Indian Classics By Living Master Baladev Moharatha

Baladev Moharatha has successfully translated masterpieces like Kalidas’ Ritusamharam, and Meghadootam into paintings, most of which revolve around a social concept. In this Indian Classics series showing at Ashok Art Gallery, he has used all his 35 years of experience to express the women in indian society and how they are changing

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Recent Article on Baladev Moharatha in Indian National News Paper:
Source: New Indian Express

He wields the brush and palette with as much ease as his forefathers did with swords and shield. Yes, Baladev Moharatha comes from a family of warriors; so his taking to art naturally surprised many. But half a century later, his masterpieces answered questions about his brilliance on the canvas. Today, the middle-aged Moha­ratha is a multifaceted personality — a painter, visualiser, art educationist and poet, all assimilated into one though he has, for long, preferred to elude the limelight.


It was only in 2007 that Moharatha had his first solo art exhibition: ‘The Dejected Dusk’, in Delhi. “Art promotion had been a rarity here in Bhubaneswar. And shouldering the responsibility of taking our creations outside the state for solo shows was out of bounds. But once it took off, people recognised my roots — that I belong to Orissa…because my art reflects my moorings,” shrugs the artist, who specialises in traditional Indian style, with Goddess Durga, Oriyan architecture, medieval poetic elements and the Devadasis (temple dancers) being some of his pet themes.

“I dwell mostly on ordinary concepts — those that move me as a person. The weak that is the woman, the strongest that is also the woman in the form of Durga. I have lived with women of various age groups — my mother, wife and daughter…. And their issues reflect in my paintings,” points out Moharatha, who has extensively worked in themes taken from the Vedas and folk tales too.

Moharatha has successfully translated masterpieces like Kalidas’ Ritusamharam, and Meghadootam into paintings, most of which revolve around a social concept. “An artist needs to be a voracious reader. I have read Kalidas extensively and grasped the meaning before I started recreating them on the canvas,” reveals Moharatha, who is the chief architect behind one of the most prestigious art institutions of the State B K College of Art and Crafts.

How does the artist manage to give vent to his creative urge after so much responsibility? “Past midnight, mostly. See, creation is a process that doesn’t — or shouldn’t — abide by any time and schedule. Once an idea gets in, the layout is set. There is always a clash of concepts till I hold the brush. And I don’t draw a sketch, I hit the canvas straight.”

It was at the age of five that Baladev had his first brush with art. His mother was his first admirer. But it was only after he topped the entrance test at Khallikote Art College that the passion shaped up as a career prospect. “Else, my family wouldn’t have allowed me to pursue fine arts as a profession,” recalls Moharatha, who has designed covers for top litterateurs and has been in the panel of illustrators for the National Book Trust.

However, the artist takes umbrage when it comes to present-day artists’ fascination only for contemporary or modern art. “We should only work on the established notions and concepts so that the piece of art achieves a universal appeal. The moment we break the existing mould and look at it only from our point of view, it gives rise to an ‘ism’.” But he doesn’t forget to mention the use of certain surrealistic elements in one of his Durga paintings. “The eyeballs were conspicuous by their absence. It was a conscious and individualistic decision. With a reason: I felt I am seeing just one and not all. And I believe, most art lovers agree on.”

Moharatha regrets modern-day artists in India have yet to exploit the vastness and magnificence of Indian art, architecture and culture at large. “See, we have, at the end of the day, artists from other countries working on typical Indian spiritual themes. Else a Japanese artist would not have created a piece on Om theme and invited rave response. And such concepts audience easily relates to.”

Art, Moharatha believes, is much more than education. “One needs to have dedication, inspiration, love for the work, make it a way of life and — most importantly — seek divine blessings to be an artist. I am inspired by God and my studio is my home,” says the artist who devotes three to four hours a day to the canvas, “though, to be honest, I sincerely wish it was 15 hours.”

Planting trees is one interest Moharatha has besides painting. He once teamed up with flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia for a jugalbandi of sorts that won appreciation. What saddens him is the commodification of art, which Moharatha quickly attributes to the general absence of an art-appreciating audience and patrons. “People mostly want to acquire pieces of art marvels as gifts, and not buy them.” Lately, though, he acknowledges there has been some positive change.

“Possibilities in the field are immense. I have seen many of my own students waste their talent but there are more who have turned art promoters. Some are heading art institutions in the state and some have gone on to become designing heads in leading publishing houses,” says Moharatha. The teacher in him, though, isn’t too happy . Baladev lives and works in Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India.

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The Ashok Art Gallery is internationally known for one of its most important holdings: more than 2000 major works by the world's most significant Artists.Over the past years, as Ashok Art Gallery has become a major centre for contemporary visual art, the Gallery has built a strong collection of contemporary work of different artists.
Last year we became a sponsor of the STANDUP-SPEAKOUT Artshow, Organized by Art Of Living Foundation and United Nations.Organized an International Contenmporary Art Exhibition including artists from USA, The Nederlands, Pakistan and India.We have also participated at Art Expo India 2008 Mumbai and India Art Summit 2008 New Delhi.

