted my MukundaDebnath. Within a few years The Fine Arts Academy flourished as a temple of creative exposurein the entire valley under the true leadership of Mukunda Debnath.

Mukunda Debnath wanted to amalgamate the art of literature, performance and fine artstogether to give a new dimension because his thought was very contemporary and innovative.He had keen interest in Indian classical music and drama. He had an important contribution inthe field of Drama in Barak Valley. He introduced the culture of Set Design for drama at Silcharand created some remarkable drama sets.

The contribution of Mukunda Debnath in the field of printing cannot be ignored. Heintroduced designing logo and book cover for various organizations. In the time when printingwas not developed in Barak Valley, he initiated in producing logo and book cover for printing.He used his own technique of lino cut and wood cut for making logos and drawings for printing.It was a very pain staking job and most of them were done for the voluntary perpose. It's allbecause of his patience and interest in art he used to do that. In his initial career he did anumber of commercial art as well. According to him, "a perfect artist must know all forms ofvisual arts".

Like a bee, who collect nectar from the flowers and the result is the growth of multipleflowers. So, Mukunda Debnath as like bee, was a catalyst who for the first time sawed theseed and thus a giant tree is seen today. The tree of his effort is now having a multiple numberof branches which are the present art institutions of Barak Valley.

He will always remain immortal with all his achievements and contributions: an artistintensely involve in a silent quest for self as well as region's identity.

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PROKASH

KARMAKAR

Art Echo Correspondent

The painting fraternity mourned the death of eminentpainter Prokash Karmakar, who was passed away on 24February 2014 Monday following age-related illness at theage of 81.

One of the most original and outstanding painters ofcontemporary India, Prokash Karmakar confirms in hisworks the rich inheritance of Indian art and the dynamicspirit of the modern age. Born in Calcutta in 1933 he haslived through wars, famine, communal riots, and partition, and his powerful brush has caughtthe anguished search of his age for meaning and direction in bold lines and rich colour.Influenced by the works of Picasso and the classic impressionists .His magnificent distortionsoffer a profound insight into the hidden matrix of experience.

Prokash's father Prohlad Karmakar, a pioneer of modern printing in India, died earlyleaving Prokash to fend for himself. Prokash had a hard life in his boyhood and youth - hefound shelter in station platforms, city parks, brothels and pavements - and all this experienceenriched his creative imagination. In spirit he remain a bohemian whose head is warms andgenerous but whose head in unbowed to any authority.

In 1968 Prokash get an Academy Award of a Fellowship which took him to Paris to studythe Master Painters Creations and other great country of artistic activity in Europe. He graduallyachieved in his style a rich and original aesthetic fusion from Eastern and Western art whileretaining in every on his strokes the authentic stamp of his individuality. He has exhibited ininnumerable solo and group shows. His paintings have been acquired for their collection bythe Modern Art Gallery, New Delhi, Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Calcutta, RabindraBharati University, Calcutta, Allahavad Museum, Allahabad, U.P., Lalit Kala Akademi, Lucknow,

U.P., Art Heritage of India, New Delhi, andby many governments and privatecollections throughout the world.

He is one of the most powerful artistin India. His landscapes are unparalleled.It has the true essence of India, and atthe same time very modern. His figureshis lines, bold distortions are simplymagnificent. He himself is now anInstitution and many young contemporarypainters are following his path.

He will be a source of inspiration forall those interested in art and culture andhis death leaves a void in the world of artand creativity.

O B I T U A R Y

3

Vinita Dasgupta Re-tell ing

a story teller

RAHUL BHATTACHARJEE

The early works of the artist reveal a deep lovefor expressing an autobiographical narrative. Oftenusing portraits, she created metaphors of herself andher realization of womanhood. Even at that point onecan locate an attraction towards popular culture.Thus it was not surprising that her work has focusedon fashion, cinema and popular icons. However, overa period one could notice many changes in terms ofmedium, style and technique. Her natural flair istowards a modernist gestural approach to figuration,but possibly the artist felt that that style came tooeasily for her. In an effort to challenge herself,Dasgupta began a journey into a more controlledtechnique, and began to introduce variouscompositional elements in her works. As the artistwas going through a re-visitation of her personalunderstanding of style and technique, she also became more interested in telling storiesabout the world and her social empathies and engagements

Yet the search continued, she discovered that to work with popular imagery she neededto re-present them with greater conceptual layering. The gestural modernist within her canonly be deconstructed through a practice connected with tradition and discipline. Her (re)discovery of Raghurajpur folk painting tradition finally leads to this search finding a restingplace from where she can explore future directions. How do craft, storytelling and meditativepractice become carriers of contemporary concepts? This body of work 'The Story Tellers'marks an important turning point in her journey, specially reflecting a sustained engagementwith technique, inspiration and concept.

Odisha has been a part of the artist's childhood, and that nostalgia has played an importantrole in Dasgupta being able to culturally respond to it's artistic tradition. The Raghurajpur folkpainting tradition also offered her a different access to the 'popular', a 'popular' that wasdeeply entrenched in a disciplined and controlled approach to art. This art making is robust,colorful and yet deeply in dialogue with the culture of contemporaneity. The philosophy ofcraftsmanship attracted her deeply along with its notions of detailing, precision and the'handmade'. Moreover, Raghurajpur offered her an escape from the noise of mainstreampopular culture as well as an alternative understanding of the narrative possibilities of artmaking. Since her (re) visit to Raghurajpur about three years ago, newer pictorial style andartistic practice slowly began to find space in her works. Initially it was just motifs coming intothe borders of her paintings depicting Bollywood and popular personalities...and slowly itentered deep, deep into the artwork itself.

C O V E R S T O R Y

4

Anjali Ela

Menon at

Art Konsult

Gallerys

Solo Booth

of Vinita

Dasgupta.

The encounter with Raghurajpur did not lead her throw away her personal love for theurban popular traditions, instead what resulted is a complex layering of both. Takingphotographs of the Raghurajpur paintings, the artist painstakingly makes numerous canvasrolls and uses them to make portraits of painters, performers and story tellers to make herworld. Paint is given at a final layer of detailing that helps the artist to develop a language thatchallenges the boundaries of painting. This merging of boundaries makes her a child ofpostmodern eclecticism and also gives her meditative therapy of craftmanship that her soulhas been looking for.

Apart from the artist's natural flair for figuration and an ability to strike a chord withportraiture, what makes her current body of works significant is the possibilities of enquiriesthat they open and the complex layering of folk and urban they embody. This layering of folkand urban also mirrors the zone between art and craft that mark the physicality of her works.The inspiration behind these rolls has been earrings she discovered where in Coke andFanta cans were cut and rolled. This dismembering and creation of a new identity opened upthe possibilities for Dasgupta to assimilate the Raghurajpur paintings into her works and yetmask them. Over the last two years apart from the painters and performers of Raghurajpur,other prominent personalities have come in her artworks...almost as a continuation of herearlier subject matter. However even though sometimes these popular mainstream iconsenter her work, their representation has completely changed. There is a fragmentation andrealignment that happens, this breaks their iconicity and positions them within the vulnerabilityof popular storytelling.

As she moves deeper into understanding and practicing this direction in her practice,she is also beginning to realize that within this idiom there is a great possibility of conceptualfine-tuning and experimentation. These works have captured the imagination of viewers, yetthe artist is looking for more, eager to walk a tightrope between making her practice moredeeply personal, and universal. The journey is to entrench her works deep into the dialog ofcontemporary, yet go deeper into her love for craft and the handmade. The Storytellers isstanding on the edge, rooted and yet ready to take off.

Anjali Ela

Menon at

Art Konsult

Gallerys

Solo Booth

of Vinita

Dasgupta.Vinita Dasguptas works on Display at India Art Fare - 2014.

