Word Picture

At the elemental level, art exists because it appeals. This post is an attempt to capture an oil-on-canvas painting in my words. Will the image I evoke and the real work match?

Appreciation of paintings is a very nascent development in my art appreciation litany. I visited the National Gallery of Modern Art with a passionate student of arts and gained a new perspective on how to look at paintings. The piece I am writing about is an art print I bought at the gallery. It is an untitled painting from the Evening in Benaras series by Manu Parekh. I have always admired realistic paintings and enjoy looking at Raja Ravi Verma’s or Amrita Shergil’s work. However, when I was choosing an art print for my room, I felt that looking at realistic paintings day after day will not unearth new mysteries. So I chose a painting which borders on the abstract. 

The painting is a panoramic scene of the Banaaras ghats. It is done in earthy colours. The sky is made of shades of mustard yellow, brown, ochre, burnt sienna and umber. Two trees stand out against the sky, above the skyline of temples and sundry buildings. The trees are distinguished by their shape which is the basic tree shape that children learn to draw. The colour is dark containing shades of brown and deepest green. The painting shows four small temples at the river bank. The temples and the surrounding indiscriminate structures around them are all done in the colour of wood. On the other hand, the insides of the temples are filled with brightly coloured objects. The objects inside the temple can be different things depending on the viewer’s imagination. There are two boats against the flowing muddy water. There is a small jetty, a usual presence of the ghats. When I look closely, I see a toran, an ornamental hanging, at the edge of the jetty. The colours convey a lot but also serve to detract from the absence of human figures, an occurrencehis rarely seen at the ghats. 

I am told that in this painting, Manu Parekh has married abstract with Cubism style of painting. Cubism uses clear lines and geometric shapes to give a sense of perspective. The temples are not drawn flat, one is clearly in front and the other three are also arranged in space, one a little behind, another a little in front and the last at an angle to the one in front. 

There is also some discord in the painting. In one temple, the insides are bright blue and green, colours that are not usually associated with a sacred Hindu space. I can see two black eyes of a devilish mask. Another temple has shapes which are disturbing because they protrude outwards in a grotesque fashion. In between two temples, there is something hidden beneath planks of wood. Is it a small sequestered shop or does it represent something suppressed? 

Manu Parekh’s Benares paintings evoke a sense of stillness and cacophony at the same time. At a first look, the painting is dark, there are no people. When I see again, I see the water is churning which reminds me that the speed of the Ganga is renowned. I think that I connected to this painting mainly because I have visited Haridwar, Rishikesh, Benaras, Prayag and other religious places as a child and the scene at the ghats is very familiar. Though there are no people, I can hear the priests chanting and the clanging of manjira, a musical instrument used as an accompaniment to hymns. The bright objects within the central temple make me think of the large, multi-layered lamps used at the time of aarti at any Ganga ghat specially Haridwar. 

Every piece of art evokes a certain feeling in its audience, defined or undefined that carries beyond the immediate viewing. The audience and artist may not partake of the same emotion from a piece of art, but art is not constricted by these overlapping sets, it exists as liberty of opinion. This is my description and interpretation of the painting. See it and tell me what is the first thought that comes to your mind. Manu Parekh's Evening at Benares on Flickr