Striking Strokes in Watercolours

Samir, an artist from Bathinda, depicts scenes from day-to-day life in his watercolours. His works are characterised by the freshness of colour, deft handling of the brush and spontaneity of expression. Besides scenes from daily life, the artist has a special fascination for the vanishing Indian art heritage. Many of his works depict historical sites as well as various craft items which are fast disappearing under the impact of modernisation, says Subhash Parihar

BATHINDA is the fifth largest city of Punjab. But the name of the city has never been associated with art and even lesser so with modern art.Gautam Bhatia in his typical satirical style coined the term ‘early Bathinda architecture’ to denote the backwardness of the art scene of the region.

But some time ago, the scenario gradually began to change for the better. The setting up of a thermal plant unit , the establishment of a cantonment and the subsequent opening of a number of Kendriya Vidyalayas brought about a qualitative change. These institutions brought together a number of servicemen from various parts of the country. And fortunately, these servicemen included painters, sculptors, photographers and artists.

Now art exhibitions, classical music concerts are organised here regularly. One such display of water-colour drawings was held by young artist Ajay Kumar Samir recently. Samir is teaching art in a Central School in Bathinda.

This first ever one-man show in the city was inaugurated by the Jnanpith award winner, Prof Gurdial Singh. The venue was the hall of the local Teachers’ Home. The exhibits comprised 10 watercolour paintings , two drawings and one installation.

Samir, a graduate from the College of Art, Delhi, is already an established figure in his field. He has to his credit 10 one-man shows in various art galleries of Delhi, including his latest show at Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi. His bag of prizes includes the first prize from the Hungarian Embassy (1987) and Bansi Perimo Award (1992). His works are displayed in the National Gallery of Modern Art, Hotel Vasant Continental, Hotel Sidharth, etc.

Samir depicts scenes from day-to-day life in his water colours. His works are characterised by the freshness of colour, deft handling of brush and spontaneity of expression. Besides the scenes from daily life, the artist has a special fascination for the vanishing Indian art heritage. Many of his works depict historical sites as well as various craft items which are fast disappearing under the impact of modernism. The artist’s attention to minute details of forms and curves is simply marvellous.

The show included some drawings from his series of large-sized works he exhibited last year in Shridharani Gallery, New Delhi.Commenting on the drawings exhibited in Delhi, eminent artist Satish

Gujjral, wrote: "There are few (artists) whose creativity dares to walk on the edge and be able to preserve the link with the past and yet endow their work with an individual character which to my mind is the only hallmark of modernity. One such artist is Ajay Kumar Samir. His works are fluent and admirably competent. At the same time, there is an unmistakable stamp of Indianness".

Human figures are central in his drawings. They dominate the scenes by their size and play of light on them. Birds, leaves and boats form the other elements of his artistic vocabulary. In some of the works, human figures bear wings but the winged birds do not fly.

The installation created with broken doors, windows and lanterns, all painted with figures in a colour scheme in which red dominated, brought alive the destruction in the recent Gujarat earthquake. The effect was enhanced with dramatic use of light and shade. The display did not send a message of only despair — it also incorporated a note of hope. It was against the backdrop of this installation that a number of classical vocalists and instrumentalists gave their performances on the last day of the show. The artists include the flautist Pashupati Nath, a disciple of Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, and vocalist Prof Rajesh Mohan. The other two performers were B.S.L. Khandelval and Vijay Sachdeva.

The show was organised by Suresh Hans, editor of Hindi literary magazine Hastakshar.