AAIN_DIA_LOG

B h a s k a r H a n d e

Century UnionThe Hague

IN_DIA_LOG

Bhaskar Hande

Bhaskar Hande

Copyright

Bhaskar Hande

IN_DIA_LOG

IN_DIA_LOG

Century UnionThe Hague

CONTENT

1 Where Culture Meet2 Merging Colour3 Give and Take in Art I4 Why This Belonging5 Give and Take in Art II

Where Culture Meet

Time to time artist keeps on changing himself as wellas his persuit of creativity Quest of eternal mtegrety,complexity of the relations, crisis of generations,brings his ideas to the facts of living forever asuniversal values The process of change keeps ondecades and centuries Systems get mixed withunanswered revolutions,so does mind and thoughts wonder on thecollectivness of human where culturesmeetCulture evolves within creative mind of thecommunity artists, writers scientists and the commonmen They are the sect of culture Who�s soul standsfor their existence, who�s feelings tried almost to doevents pleasurous Collection of all that certainmoments become rich cultural treasures Who gavehis existence to the culture or time, it stands behindof new personality of new generation But manycultures wiped out by landslide of thoughtsCivilizations are lying in ruins, leaving their richdiscoveries behind like Maya, Inca from AmericanContinent, Mesapotamia, Babylonia from theContinent, Egyptian, Greek, Roman from theMediterranean, Mohon-Jo-Daro, Haruppa from Asia,etc, etc. Surviving sources of culture is in the handsof changing timeSince the evolution of war strategy, weapens andindustrial revolutions took place in history, humansoul and brain emerged as much as together forsearching their place within their circumstances Allthe factors of existence moved towards the decline of

unity But understanding the inner opposition inselfdeclimng status one has to come to point,integral part of the culture is human mind He isindividual and united in the mass Nowadays theexchange of thoughts become more broadly thanever Media are playing a much larger role in thebringing of cultures together Exchange of thoughtsare implementing systems, applied ideas are thetools of mformative universe Travelling to the onecorner to another corner of the world is developingglobal travel culture Meetings of the internationaltrade fairs is the business culture Breaking traditionsof the belonging culture is the revolutionary thoughtof culture Setting new world record is makinggesture of recorded culture Philosophing anti art orpro - art by the aesthetic value is academic cultureThe body of the culture is moving mysteriously Wewon�t see when we are the organs of itSince I tried to understand my culture, I am in thethinking process of another developing culture Mybelonging culture is hidden in my childhood. Inconscious I carry cultures on my back and paintingout to another culture What I owe to my childhood,it becomes a nice scenario in the last fifteen years bywriting poems and painting canvases I come to de-solve myself in another culture while translatingpoems Deep into soul, where I am only an alonestand, there is a world of visual fantasy, enormousspace, packaged volume, heavy loaded black cloudsand gangways through into the blue ocean andgreen fields

I am facing half globe India to Europe is quarterdistance of the earth circumference It might be aradius of art, but culturally it is long distance that Iam trying to reduce in my ordinary everyday lifeProcess is going on, so the creativity is in mypaintings, sculptures, poems and visuals Differencescan be measured in metres and litres scale can belaid on from India to Holland There are alwayssimilarities and differences so culture has its identityand personality with its original qualities Still it canbe seen as you go deep into it Living in anotherculture is a question of personal interest, matter ofbroader views, circumstances of survival and freedomof mind. How much you obsorve and reproducewhile experiencing and practising the time. Whenyou meet the people you exchange the thoughts, Ifyou see the things you communicate with the soul.We seem to be separated culturally but Europe andAsia are under one astronomical roof The sun, themoon, the star positions are equally nearby. Themyths, the immigration roots are laid by centuriesalong with the evolved roots of our culture, so it hasbasic roots.Only today we are divorced more in the numbers.Buddha to Christ, Marco Polo to Pamni, Alexander toDzenghis Khan, Marx to Gandhi Those are themilestones of our cultured continent Where culturesmeet

