The replacement of natural with mechanical, traditional with modern, creative with trained minds makes tribal art obsolete. Lalit Kala Akademi is celebrating the folk and tribal art works titled “Earth Song” as a reflection of preserving the roots of art.
The selection of 66 paintings of tribal art and a few sculptures among the lot created at LKA art camp held over 2013-2015 by curator Uma Nair was carried out by delicately choosing “ the strength of the composition, the beauty of using the metaphor of the story and the clarity of folk,” says Nair.
The ancient tribes used to paint their walls and decorate the huts by using the natural colours from the leaves, cow dung during festive seasons or during a celebration. As time passed, the talented or the more artistically skilled were recognised.
Works of eminent artists like Japani Shyam, who inherited the art from her father Jangarh, Venkat Ram Shyam and Ram Singh Urveti are on display. While Japani Shyam celebrates the tenacity of black, Venkat Ram Shyam unveils his prowess of deeper metaphors in surreal stances. There is also the award winning artist Putli Ganju’s work. The paintings of the Gond in Madhya Pradesh, Warli ritual painting, each one carry a unique tale. The bright hues and connecting dots and lines depict the surreal metaphors..
The ethos of art, the colours and the theme bring out the traditions of the tribes. The sculptures personify the traditional god and goddess of the tribes that are carved out from their creative minds which can never be equated with academic interpretation. Their worship of god is through sun, sea, land, fire and the bright colours used signify life which connects the nature and animals. “We come from nature and go back to nature,” says Nair, underlining the reason to cherish the roots of tribal art.
Mostly in acrylic paints on canvas, there are neither hard and fast rules nor rigid boundaries but all the animals painted usually move diagonally upwards and the horse is considered to be the powerful one.
The Akademi has decided to take the art works all over India as an initial step to preserve the art.
(The exhibition is on till November 15 at Lalit Kala Akademi, Rabindra Bhawan, New Delhi)