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Contemporary scenario ofFilm Art Practices in Assam : A Brief Overview(In the context of shorter version and innovative exploration of New-media)RAJ KUMAR MAZINDER

Film is a series of still or moving images.Synonym with Film, the word 'Cinema' is the Latinspelling of the Greek word (Kinema) of kinetic,meaning 'a motion' (as according towww.wikipedia.com , 5.9.2011). It is producedby recording photographic images with camerasor creating by using animation techniques orvisual effects. The process of filmmaking hasdeveloped an art form and industry. In general,film is an object of art, a commodity for sale anda technological as well as social and culturalproduct. It is therefore, necessary to pay equalattention to understand a film at a deeper levelof intellectual apprehension. At same time, like old visual arts (i.e. traditional painting, sculpture,etc), it is not a passive reflection of society, but active participant in the broad historicalcontext and social issues. As quoting from the book entitled 'The Story of Film' by MarkCousins from his conclusion chapter; "The digitization of the film process, which began properlyin the early 1990s, is more than a trickle now. The most striking comments about this comefrom film editor, director and sound designer Walter Murch in a New York Times article,"Digital Cinema of the Mind". He compared film at the beginning of the twenty-first century topainting in the Renaissance and early modern period. In moving from painting frescoes usingpigment in wet plaster to painting in oils on canvas, artists went from an expensive, collaborativeprocess requiring patronage and dedicated to "public" subjects, to a cheap, individual processdepicting more personal situations and themes. So it is with film, Murch argued. The slowdigital revolution opens the doors to what Dogme called 'the ultimate democratization ofcinema'." 1

During the 1960 the development of the new technologies of video produced the mediaart experiments of Nan June Paik, Wolf Vostell and A. Michael Noll and multi-media-performances of Fluxus. Video art is named after the video tape which was most commonlyin the form's early years, but before that artists had already been working on films, and withchanges in technology Hard disk, CD-ROM, DVD and solid state are superseding the videotape as the carrier. One of the key differences between video art and theatrical cinema is thatvideo art does not necessarily rely on many of the conventions that define theatrical cinema.Video may not employ the use of actors may contain no dialogue, may have no dissemblenarrative or plot or adhere to any other conventions that generally define motion pictures asentertainment, because it delineates video art not only from cinema but also from his distinctionis important, but also from the sub-categories where those definitions may become muddy(as in the case of avant garde cinema or short film). Video art's intentions are varied fromexploring the boundaries of the medium itself to rigorously attacking the viewer's expectations

F E A T U R E

'Joymoti', 1935, Jyotiprasad Agarwala

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of video as shaped by conventional cinema. At the end of 1980s the development of computergraphics, combined with real time technologies then in the 1990s with the spreading of theweb and the internet favored the emerging of new and various forms of interactivity.

Video art practices in India, has arrived in reality rather late on the global art scenario.The video artscape abroad is quite different. Though it was in the mid 60s that artists firststarted using video, it took more than thirty years before smaller projector models wereintroduced in the consumer market. This fascinated a break through vis--vis video, exhibitionsand the so-called 'new media arts' so much so, that today, any international exhibition withoutprojectors and monitors is almost unthinkable taken with the process of Global isolation thattook the art world by storm in the ' 90s. It is not surprising that more and more video worksfrom non western countries have found their way in curate shows in the west.

Browsing through the coffee table book,video art in India (2003), Published by ApeejayPress, one tends to get the impression that Indianvideo art has substantial visibility within India. Thebook gives the impression that this relatively new artform has conquered a place next to painting andsculpture for which there are booming markets atthat time. John Pijnappel's essay at thebeginning of the publication takes thereader through the works of the foremostpractitioners of the first generation such as NaliniMalani, Novjot, Rummana Hussain, VivanSundaram, Ranabir Kaleka, Amar Kanwar,B.V.Suresh as well as through the works of theartists of the younger generation, including thelikes of Sharmila Samant, Archana Hande, ShilpaGupta, Subodh Gupta, Kiran subbiah, SoniaKhurana and many more.2

In the time of Political upheavals and dramaticsocial changes, artists are known to probe newmaterials and forms to somehow reflect whatsociety is experiencing. Video has become themedium par excellence to tell the story of our times. Therefore great post-modern writerUmberto Eco remarks- "We are beautiful like the Acropolis or Parthenon, but we are basedon concrete technology and deceit." Political and social engagement and the creative use oftechnology are some of the defining features of these art works. Again GulammohammedSheikh, the well-known artist and art historian told, "We are in a situation where we have tobe political". Video art showcasing cultural resistance has been supported by many NGOs.Since the early'90s, artists used footage taken from works by documentary filmmakers likeMadhushree Dutta and Anand Patwardhan, who very generously gave free footage to supportvideo art experiments.

(Goswami, Borah, Barbaruah: 2012) stress, "North-east India, is flooding with visionaryfilmmakers; who, on almost zero support and budget, are being able to make mark forthemselves at various film festivals, both in India and abroad. Bagging National awards andentries to national and international film festivals, it seems the game has just begun. This iswhole new breed of filmmakers from the region, which has defined all odds and journeyed

'Debdas', 1935, Pramathesh Barua

7

afar, to voice social concerns that need attention." 3Before discussing on film making in Assam, it is worth to mention few lines about film of

neighboring Manipur, where negligence and terrorism hit ambiance, as a whole can be seenas prime content in present days. Following the pathway of legendary writer, sculptor andfilm activist Late Binodini Devi, eminent film-maker Aribam Shyam Sharma and also as beingsimply frustrated with the way things are, in their home state Manipur, a young band of film-makers has been come out and taking serious attention towards filmmaking.

Borun Thokchom, Chandan Netraj, Saikhom Ratan, R k Suresh, Dominic MegamSangma, are few names who able to carve niches with their low budget short films, againsteveryday conversion of box office commercials and main stream big budget cinema. Despitethe lukewarm response meted out to it and lack of proper platform for screening, their shortfilm is making a remarkable breakthrough in recent times. As noted filmmaker , writer (Vohra;2012) narrates, "In the last few years several people are making independent films, makingthe styles, languages, forms, concerns and themes incredibly diverse and increasingly uniqueto different cultural contexts. It's very exciting that there are more and more voices emergingand flourishing from states in the Northeast. As these films and filmmakers become betterknown, it would be important that we know them by name, as filmmakers and by specifies oftheir location- Aizawal, Guwahati, Garo Hills- and not just the homogenizing term North-east.This move towards heterogeneity is the one of art's greatest contributions to cultural life."4Worth mention that the first edition of Imphal International Short Film Festival (IISFF) heldduring April 15-18th, 2012, at local Rupmahal Theatre concluded with the screening of 15International and 29 Regional films.

As noted film director and critic from Assam ( Mazid: 1998) narrates about beginning ofcinema in Assam, "Film history began in Assam in the twenties of twentieth century when theGuwahatians had the novel experience in witnessing silent movie pictures instituted by aSouth Indian, namely Menon. People who came from village in connection with business orto attend court were his main customers. The name of the make shift cinema hall was KamrupCinema. Mostly Mc Sennet and Caplin films were flashed on the screen. In course of time withthe advent of the talkies, Kamrup Cinema faded out and Menon left Assam for good. It wasJyotiprasad Agarwala (1901-51), a gifted poet, musician and artist who become the pioneer inproducing the very first talkie of Assamese film, 'Joymoti' during the year 1935. Assam is oneof the few places from which no silent film produced. Film is a medium imported from the Westand Jyotiprasad virtually introduced the medium lifted directly from Germany." 5

Joymoti was perhaps destined to fail, for there was hardly any theatre in Assam of thosedays to screen films, but Jyotiprasad, a poet-playwright-novelist-musician-freedom fighterwho is called Assam's foremost cultural icon for more reasons than one, had perhaps wasmore intent in creating a film culture than just a commercial venture. Which is why he did notjust go ahead and make a film - he first got himself trained in filmmaking at the UFA Studiosin Germany with Franz Osten and Himanshu Rai, and then established a makeshift studio inhis family-owned Bholaguri tea estate on the north bank of Brahmaputra to shoot the film.