Merging Colour

Civilized cultures had been absorb many colours todecorate their spiritual space, living rooms, publicplaces, or even their inner fantasy world in and outColours always in sight all around you, where everyou see them or blinks get into your imaginationThese colours are merging in the everlasting processof flowery civilizations.Artist is the evergreen product of producing coloursout of notion with his identity of being part of hissociety He places the views in and out. Hisintegration with solitude drives smoothly in the fieldof colours. The edges become colourful borders ofthe personality, the patterns are more harmonious,though he lays sometimes contrast schemesArtists are travelling around the globe these days in agreat interest of fulfilling their emptiness and desireWhat do they carry with them. What are theylooking for, why do they displace themselves is theresearch for rest, the answer is never ever incomplete.Artists spread the colours all over. It dilutes in time.Shades, tone, shadows try to identify somebody�sdeep quest of being In this exhibition artists aredeveloping phenomena and varnishing their coloursafter emerging in different cultures They have beenhaving burden on their shoulders in the sack filledwith many colours They place themselves in differentpositions, places and countries on their will Theytravel in the interest of searching inspirativecolourfields in each others cultures In Holland thereare many green fields are very flat. The rest of Europeshows a great deal of spectrum, cloudy skies, misery

mist, dark woodlands and snowy fields, but manyartists look for greys In India yellow, orange, red,magenta, flower valleys and deserts are to be seen aswell as blue sky and green mountains with purplemoonlight Within the differences in culture artists

GIVE AND TAKE IN ART 1

Since time immemorial, culture has thrived on artisticgive and take. Even if we go as far back as Mohen-jo-Daro or ancient Egypt, we find artists travelling toother lands in order to further develop their art. Wefind that the artist has always thrown himself intothe tumult of new ideas. The entire span of thehistory of art consists of the rise of variegatedcultures. The history of art is hidden in the nooks andcrannies of cultural traditions. During my stay inHolland, I discovered this not only in Indian culturebut also in the culture of other countries. Whenarchaeological investigation uncovers layers beneathlayers of the past, pages of history can only then befilled. As we read those pages, we see before oureyes like moving pictures, the images of a society, itscustoms, and their transformation into a culturaltradition. These provoke us to think further. We startcomparing looking for resemblances, contrasts,differences, equivalences and endlessly discuss them.As we go on exploring these at innumerable levels,we recall at times the prayers sung at school, thespeeches made about the struggle for freedom atelocution competitions, the glorious careers offreedom-fighters, the teachings of the saints, storiesand tales from history and mythology, schools ofphilosophy and ideology and soforth. At the same time, one sees that in thecountries of Europe, there are tourists and studentswho undertake long journeys in order to see differentcultures for themselves. They make efforts tounderstand other cultures and to extend their own

knowledge. They try tostudy the finer aspects of different cultures.The present experiment was conceived whileexchangingideas on Indian democracy and fifty years ofindependent India with contemporary fellow-artists.Out of these discussions emerged some concreteideas: enabling young artists from Holland to work inPune for a period of two months during which theywould interact with young artists in Pune and discusstopics of mutual interest with them. Similarly, toarrange an exhibition of artists from Pune in the cityof the Hague in Holland. In this last decade of thetwentieth century, the work of Indian artists is beingregularly exhibited in Europe and cultural exchange isincreasingly taking place. There is economic give andtake, and there is interpersonal give and take. Thesesigns indicate that in the twenty first century EuropeandIndia will come even closer. This has been asignificant decade for trade. In terms of culturalexchange, too, progress is being made. When welook at the work of contemporaryartists we find convincing proof of this.In this process of artistic give and take, emphasis hasbeen given on the younger generation because theywill play the vital role in any such exchange.Most of the artists in this project are in their thirties.Only such artists have been selected who, aftercompleting their academic training about four or fiveyears ago, have accepted the challenge of an

uncertain future and have committed themselves tothe profession of being painters, sculptors, or artists.They have dedicated their future life to art. Theirselection has been made with care, bearing thesepoints in mind. Artists from India have also beenselected with the same criteria in mind. The onlyexception is Shri Dilip Chitre. Shri Chitre was bornbefore India became independent. He hasexperienced the fullperiod of fifty years since independence In his work,poetry as well as painting, all these five decades arefully reflected Things that emerge in discussions withhim provide guide lines to the new generation and inparticular to the young artist of todayThe rationale of this experiment is that if youngartists travel abroad, they are able to see their ownculture through the eyes of other people Even beforethis happens as they experience an unfamiliar world,they have to face some critical incidents and events,and the experience they go through moulds themdifferently Since the Middle Ages of Europeanhistory, Holland has had a glorious tradition ofpainting India has a rich heritage in all the fine artsFor the last fourteen years, I have been living inHolland myself I studied European Art for two yearsand obtained a diploma Each one of the pastfourteen years, I have spent four to five months inIndia This being my profession, I love to exhibit mywork in different countries I have taken steps in thatdirection with some definite ideas that have beenturned into decisions Exhibitions had to be planned

