Vibrant colours, exotic detail
and a folk-art-like frontal faces whose large white flattened eyes looked
directly at me, was how I encountered Jayashree Burman’s mythical universe at
Lalit Kala Academy, presented by Art Alive Gallery. I decided to view the
exhibition from top to bottom and was able to see her earlier work first, which
allowed me to reflect on the extent to which Jayshree has explored the more
western oriented ideas of modern art, towards a manifestation of her Bengali
antecedents; searching for an idiom which will nuance her own peculiar identity
within this. Ina Puri’s essay reveals that given the background she came from, Jayshree
has led a rather unconventional life and in her own way is quietly spirited
rather than meekly accepting the traditional ideals her family’s culture espoused.
Women in India
She draws in situ while
travelling; never takes photographs, confessing that she does not know how to.
In her studio she then translates the people she has seen around her and drawn.
They are people like you and me, her maid, the dhobi and panwalla or anyone
else she encounters who become integral to her mythical universe, where she
presents her everyday world, seen though the perspective of senses moulded
through traditional lore and its iconography. I found this interesting for even
if externally we have adopted the sensibilities of a western world through their
steel and glass high rises, malls and a culture that is reminiscent of an industrial
and a digital civilization, we have lived with these inherited God and Goddesses
far longer than the brutal icons of our modern world - a reminder that those centuries of ritual are
not that easy to erase.
However, the physical indicators
of the contemporary world are missing. We do not see anything that immediately
locates the work in this present era. If you look deeper you will see the
relative freedom with which Burman interprets the Gods and Goddesses because
she does not start out to paint one. The starting point could well have been a
sister-in-law or a friend, but while working, the form becomes infused with notions
that emerge from deep within her reservoir of memory and habit, evoking ideas
reminiscent of idols and images that she grew up with. These are then presented
through a visual language and technique that she has evolved and is comforted
by. The loosely painted background is worked intricately, but again loosely
with pen and ink and does not speak of the discipline or power and accomplishments
of the inherited gods and goddesses that she represents. Here Jayashree is
perhaps questioning this world versus ours where we pray to them as stone idols
as opposed to respecting each other as manifestations of this spirit.
To visually locate Burman’s heavily
decorated watercolours in an art milieu that is preoccupied with a material
world, concept art, installations and digital media is virtually impossible. But
scratch the surface and there are subtle resonances of this in the way she
works. The randomly painted watercolour base and
restless scratching of the ‘Rotring’ pen on the painted surface are indicative
of the influence of a frenzy that has gripped us all. This leads to a
perception that her art is an escape into a mythical universe where she does
not have to acknowledge this, but can inhabit the world of memories, healing
old wounds and reconciling with the enormous changes that have been forced upon
us in a bid to compete with a world that does not have cognizance of this
deeper spiritual connect.
The problem that I have with this
imagery is that it is really not exploring the outer world enough and therefore
is distanced from its realities, both physical and emotional. While she does
acknowledge this rather perfunctorily, she appears to be out of sync with the
aesthetics that govern our everyday living and inhabits a world of imagination
almost as if it’s too much for her to bear. It is a personal choice, but one
which positions her work more in terms of nostalgia for the exotic, a past that
has long gone, rather than a tapestry of the exciting contemporary world. The
culture and physical dimensions of life today have changed so much; does she not
wish to explore these nuances at all?
Guy de Maupassant in commenting
upon the imposing presence of the newly built Eiffel tower in Paris