Assam recently officially celebrated the Platinum Jubilee of that first step by Jyotiprasad,which, in other words, was the 75th anniversary of cinema in not only Assam but the entireNorth-East India. The celebrations were, however, low key, confined to one cultural eveningcoinciding with the state film awards ceremony on March 10 followed by a festival of some ofthe most-acclaimed old and recent films at one single theatre in Guwahati. Perhaps themood was made sombre - even if unintentionally - by the fact that Assam's filmmakers in

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recent years have been facing an almost similar predicament as Jyotiprasad did 75 yearsago - there is a dearth of theatres to screen their films.

Assam's contribution to the film world beyond has also been significant with PramatheshBarua, a contemporary of Jyotiprasad and a scion of the royal family of Gauripur, a smallerstwhile princely state in western Assam, being the most prominent. The people in the"industry", if one may call it that just for the sake of argument, even though in reality it is morea passion for cinema that drives a bunch of people to indulge in filmmaking, are debatingways to get the local cinema out of the rut, back to what was once a relatively healthiersituation in the 1970s and 1980s, when filmmakers could hope to not only regain theirinvestments but also probably make some profit to start their next venture.

But the lack of commerce has been made up many times over by the national andinternational laurels that some of the state's filmmakers have brought in over the years,particularly starting from the second half of the 1970s, even as the typical masala film or thefamily tearjerker made news at the local Box Office now and then. If Piyali Phukan (1955) byPhani Sarma was the first film from Assam to earn plaudits outside, winning a Certificate ofMerit in the National Film Awards of India, in 1959 Puberun by Prabhat Mukherjee was thefirst film from Assam to be screened at an international film festival, in its case Berlin.

(Barpujari: 2010) describes as, "Dada Saheb Phalke Award winning singer-lyricist-composer Bhupen Hazarika, mentored as a child by Jyotiprasad Himself, was one of the keycontributors to Assamese cinema too, making films like Era Bator Sur (The Tune of theDeserted Path), Pratidhwani (The Echo), Latighatiand Chikmik Bijuli. But it was in 1976 whenPadum Barua made Ganga Chilanir Pakhi, giving a new direction to Assamese cinema.Barua's only film, it was the first film after Joymoti to give a realistic treatment to the subject,eschewing melodrama and presenting a story reflecting the society in rural Assam. The nextyear saw the emergence of Bhabendra Nath Saikia through Sandhyarag, based on his ownnovel. The film attracted the attention of the world beyond to Assamese cinema. Saikia, aphysics professor-writer-playwright-director, made a mark internationally through his simply-told stories in Anirbaan, Agnisnaan, Kolahal, Sarathi, Abartan, Itihaas and Kaalsandhya." 6

If Saikia provided the spark, Jahnu Barua fired Assamese cinema to greater heights.This FTII-trained filmmaker started off with Aparoopa and its little-known Hindi version Apekshain 1982, and went to highly-acclaimed films such as Papori, Banani, Pokhi, Kuhkhal andKonikar Ramdhenu. His Halodhiya Choraye Baodhan Khai (The Catastrophe) and HkhagoroloiBohu Door (It's a Long Way to the Sea) won a host of top international and national awards.Following his footsteps, a host of filmmakers emerged, tackling diverse subjects in a realistictone, some of whom are Gautam Bora, who made the outstanding Wosobipo (1989) in theKarbi language, Sanjeev Hazarika (Haladhar andMeemanxa), Santwana Bardoloi (Adajya),Bidyut Chakraborty (Rag Birag), Bodo filmmaker Jwndao Bodosa (Alayaran, HagramayoJinahari) Manju Borah (Baibhav, Akashitorar Kothare, Aai Kot Nai) and Sanjib Sabhapandit(Juye Poora Xoon, Jatinga Ityadi). In this regard, Gauhati Cine Club (Estd. 1965), Forum forbetter cinma, Anwesa, Assam cine arts society (ACAS), Bikshon (Silchar) are few names oforganisation within Assam who really has been laudable jobs as creating atmosphere forviewing good films from all over of our country and abroad.

In our state Assam, since 1980s, some film enthusiastic personalities, aftertaking initial training from renowned film- institute of Pune, Kolkata, Guwahati and also otherpart of the globe as Berlin; has been able carved a niche in terms non feature film movementin India with their low budget short and documentary film making. Jahnu Baruah, Gautom

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Bora, Mouli Senapati, Jhang deo Bodosa, Pinky Brahma Choudhury, Abhijit Das, Aparaj,Moni Bhattacharya, W Dorendra Singh are few names who takes over the whole generationnot only with their talents, enthusiasm, mastery on film- craft but also along with theirintellectually sound laudable works. Along with them, Altaf Mazid, Gautam Saikia, BiswajeetSeal, Sandipon Bhattacharjee,Soumitra Adhikari as being self taught film makers, madesome wonderful short films, touching the core of some vital themes within our state Assam ason human bond, eminent personalities, man animal conflict, natural disaster etc. Remarkably,with his short films as'Jiban', 'Lakhtokiat gulam', 'Bhal khabor','Boliya pitair sohoki sotal', AltafMazid has carved the niche both national and international arena, depicting sensitive portrayalof local multiplicities along with universal plead.

As avant-garde, new generation of film-maker, video artist, alumni of National Instituteof Design, Ahmedabad and participant of famed Khoj residency, Mriganka Madhukallya andSonal Jain's joint initiative 'Desire machine' has been done several video works andexperimenting it conceptually with various burning issues in the backdrop of violence- tornNorth-eastern States. Video work 'Daily check up', duration 8 minutes by Desire Machinecollective made as part of Khoj residency2005. The video looks at the politics of rememberingwithout excluding for forgetting. The hierarchy between memories and real events is dissolved.The collective memory of people is as a reflection that runs from the personal to political. Thememory of intimate bodily violence experienced everyday in the Northeast India, of a regionof imposed geographies pushed into periphery of a nation's imagination.

Worth to mention that, Khoj residency of Guwahati chapter has been organized by themin Guwahati at a ship in the river bank of mighty 'Brahmaputra' called 'Periphery' since fewyears. This year they had been praised for prestigious Venice Biennale participation asrepresenting India along with their video works. A comprehensive observer Shake Shackremarks on a particular film by Desire Machine collective as obnoxious characterization inthis juncture, "I just went to the Guggenheim to see Desire Machine Collective's film Residue,2009, full of slow-motion pans through an abandoned factory in India as weeds and decaytake over. I'd seen part of it when Stephanie's family was visiting. What drew me back was itssound design, which is like Philip Jeck jamming with Aaron Dilloway - damaged vinyl cracklejuxtaposed with deep sub-bass moans and Buddhist throat-singing. It's cool and I definitelyrecommend it if you're not crowd-averse."

'Adda', an initiative of yearly short film festival has been organized in the street ofGuwahati city and also few small towns of Assam since few years. Noted litterateur SouravKumar Chaliha describes his experience of 'Adda'(means gossip) Short Film Festival in hiswriting entitled "A viewer's Impression",

"The basket of short films prepared for 'Adda' would seem to fall into two broad categories:" Films with a story-line (e.g. The Reflection), and" Films with no recognizable story-line (through perhaps with some underlying theme,

e.g. Do the Dew, Architecture.Rose)Not all can pretend to understanding or enjoying the second variety, but what strikes the

viewer about both of these types is that there is nothing casual or slipshod about them.Nowhere is there any attempt to cut corners and finish the film somehow or other and bedone with it (unlike many of our so-called mainstream or commercial film). One can see thata good deal or thought has gone into them, and that the young directors (and their associates)have taken great care to present audio-visually what they have in mind. An attitude that is

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eminently laudable." 7In recent years, thus a group of group film-makers and cine artists has been emerged

promising future generation as Anshuman Barkakoti, Sasanka Das, Dip Choudhury, UtpalChoudhury, Biswajit Changmai, Jhulan Krishna Mahanta,Dipnkar Sarkar, Suroj Duwara,Anubhav Mahanta, Bonti Bora, Deep Kamal Gogoi, Tinat Atifa Masod, Merjur Rahman Baruahas received the commonwealth vision award2006 for his film "Beyond the Zero Line" fromthe Royal commonwealth Society, United Kingdom and Best Director's Award at the HyderabadInternational Film Festival 08 for his film "Shifting Prophecy". For the same film he has receivedRajat Kamal for best film on Social issue in the 55th National Award 09.

