For the love of Vincent

Vincent Van Gogh died at the young age of 37, after having shot himself with a revolver, in the wheat fields of Auvers-sur-Oise.

Paul Gauguin’s portrait of Van Gogh, Oil on canvas, 1888.

Painted when Gauguin visited Van Gogh at Arles.

Whether it was the circumstances of his death, or the stories of his life, of unrequited love affairs, of not having the money to paint or sometimes even to feed himself, Van Gogh is remembered as the lonely, unloved, hugely talented artist.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s portrait of Van Gogh, Pastel on cardboard, 1887. 

 His most loved paintings are of the fields of Arles, sunflowers and cypresses, and star-lit nights. He obviously loved painting portraits, and produced several self-portraits, writing to his sister that he “should like to paint portraits which appear after a century to people living then as apparitions…..I do not endeavor to achieve this through photographic resemblance, but my means of our impassioned emotions- that is to say using our knowledge and our modern taste for color as a means of arriving at the expression and the intensification of the character…”

It is for the “impassioned emotions” on display whether Van Gogh was painting cherry trees and orchards, his bedroom in Arles, a night café or the bridge over the river Rhone, that he is loved so much. Some of this love has translated to an international collaborative project called “Loving Vicent”:

http://join.lovingvincent.com/

About a hundred artists have got together to hand-paint about 57,000 frames, in the style of Van Gogh, and capturing locations, people and  vignettes from his short life, to form an animated film. It is probably the first animated movie of its type, built entirely from these lovingly painted frames. You could catch a glimpse of the trailer of the movie at:

https://youtu.be/47h6pQ6StCk

“The red vineyard” by Vincent Van Gogh, Oil on canvas, 1888. 

This was the only painting sold by Van Gogh while he was alive!

“The night café” by Vincent Van Gogh, Oil on canvas, 1888.

In a letter to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote: "In my picture of The Night Café I have tried to express the idea that the café is a place where one can ruin oneself, go mad or commit a crime. So I have tried to express, as it were, the powers of darkness in a low public house, by soft Louis XV green and malachite, contrasting with yellow-green and harsh blue-greens, and all this in an atmosphere like a devil's furnace, of pale sulphur. And all with an appearance of Japanese gaiety, and the good nature of Tartarin."

A 200-artists get-together

An art camp with 200 artists is bound to generate a lot of creative energy and excitement. That is exactly what happened last weekend at Gurgaon, when artists from all over the state of Haryana congregated for a collective exercise. It was a two day affair, with music, theatre, art, food and friends.

The artists were provided with paints, canvasses and all the supporting logistics for painting.

Numbers being large, every body spread out their canvasses on easels, against walls and chairs, on tables or just on the floor!


Artists worked, chatted in groups or watched each other paint. It was a great way to get in touch with other artists in the state, and get familiar with each other's styles of work.








The organizers had set a broad theme to the workshop. They wanted the paintings to be on a similar theme of showcasing the talents of the state of Haryana and the Indian nation to rest of the world.

India is a diverse country and this broad theme meant different things to different people.

Here is a young artist working on the theme of Kathakali dancers of Kerala. Kathakali is an ancient dance form, and uses stunningly elaborate and colourful costumes, a detailed make up routine that takes hours to apply and characteristic head dress.







I depicted the "Shankha" or divine conch of Vishnu in this composition. The "Shankha" or white conch shell, when used as a trumpet, has a significant role for the Gods, as a trumpet for various mythological wars, and in religious functions as a divine note.



The Shankha is one of the main attributes of Lord Vishnu, and is an auspicious symbol in Hinduism as well as Buddhism.









There were several styles on display at the workshop. And here is a young artist using geometric lines and forms.


While most people used Acrylics which was the material supplied, some teamed it up with the use of charcoal, pencils, pens and water colours.

We have all made a lot of friends at the Art Camp, and thanks to technology, will continue to be in touch with each other.

Looking forward to more art camps and maybe with the use of technology, some "networked" and more international ones?

A kaleidoscope of paintings

Winter in Delhi normally gets less severe after the festival of "Makar Sankranti". This is the day when the Sun stops moving southwards at the Topic of Capricorn (this southward journey is called "Dakshinayana"), and starts its northwards journey (or "Uttarayana") towards the Tropic of Cancer.





The international art symposium planned at Karma Lakelands, Gurgaon, was obviously to take advantage of the sunny weather post Makar Sankranti, and have an open-air live painting event.

A visit to the venue was like a kaleidoscope of colours and styles of art.