so that there would not be sameness in action, norepetition One must make one�s own experienceavailable to others One must introduce one�s cultureto younger people One must unravel one�s owntradition to others In such a process, one has toconstantly swim among currentsof changing thoughtThis exhibition shows different aspects of art Thenewgeneration of artists in Holland does not like to berestricted to traditional oil painting So rather than becontent with conventional graphics, sculpture, orpainting they lean more towards the new schoolwhose credo is to explore by going off the beatenpath Enk Jan Lightvoet and Jessy Rahman are twoartists who explore new ways Jessy loves nature Hetries not only to bring out the unique flavour of fruitbut also to project its natural aspect Both theseartists have studied different aspects of sculptureExploring new ways in painting are Harold de Breeand Jose den Hartog The medium chosen by Haroldis completely Indian He has used the instrument usedfor engraving names on metal utensils On the otherhand, the woman-artist Jose has used a saree topaint a human silhouette Torn Vink is an imaginativewho does not get bogged down in problems of themedium His stress ison imaginative arrangement of his visual subject toreveal its inner character In this exhibition he hasdealt with animals, especially the dog The woman-artist Marolijn van der mey has drawn children. After

her arrival in India she was struck by the expressivefaces of children and she has paid special attentionto their innocent staring eyes. Among the Indianartists from Pune selected for this exhibition is SharadKapuskar who shows a control ot technique farbeyond his age His hand has great facility and he isequally capable of delicate as well as rugged workHis sculptures should have a special appeal for hisEuropean fellow artists Swati Kapuskar�s term cottaminiatures convey the sheer joy and exuberance ofform that attract artists to this medium The graphicsof Ashok Patil and Sphurti Patil bear the mark of boththe Indian tradition and the universal tradition inprint making Their skill is conveyed in their use oftheir medium The work of Sandip Sonawane displaysa use of colour, shades, and tonalities that belong tothe image of the cosmos in the Marathi culturaltradition Sandip Sonawane uses texture on differentsurfaces such as canvas and paper to convey differentnuances of feeling in his application of paint

Why this belonging

In India I have been asked very often: how did youget interested in Tukaram? This question came fromcommon persons, reporters, critics and enthusiastswho know the subject and where surprised.My journey led me from Umbraj to Bombay andthence to The Hague (Holland). I stayed in Umbrajfor sixteen years, nine years in Bombay and fourteenyears in Holland. All these years I dwelled amongdifferent peoples, struggling to survive.I led a restless life. but never stopped reading andwriting. There were many byways beside thehighway. In the process I continually kept memoriesof my village, seeming so attractive in the rat-race ofcity life and the absence of my mother-tongueamong different peoples in foreign surroundings.These reasons caused me to become introverted. Butthe distance made me more aware of theimpressions, of my childhood memories from thecountryside, myculture and religion, which became more prominentin my thoughts. So they entered into my writing. Myfirst collection of poems DASHAK (decade) was partlyinfluenced by these impressions.Tukaram�s roots are deep in this earth. When I firstrealised this 1 was in a period of growingunderstanding, my eyes began to see, my mind wasgetting impressions, I was breathing fresh air. I sawTukaram Dyaneshwar in the theatre, in kirtanperformances, in the pilgrimage to Pandharpur bymy parents. A small statue of Vitthal and Rukhministanding by the God Khandoba, paintings andstatues of varkari�s and saints inside and outside the

