Divya leela by nitin kulkarni on vasant wankhede by Nitin Arun Kulkarni

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“divya leela” Exhibition of Visual works by vasant wankhede at ‘Gallery Art & Soul’ 8th Aug. 2011

1, madhuli, shivsagar estate, worli, mumbai 18

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The vision which can be perceived by the ‘mind’ can’t be seen by eyes. The sings of inner nature can only be witnessed in itself. Dasbodh, 48, Chapter- 7-4

“Art does not have rules. Every artist with his experience and attitude of experimentation tries to achieve his unique style of expression; this is done by using various mediums. He tries to create a magnificent piece of art in that unique style throughout his entire life. In order to achieve this, his guru endows him with vision, In fact for that matter every individual possess such power, to some extent animals and plants are also gifted naturally with it.” - Vasant Wankhede

It is the intention of God that everyone should perform the duties which are prescribed for him. If he does his allotted work properly, he attains God without doubt. Dnyaneshwari, 911,18th Chapter

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Origins of Wankhede’s art can be attributed to the rich tradition of painting bestow by the J.J School of Art. The tool used by him to transcend his art is - Abstract Art. This as a tool of his creative expression is best attributed to the history of India’s modern art. The decade of 1960s and the then artists like V.S. Gaithonde, Lakshman Shrestha and S. H. Raza used abstract art as the medium of expression had made an impact on Indian art scene.

(Krishna Addressing Arjuna) so I must be worshipped in my own being. Else whatever worship is done without knowing me becomes fruitless; and, therefore, only action backed by knowledge becomes flawless. Dnyaneshwari 350,9th Chapter

Vasant Wankhede For the past 5 decades has dominated the visual art field with his meticulous dedication and rigorous but subtle hard work with experimentation. He realized his purpose in life is to be in leela ; which is opening up of ‘visual enchantment’. Leela the ‘divine play’ is the true spirit of painting and can only be identified and reached by the pious surrender of self, opines Whankade. The artist within Wankhade is shaped by his ‘introspective outlook’and openness to experience the various phases of his art life as an artist. Following his Guru, Wankhede’s excellence in painting evolved naturally. He is a Tapasvi (ascetic) who has dedicated his life to the pursuit of contemplation. In order to achieve this he practices the spiritual act of self denial. The simple truth behind this is testified in the reflection of his life. His simple abode in Goregaon where he has lived for the past 40 plus years, and abstinence from normal pleasures of material satisfaction places this maestro on a different pedestal.

Wankhede agrees that his use of abstraction was achieved through practicing landscape. In doing so he experimented by diminishing the impression of objects in his view by adding and subtracting. Wankhede enjoyed this process on the canvas and that was just the beginning for his creative explorations Serendipity- also helped Wankhede. While working at the Government press he happened to notice the overlapped shapes of colours and numerous textures produced on rough papers. This was a result of using the rough papers to clean the print rollers and when these rough papers came out of the rollers they were transformed to various forms through the mixing of inks in no particular order. As an artist these abstract prints produced by the printing ink left a lasting impression on Wankhede. …the urge to abstraction is the outcome of a great inner unrest inspired in man by the phenomena of the outside world; in a religious respect it corresponds to a strongly transcendental tinge to all notions. We might describe this state as an immense spiritual dread of space…1 - Wilhelm Worringer

At one end there was natural and manmade reality which came as the view of a landscape and at other end the scattered, abstract and futile images as ‘relics of machine’. A new ‘visual value’ was emerging for him from such neglected waste. In his childhood the ‘machine’ had already etched a liking as a magical ‘life entity’, Wankhede’s father used to ask his son to go inside a huge boiler to clean it and the boy got inside as a boy but came out as a boy fascinated and amazed by the gigantic life form as a machine as an independent entity. This, along with other vivid imagery might have remained in his subconscious, which shows its effect as an aptitude of inventiveness, especially in experimentation on various media and its successful transposition in art.

“If someone unknowingly comes in contact with a slight touch of divinity, like sometimes a subtle breeze cuddles the skin and pass in a moment. For the one who goes through this experience, the biggest achievement or even ‘world fame’ appears small and futile. Though for an artist this achievement is beneficial on a practical level, but not letting it affect the creativity is like going through an ordeal. The person who succeeds through this ordeal shines like ‘gold’”. - Vasant Wankhede 6th June 2010

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These experiments consisted of using children’s drawings in a painting, use of waste printing papers in ‘collage’ and finally use of bandage cloth and fabrics as „extrasensory’ medium of painting. Vasant Wankhede is the only doyen exponent of ‘fiber art’ in India which is oriented towards serious art expression than decoration or new media art. The tradition of clinging to pigments and their manipulations did not allow this rich form of art to grow; this orthodoxy has been responsible for making this art form less known to the Indian art field.

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Untitled Collage with Fabrics 40” x 36”

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Untitled Collage with Fabrics 40” x 36”

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Untitled Collage with Fabrics 40” x 36”

“For if the vision is clear, everything can be seen with clarity. So with the attainment of pure knowledge, it becomes easy to comprehend the essential nature of things.” Dnyaneshwari 527,18th Chapter

As per the dictionary of arts and artists “Abstract art depends upon the assumption that specifically aesthetic values reside in forms and colours, entirely independent of the subject of the work of art. This view has resulted in much art of a semi magical character,”

Untitled Collage with Fabrics 40” x 36”

The same has happened here with Wankhede’s art. He discovered the visual vocabulary around him in various materials and colour pigments, and ‘the magical’ aspect was in the transformations of the used materials into an ‘ethereal’ visual devise.