There was a variety of styles on display. There were compositions with bright colours and bold strokes. And there were some that almost blended with the patterns of nature, and seemed to celebrate them.

Artists came from different countries. Each had their own unique thinking, and things to say. And I had a good time chatting up with them.

I do think we need to have more of these events. Just like music has an orchestra, we do need artists with different things to say, to do their bit independently, and share their thoughts and experiences with each other.








The art works are on display beyond the event, and visitors can interpret the art works afterwards in any which way they want.














The Delhi weather allows outdoor painting only for a few months each year. So it would be great to have more of such events.

Flotsam and Jetsam

I have been busy completing paintings for my upcoming exhibition at The Lalit Kala Akademi. Hence the lull in blog entries.
All the compositions are inspired by the patterns of flowing water.

Water itself forms fascinating patterns, whether we are watching waves on a sea shore, the running water in a creek, or like a little child, stirring the water in a mud-hole with a stick.

Along with the water itself, little objects that float around in the water all form their own complex patterns, and all of them suggest a story.

This painting is inspired by all the flotsam and jetsam you see in the water twisting and turning around, and floating away swiftly, or getting untangled sometimes. They are made up of a medley of objects, and over time, their size and appearance goes on changing. Sometimes they add more objects, and sometimes they shed some of it..

This painting is a 24" by 30" acrylic + oil on canvas.

All of you who are in Delhi/ NCR, do come for my exhibition at Gallery 4, Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhavan, Feroz Shah Road, New Delhi- 110001, from 26th October to 1st November, open all days 11 am. to 7 pm. entry free. (This is at the Mandi House round about, so you could catch the metro to Mandi House station).

Chaos and Harmony: More storms

Exactly a week after the last post, there was a pretty violent storm that hit Delhi, with winds at over 92 km per hour. Well, my fascination with storms meant that my second painting of the "Leaf Storm" series was complete. The colours give a different strength to the chaos, and harmony of scattered leaves, twigs, flowers, nuts and buds. While many old and wrinkled branches fall off trees in such a storm, a few young ones are plucked off before their time:

For people on the road, the storm meant a terrible amount of dust, trees swaying, traffic getting disrupted and things flying from balconies and roofs and hoarding, and hurtling around like dangerous missiles, and then there was darkness at noon!

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/storm-wreaks-havoc-in-delhi-9-killed/article6068062.ece

and http://www.ndtv.com/photos/news/traffic-jams-in-delhi-after-massive-storm-12759




My exhibition is on at Triveni Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, Tansen Marg, New Delhi till the 6th June.

Leaf Storm

There have been quite a few squalls lately bringing down the temperature. One image you often see during such events is a "whirling dervish" of leaves.
A little wind stirs up all the leaves, scoops them up, and whirls them round and round. Sometimes the leaves settle down temporarily, and take off in a more energetic whirl, and sometimes they go around in smaller circles. Or they may chase each other playfully down the road.

My painting "Leaf Storm" celebrates this playfulness in nature. The title is in honour of the first novel of the same name by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Here is the painting:

This and other paintings celebrating the dynamic playfulness of nature will be on display during my forthcoming exhibition "Impression to Expression" at Triveni Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, from 28th May to 6th June, 2014, all days 11 am. to 7 pm. 

All those who can make it are invited. For those of you interested but not in town, or who cannot make it due to other reasons, I will be putting up the images later on my website www.mitabrahma.com

Light between the trees

I love to look up and see the light filtering through the branches of trees. And sadly one sees the number of trees dwindling at a fast pace in the urban environment, and those that are there are not the old, dense types with a generous spread of branches. The modern urban trees mostly have narrow trunks, and a dismal famished appearance.

So I loved the exhibition of photographs, paintings and videos at the Art Heritage Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, by Ms. Kavita Jaiswal, many of which captured the spread of old, wise trees, and the light filtering through them.

Here is one that I loved:

What also appeals to me in her works is the seemingly dynamic flow of materials over time, as in this one - and there were several such - with minimal colours, mostly shades of black, grey and white. These compositions reminded me of the earth's formation through the ages; only the flow was important, not the form :

Celebrating contemporary artists

Since most of us, me included, found fault with the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), for almost complete inaction over the last few years, we must also give praise where it is due.



The NGMA has been running its first retrospective of a contemporary artist, Atul Dodiya.

















The selection, curated by Ranjit Hoskote, was a treat to watch. Most of us are familiar with Atul Dodiya's work with rolling shutters.

The exhibition however was comprehensive, giving a glimpse into the thought process of the artist. I found particularly his Gandhi series very thought provoking and inspiring.