There is something provocative about untouched paper. Its smooth expanse waits to come alive at a touch, aches to be drenched in colour, to pulse with energy, to speak. What transpires between an artist and a sheet of paper is as mysterious as the conversation between a mother and the child in her womb. Every artist pauses for an instant to commune with paper before approaching it with the tip of a brush or the rugged edge of a charcoal stick. And then with the first dab of colour or the first  smudge of charcoal, a paper ceases to be paper but becomes a work of  art. 

`Pulsating Rhythms On Paper,’ an exhibition of paintings curated by Tangerine Art Space at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore from September 21 to 26, explored this relationship between the creator and his creation. A group show is usually an interesting place to observe what inspires different artists and how they individually interpret life, its silences and stimuli, its brown droughts and blue rains. So if Nikhileswar Baruah’s canvas is awash with the turquoise hues of an all-enveloping  monsoon, Yeshwant Deshwant’s acrylic washes and dry pastels create a featureless earthen pot with a shadowy tap. If TV Santosh uses sign language to create a moment of lighted peace amid the darkness of a war obsessed world, there is also Riyas Komu’s installation of a sheet of paper rolled up with a noose and imprinted with the fearful diktat, “Hang Him.’’  
 
Piyali Ghosh paints the feral side of humanity in figures that are neither bestial nor human and Alok Bal’s wistful peacock mourns perhaps the loss of his habitat  next to a tree stump. Manjunath Kamath who paints minimalist little riddles of shadow and substance shared his creative process, “I am  inspired by the day to day life and I am a capturer of the immediate. Taking cues from conversations (they could be with friends, relatives, myth makers, journalists or children), I try to go beyond the face value of the words uttered. I look at the possibilities of the unsaid and chances of the unrevealed in my works. So they are always mysterious and playful. The images that I choose to paint are simple like those in the fables and parables with animals and birds. Sometimes they come as they are, at times they are composite figures and most of the times these characters are seen in conversation (silently or imaginatively) with the human figures in the pictorial surface. My world view is quite humorous. I would like to laugh at things and through this laughter I could get into the unrevealed sides of events.’’ As to what happens when artists look at a sheet of paper, Pradeep L Mishra whose work is a limpid account of hope blossoming in aridness, says, “I believe any blank space (white paper, canvas etc) becomes an invite to express one’s emotions to share with others.’’ In this age of digital art, do the artists feel that the organic connection between art and artists has been interrupted? Answers Mishra, “For me digital art is just another medium or tool to express and as far organic connections with art is concerned, it can never be interrupted, as artists themselves are organic beings to begin with.’’

He responds to the question whether art has lost its sancitity because of marketing ploys, “I do believe that art is always about simplicity of expression and about speaking of the moment in which one is living. Art can never be marketed. It’s  one’s feeling which is being shared with others.’’

Sanjeev Sonpimpre whose work is a beguiling mix of  graphic and realistic imagery, says, “A white paper is a void and I approach it only when I am sure of what I am going to do with it. The  “how” is never decided but I don’t feel any anxiety when I confront a blank paper. As for digital art, it is the aspect of ‘human’ that is important in any kind of art because humans produce art whether by employing synthetic/digital/mechanical. By using less organic means, the connection between the art and the artist does not loosen.”

Yashwant Deshmukh responds, “Painting is to me about merging in the space within. The unseen space, which can be felt through intuition only. When I look at the blank canvas or paper, it is just a reference for the space within. That space that we can’t see, can’t touch but is there.  By treating the form on the surface of the paper, I think the space can be defined through the visual sense. I can play physically with the form but not with that abstract space. Form is like a key for this unseen space. Digital media also has its own possibilities and limitations. It depends how the artist uses it for personal expression. If the artist cannot give his personal touch to this media, then it will only be a visual design of the intellectual world.’’

Riyas Komu adds, “today the media is interested in art and artists because of the investment angle and there is hype but one has to grow with the hype. A lot of youngsters cannot do that though there are artists who stay rooted in their ideas regardless of what happens around them.There is always place for genuine art and for mediocrity and any artist who is convinced about what he is doing will always find his place.’’