Some sand, some colour, some castles
RAISING A toast to the heritage of Rajasthan, artists from across the world participated in the Jaipur Heritage International Festival which concluded this past week. If it's pink it has to be Jaipur but young Shan Bhatnagar has taken the colour of the royals to the lanes of Jaipur where the colour may have lost its shine but still speaks volumes of the legacy of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh.
Shan's Coat of Pink captures the by lanes of Jaipur, the houses of rangrez, the dilapidated buildings of thathera (utensil makers) community and of course the old havelis and temples of the walled city in water colour. His style is realistic with dollops of poetic elegance. Set against the crisp and clear blue sky the paintings impart a different feel at different times of the day. "It is a representation of the way people view the Walled City. Plus it has an impact on the way people treat their heritage. A graduate in Business Economics from Germany, Shan is not formally trained. The 25-year-old is more famously known for his large Krishna icons of Shri Nath ji. Shan layers his paintings with hand embroidery, fabric and jewels.
Connoisseurs happy
"When I painted the house of the rangrez, he thought I am some fool wasting my time. But when I completed my work, he was astonished to find that his house looks so beautiful. People have started taking pride in places they are living in. It is heartening to see them clean their walls regularly." And the way the collection has caught the fancy of the connoisseurs of art his effort is worth it.
Known for its colours, K.K. Agrawal has captured the hues of Paris of India through his lens in 38 exquisite pieces of art. His canvas captures the real Rajasthan, the Rajasthan of sands, the architectural grandeur of the state and the state of affairs in the day of a common man who leads a harsh life but wears his colourful soul on his sleeve.
His works encompasses the snapshots of the highest and lowest part of the Jantar Mantar, Jal Mahal in rainy season, southern side of the Jaigarh wall, which reminds of the Great Wall of China. What really stands out is the bird's-eye view of the façade of Jaipur in a mind-boggling size of 23 feet by 2.5 feet. "It is a combination of 16 different frames combined on the computer," says Agrawal, a jeweller by profession but dabbling into horticulture, design and publication as well.
Taking a diagonally opposite view is the Denmark photographer Torben Huss. Huss has dared to picture the desert beauty in black and white and has succeeded in capturing grey shades, which many fail to fathom in the glaze of colour. The shadows of women walking on the hot sands bring to light the nature's unkind ways and the wrinkles on the faces highlight the resilience of the common Rajasthani. "I live in Copenhagen, a city with a very fast life but when I came to Rajasthan some three decades back I found the place languishing at a slow pace striking a resonance with my soul. Though I have shot it in colour as well but I believe the real picture of the State comes out in black and white only."
ANUJ KUMAR
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