Contemporary Art Exhibition Review

from a palace…
On the eve of 50th year celebration of Indira Kala Sangeet Vishwavidyalaya, Khairagarh, Chhattishgarh, India ,53 artists from visual art faculty who were studied their Fine Art from this oldest Indian Art Institution has displayed their exceptional works at Rabindra Bhawan Galleries II & III ,World renowned eminent master S. H Raza and Eminent Indian Poet/Art Critic/Writer Sh Ashok Vajpeyi has inaugurated the show When you walk through the gallery, you will find Ajay Kumar Mall has worked on the speed and intensity of his brushwork to create abstract oils on canvas while the 'Green Landscape' by Hukum Lal Verma displays a celebration of colour and line. Elements from the landscape begin to disintegrate with its remnants in the title. Spontaneity of working in the outdoors brings about the need for speed with the application and the inevitable breakup of the form. In the lucid watercolours of the landscape by Anil Khobragare, transparent pigments look for spaces to hold on to the paper in a play of flow and merge in the painting process. Struggle for space and control comes forth in the acrylics of Devasis Mukherjee, as the birds seem to find a way to synchronize rhythms of existence among themselves. Girja Kumar Nirmalker delineates and engages pigments in indicating abstract spaces within composition while landscape remains in the hidden strata of the painting. Jiten Sahu works on constructing the urban landscape in a series of buildup activity across the canvas. Freedom of the display of brushwork remains in the periphery of the constructed space. Looking for purity of colour in the abstract, mixed media works of Mahesh Sharma engages in not looking for the definite and the orderly, rather the build up of pigment forms the base for developing the work.

Fleeting moments manages to manifest in the abstracts of Yogendra Tripati in a residual of earth colours that play every so light on the canvas. Elements from the landscape remain in the works of Manish Verma with an alluring content for transition into the abstract. Retaining colours of the earth, the acrylic works modulate to the circumstances. Shubra Chand also works on this transition with layering of pigments. Fields of colour are set against each other in the work of Prabir Kumar Dalai. The formations allow for brilliance in colour to make representations across the fields. Using dry pastel on paper Rajesh Mishra indicates flowing lines of the dancers in an attempt to capture the moment of action in 'Khairagarh'. In the rush for existence, evasion of death seems to be the moment of realization in the work of Sukant Dev Burman. Futility in the exercise seems to be the prediction of a parrot in contemplation while a dove tries to stabilize the present. Destiny in the hands of the richness of environment is taunting enough to be in the outdoors, away from comforts of the home in the painting of Sunita Verma. Symbolic in representation, the chair makes up for the absence of the household.

Relishing in the possibilities of transformation, the chance for a new world that could take one into the imaginable, the harmless soldier stands in readiness in the fusion of the real and the unreal in the work of Adhikalp Yadu. In similar terrain, Anup kumar Chand looks for transformations in the chance for that change in reality of a consistent regularity in the environment. Anant kumar Sahu ponders over the world order in the etching 'After Third Worldwar'. Frailty of lines in the etching drives home the situation in such an event. Aspirations in the form of a flower come in the etching by Khemlata Dewangan in 'Dream Flower'. The jaded sunflower looks up to the challenge in the present set of circumstances as the individual is caught in a vortex of the dream. In the dreaminess of the landscape, the painting by Malay Jain allows for another side of the landscape, not necessarily in the real. 'Soldiers after a War' by Mahesh R. Prajapati repeats the introspection of the individual caught in the cacophony of war. Etching and serigraphy allows for fields of hard, opaque colour in combination with sensitivity of the line.

Symbolic and the representational find its place in the prints of Rakesh Bani. The beast has its ways of instilling fear and control over frailty of the mind. With a limited use of colour, the work gets accentuated in its scope of an expanding vision. Spatial play gets mingled with the symbolic in the work of Tikendra Kumar Sahu with dog days open throughout the year to make a livelihood for comfort as Sharad Kumar Kawre explores the representational through the digital medium of printmaking. Sheikh Hifzul makes use of transformation of imagery in the 'Kiss-III'. Decorative elements and motifs adorn the masculine and the feminine in an intimate moment of the imaginary. Use of adornment continues in the work of Sankar Sarkar in 'Gold Show'. Looking for an intervention into the consumerist pattern of the present day, the subject is laden with showpieces that have questions on its origins. In an intervention for a social cause, 'Last drop" by Sajal Patra makes a statement about non-availability of a basic necessity for sustenance. 'Camel' by Ravi Kant Jha extends the possibility of tranformation of the subject for relating to a thought, in this case being a performance. An untitiled etching print by Rabi Narayan Gupta captures a vivid cacophony of imagery of torment. There's a search for redemption in the midst of such chaos and vulnerability. In the midst of these works is a painting by Ritesh Meshram that allows a seemingly innocent play of line and colour.

'Five Friends in B.F.A', an Etching by Mukti Agarwal is open to interpretation as a set of 5 birds gaze in extreme numbness. The quality of printmaking comes through in the work of Priyanka Waghela under an overlay of acrylic paint. Floatation of the subject plays with a compositional necessity of the work. Amar Jyoti Sarma plays a 'Mind Game' with a set of coffee cups set against an individual in contemplation. Spatial play with the cups sets a sense of intrigue to the painting while the mask of a clown against a series of stairs in the work of Dharam Beer Kumar allows for interplay of meaning. A stylized cow is represented in all its readiness for a charming display along its path in a painting by Hareream Das. A sense of freedom and pursuit is seen embellished in the Bronze sculpture by Rajesh Sharma and Kishore Kumar Sharma.

This physical show will be on vew

at: Rabindra Bhawan Gallery, Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi, India till 22nd of January , 2008 and it will continue till 15th of February 2008 at Ashok Art Gallery.

Contemporary Art Exhibition Review : Ashok Art Gallery