Out of the WORD

A calligraphy artist creatively incorporates Bramhi and Indus scripts in his paintings

It was with pictures and rudimentary letters from the first human language painted on caves that art began to evolve . The art itself was simple, it combined colours, shapes and letters to convey very stark and elemental concepts and emotions. Calligraphy artist, Subhash Haribhau Jamdade's exhibition at Malaka Spice revisits this original form of art and approaches his work with the same philosophy.

Jamdade, a graduate from Abhinav Kala Mahavidyalaya, mixes the traditional art of calligraphy with abstract images and colour palettes in a style he calls informal calligraphy. At his current exhibition, he displays several such pieces, with each conveying a different message or evoking a specific emotion in the viewer. One of the paintings is a fusion of reds, oranges and yellow in an abstract pattern. A portion of the canvas is covered with beautifully painted Hindu mantras, all painted and overwritten over each other. While the painting itself is abstract, it conveys the idea of fire or energy very clearly. "I can't explain what my paintings are about; the meaning changes with the person viewing it but usually people figure out the concept on their own," says Jamdade.

The artist's work also explores early cave art with Indus and Bramhi scripts with use a lot of pictorial representation. These paintings are to be appreciated for their aesthetic value and not analysed for a deeper meaning, Jamdade warns. While he did a fair bit of research through books and the internet before making the paintings, the main goal is to present an interesting art piece rather using the ancient languages to convey a message.

Inspired by nature, Hindu mantras and the beauty of Indian scripts, the 43-year-old artist incorporates all these interests in his art. The exhibition includes a blue painting with swirls and swathes of blue shades with a haze of lettering on it. "These letters form the Gayatri mantra and the painting depicts how I feel when I hear the mantra being chanted by large groups. There is a very spiritual atmosphere that vibrates with the chanting and it is difficult to single out one voice or one word from the chanting, hence the haze of letters," explains Jamdade. He has been practising calligraphy for the past 15 years and has conducted several workshops and has even written books on calligraphy and handwriting for school curriculum.

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