Life in black & white

Many young artists are exploring monochromatic hues to portray
an array of emotions, writes Surekha Kadapa Bose

The romance with charcoal continues in the works of Ajay De and (right) Yuvraj Patil. Gautam Patole (other three paintings appearing below), however, occasionally uses colour and other mediums to highlight some features on his canvas

THERE is something awe inspiring and powerful about black-and-white imagery, which calms the vivacity of colour. In the world of art, every artist happens to dabble in monochrome — either working with charcoal, ink, pencil and then goes ahead to make peace with colours! Then, there are others who choose black and white as their muse.

"Charcoal...my wand of magic, breathing life into my paper of feelings, free from the bondage of traditional paints, emoting...expressing...exactly what my heart wants...in my art," is how Mumbai-based artist Ajay De explains his longing for black and white.

Kolkata-born Ajay, who spent his childhood listening and reading Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s works, says, "After my stint in art school, my only aim was to be different from others. So, I started with charcoal. As I progressed, I realised the strength of this medium. Since then, I have remained faithful to it."

In a world screaming of colour, the B & W brigade have a following. Consider the world of M.C. Escher, the Dutch graphic artist, who worked with black ink, or the British artist Aubrey Beardsley, who also preferred black ink. Pablo Picasso’s famous work, Guernica, done in response to the bombing of Guernica, a Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes during the Spanish Civil War, expressed the anguish of the victims in black. Picasso, in several of his other works too, used black, white and grey paint to set a sombre mood for expressing pain and chaos.

Among the contemporaries, Frank Auerback, a German-born British painter, works exclusively in black and white. Sent away to Britain by his parents to escape the Nazis when he was barely eight, Frank feels he can emote best in monochromes.

Currently based in Mumbai, young artist Shiva Sanjari shares similar emotions. Born and brought up in the 1980s in Teheran, she says, "I am from a generation, which experienced a revelation, eight years of war and a kind of immigration."

Her paintings are peopled with women, who look helpless, scared and living a life of ennui, with no expectation of change. She says, "An artist’s work reflects his or her experiences in life. I was brought up watching war, seeing the suffering of people, which I feel can’t be expressed in colours. In charcoal or black pencil, I can show the world of pain."

Continuing she says, "Women in my works are not only those who have felt the pain of death but there are also some bored women, who have everything — money, well-placed children and servants. But they don’t know what do with their lives. There is no challenge or excitement. So it is through the use of black and white I show their boredom."

For some others, black and white portrays romance. There are several Indian artists, who use these colours to represent life, festival, rhythm and motion. Anyone who has seen the series of line drawings of dancing feet by late K.K. Hebbar will understand the beauty in these colours. The swirling skirts, the ghungrus on their anklets, the outstretched arms of the dancer bring alive the sketches in black ink. 

The younger generation comprising artists like Sanjay Singh from Bihar, Yuvraj Patil, Datta Bansode from Latur and any others, who have stuck to black and white combination. Sanjay’s Buddha charcoal has a serene look. Same is the case with Datta who, too, specialises in sketching Buddha and his devotees in charcoal. The white-robed Lord looks divinely benevolent.

Another young artist from Mumbai, Gautam Patole says, "I am able to bring alive my paintings with charcoal. I don’t think I will be able to get so much depth with the help of colours though occasionally I use colours and other mediums to highlight some feature of the figures on my canvas. But for me, black and white has an unknown romance to it".

As Ajay says, "There is extraordinary beauty in this combination. To you, it may look black and white but to me, it is absolutely colourful with its many moods, shades and depth. There is peace and tranquility in these colours."

Both Ajay and Gautam add a dash of acrylic or oil colours like a dot of red sindoor on the forehead of a woman, a line of blue to show Mother Teresa, brown door frame behind a school going child etc. to highlight a particular aspect. They use different textures and shades to emphasise their work. These artists have shown that black and white has a vast treasure of beauty and huge scope to explore its depth.

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