The mind of Prabhakar Barwe

The hanger an unremarkable commonplace object fascinates painter Prabhakar Barwe around March 7 1995 He juxtaposes a huge hanger with other objects chair flower fruit in an enamel on canvasAs he completes the work a little later Barwe writes April 25 about the exploration that the hanger may lead to at the conceptual level The idea is to create something new by synchronizing my abstract tradition with todays representational modern world For that one should be able to digest both wellI am happy to be able to work in that direction the paralong selfsuggestion is a scribble from Barwes diary written a few months before he passed away Had it not been for his untimely death he would have lived up to the promise in the note From now on up to the beginning of monsoons I propose to work on water colours onlyhellip I have all the material I just need to concentrate and continue to work On March 16th his 83rd birth anniversary Barwes diaries correspond beautifully with his active years 197195 in which he ceaselessly experimented with form space and objectsA portrait of BarwePages from Barwes sofar unpublished 62 handwritten diaries 300page Honesty Deluxe nonruled notebooks that he unfailingly bought from Girgaum have been excerpted in the newlyreleased book ChitraVastuvichar roughly translates as Thoughts on the artobject which compiles the painters writings in Marathi Fiftytwo diaries were recently exhibited in Inside the Empty Box commemorative showcase of the pioneer modern painters canvases watercolours sculptures and poetry at the National Gallery of Modern ArtPublishercurator Jesal Thacker who has retrieved Barwes works from his family and friends feels the diaries have an unmatched openness about them How many painters write so coherently about their choice of the medium use of colours feelings while being on a particular work and the failure in doing justice to a specific concept Barwes place in Indian visual art is irreplaceable because his approach is unusually egalitarian his diary jottings allow access to a supremely private cognitive space that many creatorsinnovators never wish to bare also they are works of art deserving an English translation to be relayed to a wider art worldPicsBodhana Arts and Research Foundation Ashish RajeThe diaries follow an academics discipline and an interlocutors warmth treating the reader as an equal They were not written for an audience but they are interactive and chatty by default because Barwe believed in dialogue In some sketchesgraphsgrids Barwe literally charts the transition of objects into forms spelling out each juncture of evolution the journey of the red hibiscus flower is particularly enchanting especially the way he ties it up with the Ganpati AtharvashirshHe also deconstructs metaphysical concepts in a nonesoteric parlance Truth has infinite doors what is true visually is also true from every other point of view A painting is primarily meant for the self but a good painting doesnt allow the self to be projected in it coupled with quirky illustrations As if he owes an explanation to the viewer he illuminates why certain themesobjects dry leaves fruits buildings safety pins clouds sparrows stones crows play on his mind at a given point in timePublishercurator Jesal Thacker seen with the new book ChitraVastuvichar which pays homage to his diaries and a diary note on the essence of Tantric artPublished by Bodhana Arts and Research Foundation and Popular Prakashan the 528page ChitraVastuvichar Rs 795 is a good mix of thoughtprovoking archival material like 30odd poems correspondence with friends selfaddressed post cards selfportraits republished articles on contemporary art practice a recall of his experience in the US and also the stint with weavers at Varanasi The painter explains in the form of a soliloquy why he veered away from realism in his JJ School days and what attracted him to the miniature painting He shares his transitory adherence to the Tantric art tradition from 1965 onwards which he found limiting and ritualistic by the end of 1970 He writes on the amorphousness of abstract art stating that people can read meaning into nonfigurative forms only if they are willing to apply fresh parameters of appreciation before declaring their popular preference for a realistic traditional landscape or a portraitBarwes iconic Kora Canvas 1990 dealt with his creative process and his choice of the abstractionist style The new compilation edited by Hansodnya Tambe Madhav Imaratey and Hemant Karnik includes Barwes comments on the goings on in the world of visual arts some which are quite severe He comes down very heavily on the lack of visual art literacy in Maharashtra He feels the literary word dominates the social discourse in the state which weakens the Marathi minds ability to either respond to visual motifs or produce art that meets international standards In one piece titled Kalakshetratil Atmavancha Selfdeprivation in the field of arts he points at the disservice done by Maharashtrians especially the middle class to themselves by failing to acknowledge their lack of tools for appreciating the visual arts Barwe feels Maharashtra has not produced greats other than painter V S Gaitonde and poet Arun Kolatkar because it subscribes to naiumlve mythical verbose concepts that do not give birth to resonant lifesustaining artAbout Mumbais elite art circles he feels the international repute earned by stalwarts whose works are exhibited and auctioned at foreign destinations is an illusion created by vested interests He has strong opinions on how art should be valued and priced by the patrons He is also highly dismissive of the newspaper review circuit ndash critics whose criticism is based on ignoranceBarwe is distinctly apolitical in his writings and art practice he feels true classic art cannot emerge if the artist is bound by a social or political ideology For him an artist should be committed to art and art alone and any other consideration can not only spoil the work of art but lead to flat propagandist works It is interesting to note that none of his works have a political overtone For instance the note on 31st December 1992 when Mumbai was burning in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition evokes wonderment about the universal passage of time and the possibilities of experimentation with the advent of a fresh calendarThe front page cover of ChitraVastuvichar has Barwes Mumbaidatelined untitled mazelike representation completed at 11 pm on December 11 1975 ndash a time when civil unrest was at its peak in Bombay as the state of national Emergency engulfed India As the joke goes When Barwe was teased by his fraternity about his lack of a declared political leaning he had a stock line in his defense I live in Shiv Srushti which was an oblique reference to the name of his housing colony in Kurla but could also mean in jest that he was inclined towards the Shiv SenaChitraVastuvichar is as impersonal as it is apolitical There are rare references to his wifedaughter his Nagaon childhood rural setting etched only to underline the impact on the creative consciousness personal letters have loads of allusions to art circle news The painter doesnt mention his falling health or his being in and out of hospitals towards the end of 1995 In fact friends who visited him as an ailing patient recall an everalert Barwe who only spoke of chitra and vastu till his last breathSumedha RaikarMhatre is a culture columnist in search of the subtext You can reach her at sumedharaikargmailcomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates