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Tiger that roams Colaba has dots, no stripes

Updated on: 11 August,2009 09:05 AM IST  | 
Anjana Vaswani |

It wasn't until the 1980s that members of the Gond tribe were introduced to the idea of painting on paper. with some encouragement from a Colaba art gallery owner, this tribal art form uses BEST buses and traffic signals for inspiration

Tiger that roams Colaba has dots, no stripes

It wasn't until the 1980s that members of the Gond tribe were introduced to the idea of painting on paper. with some encouragement from a Colaba art gallery owner, this tribal art form uses BEST buses and traffic signals for inspiration

Given that the name of the tribe is derived from the word, "Kond" ("green mountains" in a local dialect), it's no surprise that this tribe that's native to Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh shares a close bond with nature.

Agriculture and farming were key occupations of the community that, some believe, form South Asia's largest tribe. And so, animals, rivers, hills and especially trees, which are perceived as the centre of life and the abode of spirits, form central themes. But Radhika Gupta, proprietor of Moonriver gallery, sees a considerable
advantage in extending the art form to accommodate new themes and adorn modern objects of utility. "We hope to widen its scope and empower the artists. Profits from this exhibition will go towards NGOs, and help arrange similar exhibitions with members of other tribal groups," she says of the exhibit titled, Jungle Comes
to Town.u00a0

Gond artists have a distinctive style of painting that uses traditional motifs, dots, lines, curves and surface textures


On her blog, designer Aditi Prakash, who has previously worked with Gond artists to develop toys and a story book, says she hopes to "introduce the rich visual content of the Gond world to the mainstream art and design world." She describes the ongoing exhibition as an attempt to present "some of the best Gond paintings in a way that allow them to become part of modern-day interiors." "For some of the artworks, we have shifted the emphasis from subject to texture, so while the texture dominates the canvas, the subject eventually emerges through it," Aditi explains.

With an extensive variety on display, it's little wonder that SoBo shoppers have to struggle to pick their favourites from the collection on display. Radhika highlights the intricate details of the black-and-white paintings she favours (Rs 8,000). Aditi tells us she loves the colourful city-life series (Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000), drawing our attention to one, which at first glance, seems to depict a farmer riding a bull, but in which, Aditi points out, "the artist has morphed the image of a motorcycle into the image of the bull, because the bull is the mode of transport they understand."




Jungle Comes To Town is on till August 20, at Moonriver Store, The Courtyard, SP Centre, 41/44 Minoo Desai Road, Colaba.u00a0
Call: 66385460 / 66385461


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