temples. These impressions were engraved in mymind from childhood.At first when I read Tukaram, his work was very hardto understand for me. I kept on trying regularly. Atthe time 1 was beginning to apprehend the power ofwriting. This was in 1979, as I was taking lessons atthe Art Academy. My visuals where accompanyingthe words, or the other way round. Now it seemsdifficult to decide which was first, the visuals or thewords. I was interested in drawing, but did notpractice much. I was mostly doing stageperformances. In my secondary school examination Ichoose Art History than Mathematics. I was not sureof further academic education, so to make a living Ijoined a firm producing film posters in Bombay. Withmy natural talent for fine arts I began to draw largefaces of movie stars, and painting them in oil paint.At the same time I was admitted to the Art Academy.I supposed to attend evening courses of literature. Iwas avidly reading all kinds of new writing. In myapplied art, literature and the visual arts becamemore elaborate, supporting each other. I won StateAwards and people took an interest in my work.Drama, cinema, world trade fairs, literary publicationsand new circles of friends occupied me day andnight. After five years of advertising course I obtainedmy diploma of Applied Arts. Now was the time tobegin to understand Tukaram�s Gatha. I wentthrough an unstable period of my life, hopes andconfidence. I had come to know another world.Advertising was a glamourous field, but I wanted to

obtain a more complete knowledge of my capacitiesand intellect. I began to study advanced arts inforeign cultures and made a move in that direction.This is how I came to Holland. From 1983 to 1987 Istayed in a completely different culture, with adifferentlanguage and atmosphere. There were shocks onseveral levels. In thevillage I was a farm-boy, in the city I was a countrybum and in that foreign country I was an Indian. Ibecame conscious that I was nowhere, not amongmy own and my state became increasingly pinched.Whenever I got a chance I visited the farm. Why isthis longing? I thought over and over. Where on thisearth will I not get the feeling of being a stranger? Itried to fill an answer to this question. Slowly I beganto understand the spiritual harmony betweenTukaram and Vithoba. I began to see the meaning ofnot to belong to people or places. This is notenjoyable or unenjoyable. neither to be a devotee oran atheist. Then I started to believe in my being.During the last fourteen years I have been travellingbetween Europe and India. I have seen many aspectsof life, but I cannot answer the question why I live inEurope and not in India or other way around. Onemight say this is a dual situation, but I do notconsider it as such. I search for meaning in theparadox of these traditions. They become a mixtureof philosophies, cultures and traditions, out of whichgrows a new meaning of my life. Devotee and deitywill stand on one level, like Tukaram and Vithoba.

Visual and poetry together, this concept comes outwhen I present DASHAK (Decade) with exhibition. Ihad selected ten poems to make painting out ofthem. One of the poems, ! realize the form ofVitthal. In the process of reading Tukaram�s Gatha,the form grown up vividly. Images, forms, symbolsand metaphor which Tukaram described in his workcomes again and again. It inspired me. 1 produceddrawing, paintings, sculptures, in graphics: litho�s,silk screens. I have worked regularly under certaincircumstances.I live in Europe last fourteen years. Europe isdeveloped in visual art since fifteenth century.Holland is land of Rembrandt, Vermeer, van Gogh,Piet Mondriaan and many other masters. I work hereand exhibit works simultaneously. The cultural face ofEurope is changing. The art world come to the pointto nowhere. All the ism turning themselves around.Flashing power emerging universally thancontinently. Malevich, Paul Klee, Picasso, Miro, Dali,Henry Moore, have passed by. They have broughtpeople to the museums to have spiritual experience.Now art scene desperately seeking new streams.

I saw many images and forms in the dialoguebetween Tukoba and Vithoba. Those images andforms I put together with the colour in the project�Your form is my creation�. It does not belong to anyparticular ism or styles it stands for its own. It isprocess of meditation of a visual world.Visual art developed in Europe over five centuries, as

per development and growth, it has up and down.Somewhere change takes place, we never knowabout in our life time but we walk near by.

Give and Take in Art 2001A Reawakening

A Reawakening1 graduated from high school in 1974, with arthistory as one of my subjects in the final gradeAlong with several other students 1 had chosen arthistory instead of mathematics Before that time, arthistory was probably not part of the curriculum Thissuggestion by my art teachers turned out to be themost important one in my lifeMy primary schooling and my vocational training inart were in India 1 then did my degree course in artin Holland I�ve been a student of art history fornearly thirty years, and a practising artist for twenty-five And occasionally, I�ve put things into words1 recall this today because 1 saw on television howthe Taliban in Afghanistan had destroyed a statue ofthe Buddha, sculpted in the Gandhara style Generallyspeaking, the cultural assets of many countries are inthe embrace of just such a destructive mindsetInstead of preserving these valuable artifacts forposterity, these reactionary rulers and religiousfanatics carry out insensitive acts of destruction Dothese people commit such acts because they don�tfully understand what they�re doing?When you walk through museums in countriesaround the world, you realize at once how importantthis cultural legacy is for the coming generationsThese dated places and artifacts keep shedding lighton the details that make up the life of those periodsA single man�s life amounts to several decades atmost That life, caught up in its own development,seems so limited when compared to a cultural legacy