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“The term ‘abstraction’ in art has two main applications. The first describes as non representational painting that is painting which does not refer to the visible world but only to its own intrinsic concerns. The second kind of abstraction is that which ‘abstracts’ its image from the visible world.”2

Every perceived object comes with a bundle of visual elements like forms, colours, textures etc. Relationship of those elements creates certain identity; this grasp of identity helps us every time to recognize these objects and their realities. Artist always tries to go beyond such everyday realities. Painting is a kind of new reality which is the culmination of the process of mind, the perception as the whole comes in to being through all the five senses anchored by ‘vision’. This vision is not generated only through the transmission of retinal image and its percept but it is created with complete consciousness, the consciousness of a total ‘human being’. For Wankhede the consciousness is about ‘nothingness’ or ‘being blank’. This is the origin of the visual ideas which appear on picture plane. In explaining this, he considers himself as an ‘instrument’, he starts from the very basic instrument used by a painter, the brush, he says, “Brush is the extension of fingers, fingers are the extension of palm, palm is the extension of hand, hand is the extension of body, body is the extension of soul and my soul is the extension of my Guru. Therefore I am blank like a canvas; I don’t work with a theme or a subject. Whatever happens is the Guru’s wish. I don’t work on a painting, it “happens”.

Of what avail are wings of eagle if they are given to a blind man? So good actions not based on wisdom are only wasted effort. Dnyaneshwari, 306, 9th Chapter

One day when I was walking with my guru in J. J. School of Art, he suddenly spoke (‘sun of wisdom’) “That sun is visible because of this sun” (After pointing at sun in the sky he pointed towards Wankhede’s forehead) “By these words he bestowed a ‘Vision’ to me” We get to capture his career as a professional in his own words “I walked four steps in four decades (1965 to 2005) in my professional career, which started on 31st August 1965 when I had my first one man show at Taj Art Gallery. The 14 paintings exhibited in it were in black and white, water colours on handmade paper and subject was ‘Landscapes of Ruins’- old architectural monumental buildings, this first show gave me success as predicted by my guru Shankar Palsikar.” He had told me to forget colour and give him 50 paintings in black and white. “Like a sculptor he sculpted me from a shapeless stone.” In these four decades four major changes came in Vasant Wankhede’s work. 1) Black and white water colour on paper. 1965 2) In colour, oil on canvas. 3) Paper collages 1977 – paper from children’s exercise books and 4) 1990- Fabric Collages, totally abstract. This exhibition consists of his recent works that display the same vigor and versatility, but the uniqueness of this exhibition is the display of his water colors, which are on show for the first time. What makes it further appealing is the declaration from the artist himself that this is his last exhibition. He faced lot of criticism from A few viewers of abstract art, unaware of the experiential progression and nature of his work through the decades, had criticized the absence of pigment. Wankhede, through his paintings shows the world that his passion is for the discovery of the ‘unknown’ through ‘known’ - the ‘known’ aspect is sometimes the colour pigment and sometimes fabric. He is suggesting, in a way that for an artist like him, what is more important is the ‘visual sublimation’ rather than the worldly achievement. This is very much the result of his pious and subliminal approach towards his life and art; he considers this as an inheritance, which is duly acknowledged by him.

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Life = a multi fabric patched quilted blanket (Godhadi3) = ‘Birth’ is the first piece of patch with the formation starts of this ‘blanket’ and finishes with the last patch ‘the death’. Although one can’t predict its length and breadth, one can try to make it beautiful and artistic. This blanket although is ought to be made of mixed experiences having pleasant-unpleasant feelings, one can arrange them innovatively to make it attractive. We can’t predict which kind of experience we are going to go through, but with our watchfulness we can appreciate them in order to place them properly in the whole picture of life. Any experience actually is like an eternal thread, appears to be like a fragment only because of the transitory nature of events. When this awareness of ‘wholeness’ is realized, life becomes effortless, and this ease creates a sense of beauty. This experience with ease creates aesthetic contentment. The life transforms in to “Satyam – Shivam – Sundaram” (Truth is Eternal and Beautiful). This in itself is the ‘Godhadi’ of my life. - Vasant Wankhede 16th October 2010 Note -Godhadi-Traditional quilts, or thin mattresses. Work done during leisure time by women in rural Maharashtra, These are re -cycled joineries of layered fragments of old fabric, like appliqué of sorts, have running stitches of white thread which hold together the diverse pieces of cloths, creating its own regular rhythmic patterns. Essay written by Nitin Arun Kulkarni (As part of a larger essay) Content: Conversation with Vasant Wankhede References: 1. Worringer, Wilhelm, Abstraction and Empathy: A Contribution to the Psychology of Style, 1997, pg. 15 2. Duro, Paul and Greenhalgh, Michael, Essential art history, Bioomsbury, 1992,pg. 28. 3. Panikkar, Shivaji K. Baroda, August, 1998. http://www.shakukulkarni.com/godhadis.htm as accessed on 22.7.2011 4. Art and Psyche Online Journal, 2009 http://aras.org/notices/newsletter09-02.htm as accessed on 22.7.2011 5. Dandekar, S. V. (Mamasabh) Sartha Dnyaneshwari,Varkari Shikshan Sanstha, Alandi. Pg. 267, 727, 263 6. http://www.bvbpune.org/ as accessed on 21.7.2011 7. http://sanskritdocuments.org/marathi/index.html#Dnyaneshwari as accessed on 18.7.2011 8. Dasbodh, Geeta Press, Gorakhpur. Pg. 255 9. Manuscripts by the artist.

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Untitled Watercolour on Paper 34” x 23”