Jayanta Bhattacharjee and Monoj Chakraborty are those few artists from painting andsculpture background respectively, engaged in experimenting with video art in this part of thecountry.

According to Garo film maker Dominic, "If making a feature film is writing poetry, thenshort film making is writing Haiku. Both the category demands specific crafts. It's just that theshort film is still in its fancy; it still needs to grow, develop and mature." For rather newergeneration, the option of using short film presented itself as a budget saving digital technology."We, who believe in digital technology, never stop thinking towards a production of film inother format and the best part is that it is a total success among viewers." 8

In this juncture government, non-governmental agency, corporate bodies and above allviewers/ public has to be really responsive to take special attention, nourishment, also properinitiative towards these film makers in this troubled torn part of our country.

References :1. Cousins, Mark, 'The Story of Film', Pavilion,2008, p. 4912. Pijnappel, J, 'Video art in India', Apeejay Press, New Delhi, 2003, p. 233. Goswami, P, Borah, M, Barbaruah, A, 'Get shortly Voicing concerns against conflict', eclectic

Times, May, 2012, p. 364. Ibid. 3, p. 415. Mazid, A, 'Sixty years of cinema from Assam Close up of the socio-political image', seminar on

"North East through the eyes of the film directors and film critics", Deep Focus, Vimochana &Bangalore Film society at Bangalore, 8th September, 1996, p. 1

6. Barpujari, U, "Assamese Cinema: 75 well- traversed years", Deccan Herald, 04.04.2010. p. II7. Chaliha, S K, journal of Adda film festival, Guwahati, 20068. Ibid.3, p. 409. www.wikipedia.com 5.9.201110. www.Altaf Mazid blog

(Courtesy to Chihna, an Annual Art Journal,ISSN No. 2330-0464 of Gauhati Artists' Guild, Guwahati)

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Comic-culture in India

RAJIV BANIK

Did you ever, as a child, flip through a storybook just to peek at the pictures first? Youmust have realised that fewer the pictures, the more boring they must be. Well, a story is amagical thing and half of fun is in how it comes alive through illustrations. It's actually the clanof adults who are pencilling restlessly to spark an imagination in a child's mind. Alas, theillustrators in India did not get the recognition which they deserve.

Bantul the Great, Chacha Choudhury, Phantom, Nagraj, do these names ring any bell inyour nostalgia? Yes, I am talking about the legendary characters of the comics. The characterswhich has given you hope, laughter, courage, education, entertainment and lot more thanyou have expected. Let us take a tour down the memory lane.

The realm of comics has evolved relatively later in India than in the West. Around threedecades ago comics were not much in vogue in India. The selection that was available wasin the form of imported digests and books like Tintin (originally French private detective),Asterix and Obelix (superheroesof Gaul, erstwhile France), Archie and Commando (war storiesof World War II) etc. A costly product for an average Indian, these comics were rather availableto the children of the wealthy. The change came in the mid '60s when a leading newspaperpublication house of India launched Indrajal Comics. Itwas the first serious effort directedtowards the evolution of comic culture in India. Well within the buying capacity of middleclass children, Indrajal Comics made foreign comic heroes like "Phantom- the ghost whowalks", Mandrake the magician, and Flash Gordon household names in India. The immediatesuccess of Indrajal Comics gave a further boost to the indigenous comic industry and in 1967came the educational comics series called Amar Chitra Katha (ImmortalPicture Stories) byAnant Pai, who is also considered as the father of Indian comics. A welcome change, AmarChitra Katha effected a fusion of the rich treasure of folk tales and exploits of mythical andlegendary characters in comics. Each of the comics in this series was devoted to a person oreventin Indian history, religion and mythology. Anant Pai conceptualised all of these andwrote the scenarios for most of them. With over 70 million copies sold in the last 40 yearsthese comic books are regarded as internationally successful.

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Most Indian children have grown up withAmar Chitra Katha's vast and rich treasury ofIndian folk tales, the brave exploits of mythicaland legendary characters-from Birbal's wittyand lively stories to the endearing and didactictales of Jataka and Panchtantra. Amar ChitraKatha forms a store house of books for allage groups in several Indian languages. LikeAnant Pai, cartoonist Pran has also madepositive contribution in the evolution of Indiancomic culture. Pran broke the monopoly ofsyndicated foreign comic strips and gave Indiaits first comic characters 'the teenaged Dabuand his mentor, Professor Adhikari' in 1960.He followed it up with Shrimatiji, and in 1973with Chacha Chowdhary and Sabu, the duowho combine brain and brawn to fight the evilsof society. These characters like those ofAnant Pai have proved tough contenders forthe foreign counterparts in their Indian comicscenario.

The Indian children have found their ownheroes in the form of comic figures likeShaktiman

(person having powers like Superman),Nagraj (Snakeman), Tenali Raman (wittyminister of a king), Motu-Patlu(fatso andskinny), Chotu-Lambu (short and tall),Billoo(naughty kid), Kapish (monkey havingthe power to lengthenhis tail), ChachaChaudhary (intelligent uncle), Rajan-Iqbal(detective friends), Mahabali Shaka(extremely powerfulman), Fauladi Singh (Ironman), Agniputra Abhay (son of fire) etc.However, many of these indigenouslyproduced comics are substandard-not only dothey lack a proper storyline, content,imagination and visual graphics but they alsodraw heavily on characters from westerncomics like those of Superman, Laurel andHardy, and Dennis the Menace, etc.

With the advent of cartoons on television,comics in print are facing a tough time, it allstarted with Jungle Book's Mowgli. After thatDisney's characters tookthe scene by storm.Now many channels have dedicated timeslotsfor cartoon shows but lack Indian sensibility.

Cartoonist Pran regrets the deterioration.According to him,the violence and mild sex,which is being served through cable televisioncartoons, is having a very bad impact onthechild's mind and the remedy for manypublishers seems tolie in introducing moreblood and gore into comics. The fact that theIndian television viewers are more interestedin Indian versions of comics and cartoons canbe ascertained from the roaring success ofthe animated JungleBook, Ramayana,Chacha Chowdhary, Pandavas andTenaliRaman.

There are hardly ones who haven'tenjoyed the colorful world of comics. Thesecome in a various sizes and formats. It is pitythat the reading culture in some regions(India) has nosedived. The tech-savvygeneration is too busy in their apps in theirhand and taking these art work of art asnegligible. The pleasure of feeling andtouching paper book and the mystery ofturning the page to look what's on the otherside is immeasurable. This piece of literatureis an overview of the moral values taught bythe comics.