When thinking has a limited horizon, it can betransformed into a cruel and destructive force theBuddha statue incident makes that clear A culturaland intellectual vacuum forms in the wake of eventslike these. The impetus for further such actions andreactions remains alive.What creative human energy must have gone intomaking this statue. That effort has been giving joy toenthusiasts for centuries. Doesn�t this unfeeling actagainst an ancient culture prove how degraded inthe name of religion-man has become?The Ajanta, Ellora, Karla and Elephanta caves inwestern India were carved - with the Gandhara styleas a background - under the influence of Buddhist,Hindu and Jain religious traditions. In the last twomonths I�ve come to realize how inspiring theseancient sculptures can be.I was depressed after seeing that barbaric act inAfghanistan this year. I�d never seen the caves andsculptures near my birthplace. It has been a longjourney since I left India some twenty years ago togain recognition in the art world. But, as I set out totake an overview, I fell witness to the wantondestruction of centuries old works of art; I wassaddened. And so the thoughts that were crowdingmy mind during the past four months moved me togo and see the Ajanta-Ellora caves with my nowmature eyes.Large sculptures of the Buddha, Siva-Parvati, Vishnu-Laxmi, and huge statues of elephants and lions, talesof the chatak (a bird), colorful paintings of

courtesans-all these gave lustre to my ideas aboutthe ancient. A saddened mind was heartened,strengthened once again.My inspirations are many. But it seems as though mywork today is slowly emerging from a fog and takingshape, fashioned from an inchoate mind andinspired by these artifacts. I became more aware ofthis while seeing the Ajanta-Ellora caves. It�s hard tofathom what is hidden at the root of consciousness,which makes one draw, paint and create sculpture.As one makes one�s way through the reaches oftime, one keeps looking for outlines hidden from ourview for centuries. One sees the banks of rivers,exposing what countless floods have left behind. In�a poem one can give voice to the clamor ofemotions. A painting is made with life�s experiences.A sculpture can bring transcendence into being.With me are one Dutch and one Flemish artists. Theirexperience is different. Their ability to looksearchingly at people is evident in their drawings.The pictures they drew after seeing the Ajanta, Elloraand Karla caves are highly expressive. The mind of anartist was the same in ancient times. It was the samethroughout man�s history. And it is the same even inmodem times. Only his method is different. The flowof knowledge and experience through works of artawakens an artist�s impulse, and gives rise to newcreations. The flow starts once again. This processkeeps recurring. One becomes a vehicle for culture,man�s nature, his thoughts and ideas.In this exhibition you�ll see how three artists,

expressing themselves in different styles andcontexts, have come together. For two monthsthey�ve traveled and produced their work. The viewercan decide what is being manifest in this experiment.Bhaskar Hande(Trans-creation from the Marathi by JayantDeshpande)

Bhaskar Hande was born in 1957 inUmbraj, district Pune, India.He lives and works in The Hague, TheNetherlands since 1983. He is aversatile artist.His ambitions to be busy with veriousdisciplines of art, identifies him as thepoet, painter, sculptor and graphicdesigner. He published three books ofcollection of poems in 1990, 1995 and2001. The project �Your form is mycreation� is his visual tribute toseventeen century Bhakti poet�Tukaram� has become first in it�s kindof Indian history. Hande�s Indianness isnot ethnicity worn on the sleeve; it isthe very substance of his culturalidentity in multicultural globalcommunity of artists. Hande has beenliving many years in Europe,his cultural signature has remained thesame. Apart from his developmentHande thinks day to day life, living andworking in another country and culturethan where he grew up. This processgives him creative impulses; everyyear he lives a couple of months inIndia, vice versa in Europe. He exhibitsin India and in Europe. The change insurrounding keeps his thoughtsconstant in process. His worksrepresent meditative fall of hismerging colours and changingenvironments. The colours becomebrighter and brighter, forms are clearthan ever and words are more

mysteries.