Colour Me Greece

It was usually cows and dogs in 63-year-old Manjit Bawa8217;s paintings and drawings. The colours were indigo, red, violet. And though the ...

It was usually cows and dogs in 63-year-old Manjit Bawa8217;s paintings and drawings. The colours were indigo, red, violet. And though the figurative painter and keen photographer hasn8217;t left them behind as he is working towards his next exhibition, Bawa has moved on with his repertoire to include new elements in his latest body of works.

Stretching his colour palette, Bawa has, this time, experimented with various hues of pink and yellows as the background colour of 14 oil paintings. And besides dogs, cows, panthers and lions, squirrels, cats and crows too have made their way into the canvases, giving company to the humans.

Bawa insists that the changes crept into his mind, and then into his works, unconsciously. 8216;8216;One doesn8217;t sit and plan them. They come on their own. One show of an artist is always linked to his past show,8217;8217; says Bawa, whose latest exhibition will open on February 7 at the Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi. His manager, Ina Puri, chips in, 8216;8216;He has used blue in the past but he has stretched it a little in this show. Sometimes he isn8217;t sure if a particular colour will work or not, because he does the background after doing the figure and filling colours in it.8217;8217;

An avid traveller, Bawa likes to drive if he is travelling within the country. Once, when he was a student, he went to England by road in a van with eight others. This year Bawa went to Japan, London, New York and Greece. What he came back with was a refreshing experience and the spirit of these cities etched in his mind. Which were then transferred to his canvases. 8216;8216;What I have tried to do is to capture the spirit of the place. The visit to Greece brought in the colour of the Mediterranean in my works,8217;8217; he says. His show will also travel to Mumbai and Vadodara in March.

The concept of living together in harmony has also resurfaced in his works. The purpose of showing various animals together is to demonstrate that 8216;8216;if these animals can live together, then why can8217;t we? Do you think Hindus want to fight with Muslims or vice-versa? All that is happening is political,8217;8217; says Bawa.

He has also portrayed the famous Kashmiri poetess Lal Ded who used to walk nude on the streets. 8216;8216;The poetess had a huge tumour in her stomach which she would always hide while walking. When people started making fun of her, she decided to walk nude. But to give her dignity, I have painted a stole around her neck,8217;8217; says the artist who is now busy with a monumental work 8216;Black Garden of Desire8217;.

Ancient scriptures, Rajasthani miniatures, Sufi mysticism and Hindu female deities are the other recurring elements in his art.

Story continues below this ad

Bawa8217;s extensive reading of the Bhakti movement has resulted in a painting depicting Chaitanya Mahaprabhu holding a pen. The work has a cream-beige background.

While his love for Sufi poetry, evident in his works, goes a little beyond too. The artist accompanies singer Madan Gopal Singh who renders Sufi songs on the dholak, every Lohri celebration at Delhi8217;s India Habitat Centre.