Tags:
Journalism of Courage
I remember as a child, standing next to my father and holding nails as he stretched his canvases. We used to live in a two-bedroom barsaati in Jangpura that had a huge terrace. I was four or five at that time and I remember feeling very satisfied 8212; as I stood there holding the nails for my father. I felt I was helping Manu Parekh 8212; my father, the painter.
His being a painter affected me in many ways 8212; I used to watch him use a brush and paints and then I would go and paint the entire terrace, using a brush and water!
Four or five years ago, when I saw the same paintings as part of an exhibition titled The Retrospective 8212; Thirty Years of Manu Parekh8217; I was no longerscared. Instead of the terror that was communicated to me as a child, I saw the passion with which he had painted. And paints. As a child the strength of the emotion had translated into terror for me, now I understood that my father and the painter were two different people.
And yet the same. As a painter, he is all about feelings and emotion. Even when he is talking to you, his fingers are constantly punctuating his sentences or touching the texture of emotion or just rubbing against each other, touching the air around him. He feels life like that. And he has a similar feel for material that is most evident in this exhibition, Ritual Oblations8217;. From chunnaris, kum kum to the material used around a deity from any religion 8212; the elements have been used in a manner that speaks to people. My father, the painter, believes it is important to be close to people in order to be close to reality.
My mother Madhavi Parikh, my sister Manisha Parikh who is also an artist, and I, have learnt from him acloseness to our art. A love for our craft. As a family, we all react strongly 8212; whether it is a negative reaction or a positive beautiful emotion, the end product is borne out of a passion. Life and art are connected for all of us. It is instinctive to him and it is instinctive to us.
Deepa Parekh won the first prize in the Hasselblad Open contest for photographers.
Ritual Oblations at the Sakshi Art Gallery. Till Dec 1. Time: 11.00 am to 6.00 pm.