References: Charlotte S. Huck, Barbara Z. Kiefer, Children's literaturein the elementary school, McGraw, 2004 ElizabethSoumya, DNA, 2009 Manan Kumar, Today's comicculture in India, hindustan times, 2003 Tinkle, 2012 www.wikipedia.org www.Worldcomics.com, The Indiancomics

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Site Where Art Awakes : 3rd Regional Art

Workshop' 2014 at Silchar

ABHIBRATA CHAKRABARTY

The green meadow of a remote village of Choto Dudh Patil in Silchar was awash in colour on theevening of 15th January of 2014. The topsy-turvy landscape of the meadow stood transformedinto a new architectural horizon of an unknown space in the other reality with various works ofsite-specific installation. A group of young artists from different parts of the country as well asbeyond the country enjoyed the work of art under open sky along with the people of that village.An Installation and site -specific art workshop was held under the title of '3rd Regional ArtWorkshop, 2014' in Barak Valley on 13th , 14th , and 15th January at Daffodil School, Malugramand at Choto Dudh Patil village respectively. The workshop was organized by Shilpangan, apremier institute of Fine Arts and Craft in association with ACRDS (Art and Cultural ResearchDevelopment Society).Shawon Akand was invited as a resource person of the workshop from Dhaka, Bangladesh, bythe organizers to manifest a new kind of art practice in the valley. Shawon is a doyen of the fieldof site-specific installation and performance art. He himself is involved with such art practicewhere the so-called gallery involvement is not necessarily required. Shawon used to practice artin the remote villages of his country with the indigenous people and practice performance withtheir folk resources.The first two days, 13th and 14th of January workshop was designed with Rickshaw Paintings. Agood number of participants had joined in the workshop from different parts of entire Northeast,most of whom were students from different art forums of Barak Valley and from the Departmentof Visual Arts, Assam University. Shawon Akand encouraged executing a particular kind of site-specific project along with an interactive process of sharing thoughts and ideas among theparticipants. Rickshaw painting is a popular genre of the urban culture of Bangladesh. Usually

RE PORT

TITLE : CELEBRATIONOF SOURCE(Artist- ShawonAkand)

Shawon Akand

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the rickshaws of Bangladesh were painted gorgeously with high contrast of colours and by definedcontours. Shawon's idea was to transform this cultural genre of rickshaw painting beyond hisown soil by breaking the political border of two countries through a process of a typical act of art.He had tried to enhance a form of art where installation, site-specific and performance art canintermingle together with the common folk. The performers of the workshop begin their work bytrying to search out the source of the rickshaw making and in this active process participantshave started to interact with the common people (especially the rickshaw pullers) and gettingacquainted with their culture. Shawon inspired them to paint rickshaw with the images of theirown cultural elements to enhance the presence of self as a being in the work. One of theparticipants, Gangotri Das Gupta expressed her view about her new experience in suchunconventional practice of art and said, 'It was a new experience for me to paint upon the backof the seat of the rickshaw. When I was doing my work I felt that I was doing a moving installation.'Generally rickshaw is an insignificant object, which is owned or borrowed by the poor people ofthe society. But when it is painted with gorgeous colours and delicate motifs, it becomes anattractive object for the common mass because of its visual appeal. This new transformation ofthe trivial object also inspires the poor people who were economically attached to it and thiswhole event can be treated as a celebration of the native subject against the so-called valuesystem made by the society.The 3rd day of the workshop was held in the village called Choto Dudh Patil, quite close to thetown of Silchar on the bank of a small river Madhura. Sandipan Dutta Purkayastha, the organizerof Shilpangan and the artist, Sawon Akand had searched out a space adjacent to a school andlocal huts at Choto Dudh Patil. Shaon and the other participating artists of the workshop hadalready explored the various corners of the site with their contextual possibilities.Artists were divided in groups to carry out different site-specific installations and developed theirworks through the continuous process of interaction with the local people. It was a group work,

Rikshaw PaintingTITLE- INDIAN LEAFSHOP (ARTIST- NIRUPAM DAS)TITLE- INDIAN LEAFSHOP (ARTIST- NIRUPAM DAS)

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which was the central idea of the workshop to enhance a work of art by de-authentification of thesignatory value of a single artist. In this process artists had made their group and shared theirideas with other and tried to make a faithful work of art that may communicate with the culture ofthe common people.Artist Shaon Akand made an installation with a log and nails in a circular arena and textured withcolourful dusts. The title of the work was 'Celebration of Source'. This installation was lit withcandlelight at evening along with a musical performance of the local people. It was a deliberateattempt by Shaon to spread his work among the common mass without any individualauthentication. This particular work may have started with the urge of an artist to search out asource, but it was no longer an individual work after a time, when other participants got involvedwith the work and shared their hands in the making of installation, lit up the candles. At the enda musical performance was performed by the villagers within the premises of the arena.The small village of Choto Dudh Patil really became a new arena of cultural amalgamation,when different groups of artists started executing ten site-specific installations in an open horizon.These young artists primarily tried to collect materials from the resources available on the selectedsite, except a few things like powder-colour, plastic bag, soft toy etc. These ten site-specificinstallations were executed with specific titles to create a textual approach to the visuals. Theworks are titled as, 'Hanging Life' done by the artists Jagotjyoti Paul, Tapajay Roy and SubhabrataChoudhury, 'Endless Journey' by Rinki Nath, Suparna Bhattacharjee, Sanchita Nath, SouravBaishnab, 'New Post Office' by Swarnali sarma, Bithi Singha, Prasenjit Banik, 'Dragon Fly Home',by Sabita Deb Nath, Payel Goswami, Rumi das, Mili Barman, Bijoy Deb, Uttam Ghosh, 'Paradoxof Museum Culture' by Sanchita Nath, Sourav Baishnab, Prasenjit Banik, 'Indian Leaf Shop' byNirupam Das, 'Intimacy' by Kishan Bagdi,Bibhu Suklabaidya, Tirak Nath, Kishore Sukla Das,'Lost Nature's Beauty' by Kishan Bagdi, Bibhu Suklabaidya, Tirak Nath, Kishore Sukla Das,'Intact' by Gangotri Das Gupta, Nayak Amritanand and finally "Celebration of the Source' byShawon Akand and the group.In the installation of 'hanging Life', artists like Jagatjyoti, Tapojay and Subhabrata have hungsome pieces of barks (collected from local trees) from the rooftop of a room with long threads.When evening descended and everything became dark in the area, the artist's group suddenlylightened up a piece of candle outside a window just across the work. It was a marvelous viewwhen the work was seen from the dark room with a semi-silhouetted projection. Here anotherinteresting possibility was built up with the fact that one can roam around the work, having thetouch of the objects of art and can interact silently with the whole visual ambience.Gongotri and Amritanand made an installation named 'Intact' with metal utensils locally called ashandy, which were collected by the artists from the local huts of the village. These artists haveplaced those utensils in a circular pattern upon a bed of hay simply to show the transformation ofthe identity of common object in the other space.This splendid effort of the workshop came to an end with an informal adda and casual interactionamong the local people, organizers, artists and people who visited the place to observe theworkshop. The efforts undertaken by Shilpangan and ACRDS in associated with Sarbagin ManabKalyan Sanstha a local NGO to make this programme successful are undoubtedly appreciable.This workshop has not only encouraged people to familiarize themselves with such kind of practiceof other art, but also it has established a confidence among the people to conceptualize newthoughts or ideas from a marginalized space denying the parochial occupations of the centre.

COURTESY- ART & DEAL, NEW DELHI

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FACE TO FACEROLLIE MUKHERJEE

This is an interview with the curator Kathleen Wyma about the show she curated titled- "TheMaterial Point: Reconsidering the Medium in the (Post)modern Moment", from 20 July - 19 August2013, at Gallery OED, Cochin.

Rollie : The trajectory contemporary Indian art took was very different from that of the west. Froman imposed idiom it moved to a cultural exploration by emphasizing on the living tradition, barring a fewexceptions. So here, unlike the west, the artist in India have resorted back to the traditional past notonly for the history but for its method and materials. How do you see this bent where the traditionalmeans is not absolutely rejected?

