Epic portrayal

Ganesh Pyne’s SHOW INSPIRED BY The Mahabharata is personal and poignant

Ganesh Pyne calls them the back-benchers of the Mahabharata, without whom the epic would not be complete. “It is not the main characters that intrigue me as much as those who were on the sidelines of this mythological drama,” says Pyne whose solo exhibition on India’s grand epic begins on December 3.

In all, 44 works will be on display, of which eight will be tempera paintings and the rest, charcoal and mixed media. It took Pyne about one and a half years to complete the series. But his fascination for the epic goes back to the time when as a child, he would listen wideeyed to his grandmother recounting stories from the Mahabharata.

His exhibition — Pyne’s seventh solo show — will not only be a pictorial depiction of Mahabharata’s characters, it will also reflect of the artist’s emotions and sympathies with some of them. Characters such as Yudhisthira, Amba, Ashwatthama and Satyavati have fascinated Pyne not only for their virtues but also for their vices. “The Mahabharata has very human characters and that is what makes it so intriguing,” says Pyne. Even Krishna, for once, is portrayed as a great “human” character.

But which is the character that he empathises with the most? “ Ashwatthama,” says Pyne, “who was also referred to as the night assassin, since he killed all five sons of the Pandavas at night.” Pyne likes to paint through the night.

Born in Kolkata in 1937, Pyne feels his style is influenced by Abanindranath Tagore and also by Dutch artists such as Frans Hals and Rembrandt. Walt Disney’s cartoons, local folklore and mythological stories from West Bengal have also left a mark.

After receiving a diploma in drawing and painting from Government College of Art & Craft (Kolkata) in 1959, Pyne started to sketch for animation films at Mandar Mullick’s studio. In 1963, he was approached by the Society of Contemporary Artists. “All members were like me — brimming with ideas, with tremendous passion and struggling to be recognised,” reminisces Pyne.

Living in a joint family, Pyne says he didn’t have to worry about where his next meal would come from. But, “I wanted to get a job and applied to schools and colleges to be a teacher, but in vain,” he says. One day, a friend told him about a position in a cotton mill — “to paint on saris,” he smiles. But when the person in charge saw his works, he told him not to waste his talent. “He told me to struggle like Jamini Roy, if that’s what it would take,” recalls Pyne.

Like Roy, too, tempera remains Pyne’s favourite medium. He doesn’t have a thing for oil, which, he feels, lacks intimacy. “You paint, go back and watch, paint, go back and watch,” he says. Choosing the oldest method of painting also means fewer shows, since the artist makes his own colours. Yet it’s not the colours that dominate his works. It’s the distortion, the exaggeration and a play of light and shadow that lend Pyne’s creations a surreal look. Add mythology to this and you’re sure to find captivating art.

The exhibition is on from December 3 to January 8, 2011, at the CIMA gallery, Kolkata

(Prerna Raturi is a Kolkata-based freelance writer)