Different strokes

The interesting irony in artiste Rohan Pore's life is that one of the saddest moments of his life made him think about one of the most humourous authors in the history of Marathi literature.

Artiste Rohan Pore unveils Pu La8217;s endearing personality at Pulotsav through his sketches

The interesting irony in artiste Rohan Pore8217;s life is that one of the saddest moments of his life made him think about one of the most humourous authors in the history of Marathi literature. Seven years ago, when Pore lost his guru and uncle Chandrakant Pore, he decided to explore his sketching and painting abilities by creating a collection of paintings of Pu La Deshpande. It is this collection, which is on display at Pulotsav that started on Saturday.

8220;I have always been a painter but after my uncle8217;s death, I was shattered. He was my teacher, mentor and a great source of motivation. At that point, it was Pu La8217;s books that helped me get over the grief. I read almost all the books by Pu La and while reading, found his character interesting. That is when I thought of coming up with a collection of Pu La8217;s paintings. Initially I did this collection on my own but when I got to know about Pulotsav, I approached the organisers and redid the entire work on a bigger scale,8221; says Pore, a final year fine arts student of Bharti Vidyapeeth College of Fine arts, Nasik. He further adds, 8220;This man who brought smiles on the faces of countless Maharashtrians had a comic face as well. He was a true actor and exactly knew how to convey the expressions to the audience. But from drawing point of view, there are two typical features that easily depict his personality 8211; his nose and his spectacles.8221;

The exhibition of over 18 sketches depicts Pu La8217;s journey from his childhood till his death. It unveils various facets of Pu La8217;s personality through portraits that display his expressions while reading, writing, relaxing with his wife, acting in plays like Batatyachi chawl and so on. 8220;These are black and white sketches and I have done them by using pencil, pen and charcoal as the mediums. The organisers, after finalising the exhibition, gave me 23 days and I sat for almost 12 hours every day to complete the task,8221; says Pore.

Pore, who has won a number of prizes that include Camlin award, ETV award and state level awards says, 8220;We normally do paintings on white paper and darken the black portion. In one of the pictures however, I have used white marker on black paper. Thus it was a challenging task as I had to leave open the black portion and highlight the rest. It was difficult but at the end of the day, this painting is my most memorable one.8221;

And why wouldn8217;t it be? After all, isn8217;t this painting synonymous with Pore8217;s life?