Kathleen : Ok. I am not sure how this question is related to the show - can you clarify? Let mefirst offer a preliminary response and say I think that maybe you are referring to a Subramanyan-esqueidea like the "living tradition" and so I will begin from there. Subramanyan notes in 1971 that manyartists working in the post Independence moment were struggling to find an "identity" and to gaininsight into their role in the world at large. This is understood as something that is not specific to India,as many artists across the globe where struggling to find an appropriate place and language. Significantlythough, within India, the struggle takes on greater importance given the country's postcolonial statusand the emerging dominance of American style painting in the 60s. It is against this historical backdropthat Subramanyan notes in his "The Struggle for Image in Contemporary Indian Art," published in theFine Arts College Alumni Get-Together Souvenir (1971) that struggle is the stuff of an artist's life; it isthat which enables the creation of not only a valid artistic language but also valid images. So with thisin mind, the idea of a living tradition may be more focused on the aspects of "living" rather than "tradition"and if this is the case, then such an approach produces results that are much more prismatic.

If there was - as you say - a tendency of the Indian artist "to resort to the traditional past" I wouldcounter and ask whose past? To suggest that there is (or was) a stable tradition is problematic ascollapses a diversity of engagements into a singular expression. History tells us that Geeta Kapur,Swaminathan and Subramanyan all had different takes on the methodologies of modern art and therole of tradition within it. I think that some of the opinions registered in the pages of Vrishick and Contra66 or even early volumes of Lalit Kala Contemporary (to name a few) suggest that there were anabundance of positions regarding the role of tradition. If there was a consensus on some level it mayhave been that the long history of Indian art could function as a barricade to slow the encroachment orthe blind mimicry of the modern art from the west and perhaps this is what you mean. While theseissues may characterize the 60s and the 70s, I think that artists living and working in India today havevaried approaches to art making which may or may not have anything to do with traditional art practicesand if there is a traditional past, as you say, present in the work of the artists in my show then it is onewhich emerges on a personal level as an engagement with the self and ones own personal history -rather than with tradition writ large but really that is a question to ask the artists.

Rollie : "Tradition" again was not only seen in the cultural and historic , but as you had suggestednon traditional materials, which I read as non conventional mediums like painting, sculpture etc "whichvalorises and promotes the singular fine art object". So my question is whether the post moderninitiation is understood with an inventive use of non traditional material which somehow seems adefault for being post modern and claims for being contemporary currently. Also I suppose the dilemmaof trying to being Indian yet at the same time contemporary is a recurring theme and concern allthrough in the Indian art in the entire stretch of the country and not only the narratives in Baroda and theswaminathan style traditionalism (One more interesting aspect of Indian art history is the canonizationand the spokesman ship of speaking for the tradition by the select few which needs to be implored).Though with the onset of globalisation and neo imperialism and the subsequent opening up of marketand the sudden surge in the new media art practices unabashedly derivate from the west churned out

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of magazines and of course the ill informed and biased art academies has not necessarily brought aradical change in viewing of art though now it's in different mediums. Don't you think the revaluation ofthe material in conventional ways of practices seem to be more potent when compared to the so muchformally different mediums but fundamentally similar works of art sold consumed within the frameworkof art world alone with whatever little spillages and forays into public arena.

Kathleen : Interesting. Yes as I said above the notion of tradition as it played out within a givenhistorical moment is as prismatic as the engagements with it. And I agree that globalization and theliberalization of the economy introduced a change in artistic practice but not necessarily a change inviewing practices. I can be quite cynical about this, but pessimism is wholly unproductive and tends toput a full stop on further conversation or understanding. Within the context of the exhibition, I wasparticularly interested in work that employed non-traditional materials and creating a space throughwhich to consider the current state of "materiality" and its role in artistic production. In particular I wascurious about how the tendency to "salvage" impacts artistic practice in the "post modern moment" (indeference to time rather than style). I don't think, or at least I hope, that new materials are not, as yousay, "the default for being post modern and claims for being contemporary." And further to this, Iapologize but I cannot state with any degree of certainty whether the use of nontraditional material is aleitmotif of postmodern art because I think that the field is too complex to make such a conclusivedeclaration.

In further response to you query about material, I would like to stress that I was particularly interestedin how artists reuse "old materials" in new ways. If one looks at the work included in the show fromRanjith Raman's use of embroidery to create an image or Riddhi Shah's use of melted wax or ManishNai's repurposing of newspapers one can see that the focus is upon practice and engagement withmaterials. With this is mind, one of the operating assumptions of the exhibition was to pose questionsabout how the repurposing of materials (not necessarily objects) for artistic expression can be seen asrepresentative of a contemporary critical stance that reflects "real time" social and cultural inclinationsand concerns. Let me perfectly clear and say that repurposing was not simply about going to the shop,buying something, putting it the gallery and stating with Duchampian certainty "this is art!" Objectsbought in the shop and put directly into the gallery run the risk of erasing time and labour - they are insome ways the ultimate expression of Marxian alienation. This is where I was fascinated with exploringSmithson's notion of entropy and the creation of what he identified as anti-monuments - things thatempty out time rather than accumulate it. The issue of time is very important to me, but perhaps Ibetray my disciplinary allegiances with my concern over a lack of historical consciousness.

Rollie : Post modernism encompasses a huge variety of art practices, but in your curation "theMaterial point: Re considering the medium in the post modern moment" seems to focus on materialswhich are non conventional and ephemeral, with its emphasis on readymade and recycles.Is there anattempt to equate post modernism to the concept of 'new'?

Kathleen : No there is no intention on my behalf to suggest or equate postmodernism with anythingnew. Post modernism is a problematic term at best, its very linkage with the modern suggests that nobreak has occurred and so therefore it could hardly be considered a new concept but rather one, whichrecycles the old.

Rollie : By catering to Smithsonian idea(which advocates to shun traditional materials and prefera less durable material thereby facilitating a different vision of time) but by exhibiting within a white cubedon't you think that the very Smithsonian notion, which is for a site specificity, seems to fade, as thegallery space adds an aura to the work of art and transcend it from mundane and rise it to the level of"Art"- where art is valorised and promoted as "art object"

Kathleen : Well, I would not say that I was catering to a Smithsonian idea as you say; rather I wasexploring a concept that he advances - one that I might add - he borrowed from the theory ofthermodynamics in his essay "Entropy and the New Monuments". Your question seems to suggestthat because the exhibition took place within a gallery, Smithson's ideas of entropy are nullified - I donot see this as the case - as in fact Smithson is not specifically writing about his own earth works or site

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specific interventions but rather the essay stood as a critique of the work of artists within the space ofthe gallery. To be sure, Smithson is writing in a moment of tremendous cultural change - a moment thatwitnessed the escalation of the cold war, there was a lingering crisis over the emancipatory possibilitiesof "progress," painters and sculptors were no longer wedded or identified by their materials of choiceand Alan Kaprow claims that everyone can be an artist! Performance - process - land art - feminism -I can name a million changes to the field but the net result is a pushing of the limits of artistic practice-- a push and a change that witnessed the birth of the postmodern.

Rollie : You suggested at the end of your curatorial note the possibility of breaking free the galleryspace and entering into the realm of public .Your emphasis is on the exchange of ideas in the marketplace of social and cultural circumstances. This would have definitely aided in breaking the elitismbecause once art enters the gallery space it is destined to be in an elitist sphere. Here the real timevanishes into a spiritual space. How do you think a gallery space can give a similar level of interactionas a market space.

Kathleen : I agree that the gallery tends to be an elitist space but not always. I would contend thatOED, given its location in Mattancherry, is a unique site that resonates with the historical cosmopolitanismof the area. The gallery is a restored godown, which enjoys tremendous international tourist and localtraffic; therefore, it is a unique space that does not only cater to the elite. Its location beyond the paleof the metropolis allows accessibility to all - whether the gallery-goers are Indian or not. Many, manypeople came to see the show and I talked to people from all over the world who were quite surprised tosee the work. People, who would not normally venture into a gallery in their own cities, or in places likeDelhi or Mumbai, crossed the threshold of OED to have a look.

My purpose was to start a conversation - it was not to tell people how to think or to give answers.It was not to pontificate on the evils of elitism though I am well aware. To my mind, we all must workwithin certain structures. I am curator and at this point I work within the spaces of the gallery asproblematic as they can be at times. To my mind an engagement is always better than being silencedand not contributing at all or giving into the pessimism I mentioned earlier.

