Art

Art Celebrating Vamona

The artist is known to have had his creative imprint well established across three continents. His contribution to art needs to have a wider acceptance across Goa

NAGUESH RAO SARDESSAI

Drawing is taking a line for a walk, said Paul Klee. Vamona Ganesh Navelcar does exactly

that.

Vamona takes the line for a walk and it is interesting to see the mark that he leaves all over the paper. Sometimes these lines are evocative at other times they are just blobs expressing the language of his soul.

The artist has come a long way from the days he surreptitiously painted on the reverse of the calendar to avoid detection. Hailing from the picturesque village of Pomburpa in Bardez, Vamona has traversed a whole lot of nations to enrich himself with the wealth of knowledge and experience.

Living legend: I refer to him as the Bhishm Pitamah (grand old man) of Goan Art. Vamona is reticent and sage-like reclusive. Left alone, he would revel in sketching and painting. Understanding the dynamics of the market, working on public relation niceties and applying economic formulas and prudence of the art world, is libelous and unknown to him.

A very rare artist who loathes the limelight, he received the tangible push required to venture into the world of art from the legendary businessperson, late Vishwasrao Chowgule and encouragement from Governor-General of Goa, General Paul Bernardo Guedes. “The place where I worked for the first time turned the pages of my life to a bettter future,” says Vamona with nostalgic glee.

Cut to Portugal: Here, he graduated from Lisbon’s Escola Superior de Belas Artes and began teaching art. Vamona had a brush with the Portuguese government over the signing of a petition against Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, prior to the liberation of Goa, in the year 1961. This cost him the much needed scholarship due to which he had to rework his plans.

Since Mozambique then was a Portuguese colony, Vamona was deputed as a teacher at the Lyceum there, where he had another round of brush with the fate.

The locals at a remote forest at Imala held Vamona hostage, along with some of his teacher colleagues and students. Bold and fearless, Vamona single handedly dealt with the situation and negotiated their release. Vamona’s tryst with destiny seemed to remain unending. He once again found himself at the crossroads with huge chunk of his works – over thousand paintings, prized photographs, entire bunch of certificates and nearly hundred prizes – packed in a baggage lost in transit during his return to Portugal from

Vamona Navelcar

Mozambique.

‘I felt, I had lost my Identity,’ says Vamona with moist eyes and tears held back. The fighter that he is, Vamona reinvented himself and adopted a new identity. He began signing as ‘Ganesh’ as an offering to his family deity Lord Ganesh who is the destroyer of hurdles and difficulties. His elder brother who had passed away in childhood was also named Ganesh.

Vamona’s works act as a narrative as they reflect the influence of the place and the time during which it was painted. It spots Vamona at various locations around the globe and expresses his peculiar and identifiable style.

Having resided in Portugal and Mozambique for almost three decades, a strong African influence is evidently visible in his works. However, in spite of his long stay outside the cultural influence of India, he has retained a palpable link with his motherland through art. The fine lyrical lines, mythological subjects, attention to accentuate grace and so on displays complete Indian ethos.

Vamona’s oeuvre is huge and magnanimous. With subjects ranging from bulls in actions to human figures to complete abstracts besides landscapes, religious scriptures, poems, philosophy, social life and cultural vignettes, Vamona has touched upon all these and more. From works ranging from photo realistic to stylize, cubist to abstract and automatic painting, stands testimony to the magnitude of talent and power of draftsmanship that Vamona wields.

Passion, even at this age, is what his driving force, remains. His keen observation of the social establishment and the nuances therein inspires Vamona, the artist.

Some of his works are highly expressionist. The abstracts, at times, are symphonic. One can hear the music play through the black ink marks. The passionate outpouring does translate into commonly comprehendible visual language that facilitates easy connection with the lay onlooker.

Swami Vivekananda, Albert Camus, Rabindranath Tagore, J Krishnamurthy, Bertrand Russell are few of the thinkers who have left an indelible mark on his psyche and had a major influence on his life. A voracious reader, Vamona interprets poems and literary works of his favourite litterateurs through his paintings. Rabindranath Tagore, Fernando Pessoa and the Portuguese national poet Luis Camoes come alive through his works. Vamona is a great admirer of internationally reputed Goan artists late V. S. Gaitonde (another reclusive artist) and late F. N. Souza – both Goan masters.

Coming back to his craft, a line for him is like a child that he takes for a casual walk. The walk, that turns into a masterpiece. And every work of his is a masterpiece without exaggeration. Using pen, brush and minimal paint, Vamona has successfully created his personal vocabulary. The seemingly incoherent line takes an expressive shape, bringing to life a palpable form that skillfully marries into evocative composition pregnant with the passionate outpouring of Vamona. His ink wash works resonates the early Indian style and composition and evokes creative curiosity. Vamona creates magic on paper – black magic on virgin white paper. Negative and positive space connives to project the artist’s inner feelings. The paradox accentuates the emotive drama inherent in the subject. He refuses to confirm to any rigid ‘isms’ or trend and as such Vamona’s works are an example in felicity with diverse media and style.He is a much-revered Goan artist in the global context with his reference found in the Encyclopaedia of Portuguese Artists by Dr. Fernando Pamplona and in the Dictionary on 20th Century Portuguese Artists by R. Tannuck, London, as well.

UNICEF published his works in the form of postcards.

His life is a journey worth chronicling. Acceptance by the people who matter in the field of art and rejections by the others who mattered less has been the gist of his eventful life. A true ‘Karma Yogi’, he reconciles and manages to remain content with the idea that art alone is the path leading to salvation.

Painting for Vamona is spirituality. No wonder he gets lost in the process like a yogi; and signs his work with an additional name – ‘Ganesh’. This a symbolic gesture through which he offers each of his work to his family deity Lord Ganesh and his late elder brother.

There has been a representation made to the government by some of his fans and patrons to bestow the prestigious Gomant Vibhushan award on him.

Vamona is a goldmine about to yield value. And it is high time; the serious art connoisseurs promote him in fairness