As to the second part of your question about the social and cultural exchange - people from othercountries still seem to think that Indian art is all about "traditional" art - what ever that is - and manywere surprised about the kind of work that was being done by the artists in the show. I see this as a littlecoup for the artists and their practice - as their work widened the conceptual horizons of people beyondIndia. It is in this context that the gallery, as I suggested in my concept note, can serve as a nexus pointof exchange. I referred to it as a "market place" not in terms of elite exchanges of financial or socialcapital but rather a unique space (particular to Kerala and the location of OED) whereby "ideas" couldbe traded, discussed or debated.

Forgive me but I also have to say that I do not understand what you mean when you say that realtime vanishes into spiritual time - this sounds very orientalist to me. India lives in the real time, as domany of the artists living and working there. Although the work in the show had something to do withtime for sure but emphatically there was no connection to the spiritual or the religious - perhaps I amnot getting your meaning.

Rollie : When I meant spiritual I was trying to equate with the notion of the transfiguration of thecommonplace art objects into work of art through and within the art world comprising the gallery, artist,critic, collectors etc... I was also mentioning it with the view of reading a work of art as a magicalexperience within a sacred space.

Kathleen : There was not a transfiguration of commonplace art objects in the show. The work inshow for the most part repurposed old materials to create new objects. I cannot say that this allowedfor a magical experience within a sacred space, as I emphatically believe that the gallery is a space thatis completely void of aspects of spiritualism. If you mean to suggest that galleries are the new templesand artworks are the new icons or objects of veneration then that is worthy of a further and longerconversation between us and I look forward to an interesting discussion in the future.

Rollie : The politics of a material can be dealt with despite being conventionally inclined. A

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conventional material can be recontextualised /decontextualised/appropriated to a newer materialismand contemporised by its content. This possibility post modernism has provided. Please share yourviews on it.

Kathleen : I actually don't really think that postmodernism has a historical monopoly on this - ithas been happening for as long as humans have been creating artwork. If post modernism did anythingnew it was to introduce the idea that art need not be produced - art can simply be a thought - a concept- an approach - it is a footnoted practice. By this I mean, postmodern art, if such a thing exists (pleasenote that my concept note refers to the moment - rather than the art), is a practice that is supplementalit is always predicated on something else. But then, was this not the same conceit of modern art? Thisis a very complicated question and there is no easy answer - I think I may need some time to thinkabout this carefully.

Rollie : When you talk about vernacularisation in this context there is always a trap of an impositionfrom above for various needs. How do you see the artists in the exhibition have stood apart from thisimposed languages in global currency today.

Kathleen : In terms of the vernacular as a common language, I was positing a common languageof material practice or a common methodology among the artists of the show. I made no claim that myshow (or that artists in it) stood apart from the vernacular languages of global art - the point was thatthese artists used a global Esperanto to speak of their own lives and their own processes. We live in aworld where we can not police cultural borders - the art world is now a matrix of exchange - artists traveland read international journals more than ever before- to say that it is an "imposed language" is todiminish the validity of their engagements and to reduce their efforts to a derivative practice.

Rollie : Why do you think as a critic you reoriented to properties and effects arising from medium itself.Kathleen : The opportunity to curate shows is a wonderful way to explore ideas and test hypotheses.

It is an ongoing process and I confess I am still thinking about the show in preparation for the catalogue.The issue of material was one that had preoccupied me for some time not only as a result of myresearch but also my teaching and my conversations with others. To be sure, medium is becomingmore politicized but I wanted to see if there was something beyond the material - I wanted to considerthe material approaches of artists and how the work was informed by it. Although I am still thinkingabout this, I discovered that the choices most of the artists made were based on memory. The work ofthe artist's seemed to be about interrupting history and challenging dominant ideas in order to createtheir own unique counter narratives.

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THE URBAN STEP : OIL : 7' x 7' Simanta Jyoti Baruah Manika Devi, Title - Paribhraman, Acrylic medium on canvas. Size 80cm x 90cm, Year - 2010

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Artist - Kamal Mohanta, Title - Blue girl Acrylic on

canvas. Size-60"x75"

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Artist - Sandipan

Bhattacharjee,

Title - Woman & the

Shadow

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A review of the show - (In) to the middle of the "stories",15 March - 14 April 2014. Gallery OED Cochin.

SUMEET K. CHAUDHARY

A showing of paintings and drawings by nine artists is held at the OED gallery in Cochin from15thMarch - 14th April, 2014. The show has been conceptualized by artist/writer Rollie Mukherjeewhose paintings too are part of the show. Below is a detailed review of the conceptual frameworkof the show and the artworks of the nine artists.

Between the beginning of things and the end of things lies an infinity of infinite complexity andwithin this infinite complexity dwells man.

We live amidst an immense ocean of knowledge, experiences, situations and stories and inorder to see, to interpret and to ascertain any meaning from it we need to begin somewhere andfor that what choices do we actually have? Every time we begin to ponder about this we discoverthat we must inevitably begin to make sense from within the middle of things because the middleis where we are all embedded.

'In medias res' (Latin "in the midst of things") is the literary and artistic narrative technique ofrelating a story from the midpoint, rather than the beginning. The key is to tell a story by plungingdirectly into the most crucial part first which is related to the chain of events in various ways. Thenarrative then moves forward with random flashbacks shedding light on earlier events to revealthe relationships between different constituent parts. The Illiad by Homer is a great example of thistechnique as are many others. The reason for starting in the middle is to select the most interestingopening for a story or an artwork under scrutiny so as to maintain the utmost interest and take theviewer directly into the midst of the action.

The content of the present show of paintings and drawings precisely embodies this very narrativetechnique. This show consists of paintings and drawings which can be read simultaneously fromdifferent angles and which manage to endlessly project multiple meaningful interpretations within theviewer. The idea of 'medias res' is to create a multi dimensional perspective of the observed thing byselecting a strategic observational point from somewhere in the middle in order to generate the mostenriching possible experience immediately from the first instance onwards. It is like jumping straightinto the heart of the story and slowly unraveling the plot and in the process letting the viewer take anactive part in the interpreting of meaning by simultaneously focusing on the many aspects involved.

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Rollie Mukherjee titles the show as, (In) to the middle of the "stories" because her workingconceptual framework is based precisely on the idea of 'medias Res,' Here is what she has to say,"When a work of art is exhibited in a gallery, it is always in the Medias Res. The work of art as a textproduced by the artist is now open for the viewers for an interpretation. The artwork is in fact readin the Medias Res where the overlapping meaning of a work of art as an aesthetic experience, asa commodity, as a virtual entity, as an ideology etc merges. The significance of such a reading isthat one doesn't start from or search for a primordial beginning of a work which has been for longthe guarded territory of the author or artist. One begins from one's own position as a viewerresponding to a visual text at front which is already mediated and permeated by various ideologies.The unwanted attachment with the illusionistic idea of innocent and honest eye of viewing is doneaway to a matured responsible and conscious viewing process."

Each artwork in the show has a story to tell and lay bare open the constituents of reality to theone who is willing to actually see. The paintings and sketches are somehow related to our ownstories and fates. Our stories are the stories of reality which we have lived through and storieswhich we know nothing of and stories that are yet to come and whose part we may or may notbecome. Nine artists and nine different perspectives on reality but all somehow encompassing acommon theme. Lets take a look.

Sarika Mehta's minimalistic and uncomplicated paintings and drawings catch the viewersattention as if allowing a moment of relief for the eyes and intellect but strangely the relief is only fora fleeting moment because immediately after one is irrevocably pulled into the exercise of attemptingto see more and one begins to feel that something about the work stands out and calls one to readin further. One of her drawings of water falling from a tap and getting spread on the floor in a smallpuddle is quite simple enough to make sense of at first but it goes beyond and manages to fascinatethe mind somehow because of the simple yet deliberate anomaly put in by her that the water doesnot fall off from the tap in a straight line through gravity as it should but flows out and falls in a curveas it reaches the floor thus defying the gravitational laws. Another work of her, a painting consistingof little flowers scattered out of a fallen transparent plastic glass is quite simple to read at first butthen one starts to notice the extraordinary meticulousness put in by the artist in painting the flowersmaking them seem as if they are almost real and thus drawing one's attention to this detail andmaking one contemplate the various intentional and unintentional interpretations and relationshipof such a simple situation to the actual reality of the world in the midst of which we are foreverstriving to live.

Priti Vadakath's work 'The sea of lost time' is very interesting work for two reasons. First thepainting at first glance seems quite simplistic but stay with it for a while and you will see new thingsopen up. It is a perfect example of the work forcing multiple interpretations on to the viewer thanthat which the artist might have primarily intended. When you look at the painting it seems fourelder men are sitting casually and you may tend look at it and move on but just linger on for a fewseconds and you will feel a transformation that the men are not merely sitting but in fact in guise ofcasualness peering at you very intently as if with some unknown yet focused purpose. The viewerbecomes 'the viewed' and the men in the painting bestow a critical judgmental eye upon the viewerthus somewhat unsettling the viewer momentarily and at the same time making the viewer lookinward forcing a quick self reflection. The painting is mostly monochromatic and composed of fourelderly men sitting in a nonchalant manner side by side draped in monolithic seeming white clothes.Another thing to note is that the painting is composed of two panels thus the four figures divided inmiddle by a line of separation and this division enforces a feeling of scrutiny from not one but twodifferent perspectives, it is as if two different ideological groups are scrutinizing you thus addingmore to the gravity of scrutiny. Apart from the figures of men the artist seems to have kept thebackground quite minimal thus not allowing the viewer to focus much elsewhere but only on thegaze of the men in the painting. Both the dimensions add a kind of unsettling and slightly surreal

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experience leaving the viewer inescapably with some moments of self -reflection.Rollie Mukherjee's exquisite water color paintings are primarily concerned with the projection

and dissection of the falsity of the notion of freedom of women which in fact is not there in apatriarchal system of today's modern world. Her highly narrative and forcefully suggestive worksdone in simple but vibrant colors carry a somber tone. A striking feature in her paintings is the wayshe paints the faces of the women creating a subtle expression of alienation and inner sadness atthe situation of things amidst which the women inevitably find themselves pushed and shackledand have their freedom undermined in multiple ways and forms by the modern patriarchs. In herpaintings she paints the women in various avatars and places them against sometimes a lyricaland sometimes against a gruesome background so as to complete the inherent story as well as todocument the entire range of possible fundamental situations for the woman. Her paintings makeone ponder seriously about the validity of the societal customs and questions the so called modernityof the world which ironically does not seem to extend into the domain of how women shouldactually be seen and treated.

Shruti Mahajan : Shruti Mahajan's work is immediately intriguing. The composition is verywell done and visually balanced but the overall subjective reading of the image with all the elementspresent within the room indicate that something of vital importance is missing and the viewer isimmediately directed towards it and an unmistakable sense of urgency is evoked. The open dooron the far right of the image and the state of various things within the room suggest that someonemust have been there and is now gone but this simple suggestibility is highly intensified by the waythe painting is painted. First by the unidirectional diagonal composition and second by the looseyet controlled brush strokes which being quite easily visible create a dynamism on the paintedsurface because of the play of uneven continuous shades generated by such application of paint.This adds to the overall intended dynamic atmosphere of the painting. It feels like the viewer hasbeen thrown into a middle of an event which has slight tones of foreboding of some kind and theviewer must deal with the incomplete information and must strive for a conclusion to cull theuneasy curiosity.

Puja Puri in her work attempts to concretize the inner conflict of existence within children andragged people who are thrown in middle of tough circumstances in life. The inner material of shakyand straggly lines that builds up her work, 'Dilemma of a heiress' is suggestive of the variousconflicts that rage within the self due to the seeming unfairness of the situation that life has putthem in. Look at the work a little further and it does not seem that there is just merely a state ofirrevocable dilemma but there is also a succeeding inner resolve and an inner will to overcomehowever difficult circumstances life has rendered and that manages to inject a valid sense of lifewithin the work.

The works of Sajeev Visweswaran's at quick glance are simplistic and frugal looking drawingsand paintings which seem to be concerned with the projection of the ordinary. However theordinariness is not simple as it might seem because he manages to bring viewer's focus on theordinary things in life in such a way that the ordinary gains a subtle importance and meaning. Itseems as if the artist has a certain wistfullness born out of relating to these ordinary things andobservations whose frugal yet aptly detailed depictions direct viewer's focus to a certain overlookedvitality within things that most think as ordinary and unimportant. Simple things and observationsof everyday life carefully chosen and arranged to show that simple is not always simple and it canhave multiple interpretations within multiple contexts which one must explore and discover itsimportance if one is sensitive enough a being.

The immediate feeling after looking at SN Sujith's paintings is that of some kind of aftermathhas occurred which has very menacing undertones. The grim but dreamy looking surreal landscapein which Sujith places his imagery further accentuates this feeling of menace. What exactly isgoing on within this carefully selected setting is a mystery to decipher but one can make out that

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whatever it is, is something serious and probably concerns everyone. Unlike other paintings in theshow Sujith does not provide the viewer any direct clues about what the work is exactly about buthe kind of throws a challenge to the viewer to identify the meaning of what is and thus igniting anumber of inescapable questions like why is landscape so deserted, where has everyone gone,what could have happened to force the things to a state of conclusion as they stand in the picture.In one painting there is a fallen horse and another a statue of someone as if an authoritarian butevery painting contains prison camp like architectural structures suggesting that it must havesomething to do with brute authority and oppression and rebellion of sorts. What do they all suggest?Is it that an authoritarian state has been thwarted and made to eventually end but at what price?Maybe at such a heavy price that none's left and all is deserted. Is the painting about the evil of thedictatorial power of an oppressive state in order to show what such power game can lead to? Howis it related to our world of today? With our all powerful governments and power brokers at helmaren't we as a society moving in the same direction to reach a similar gruesome and dismal fate?All these questions arise in the mind and the painting beckons one to pay attention to a fate whichseems to have been time and again written and played in our historical past but that which everyonetends to overlook but should not.

Mahesh Baliga's works, Small colorful paintings constructed with varied elements creating abeautiful visual harmony of colors, figures and lyrical landscapes are a joy to watch. The paintingis painted with multiple layered paint using various painterly techniques to create a colorful auraabout it as if to romanticize the mundane world in the way so as to overcome 'what is' and showwhat can be i.e. reconstructing the seemingly monotonous reality to convert it into that whichconsists primarily of beauty and harmony thus lending to it a kind of vibrant vitality. In one work acasual figure lying down below an exquisitely multi hued tree against a rich purple sky and inanother an intriguing yet beautifully colored bird sitting atop a fountain makes one yearn for becominga part of the painting to experience all that within the painting. The validity of the work rests inshowing beauty and harmony in things which otherwise would seem mundane and thus breakingthe monotony associated with everyday life.

Shivani Bhalla's paintings are like suggestive representational juxtapositions of figurative,non figurative, fantastical and sometimes containing surreal quality like that of Chagall. Her paintingstend to mostly encompass a variety of self oriented themes like that of a woman's tribulations andher role in construction of life. One of her paintings titled 'In middle of nowhere' seems to be basedon ideas of absurdity i.e. the clash between the human tendency to seek some inherent meaningin the painting and the human impossibility of finding any meaning. Such a unstructured compositionof landscape strewn with unrelated elements like animals in humanized forms, pulling out a riverfrom somewhere far off in the background on to atop a tree standing closer to the foreground as iftesting the elasticity and stretchibility of the water body for some reason or like opening up the soilto display