Sujiet Podar : Ready For His First Solo Exhibition At Jehangir Art Gallery

I know Sujiet Podar from last few years. I have seen him experimenting with life, various art forms and fighting bravely on personal front.

He invited me to visit his small flat located close to Infinity IT Park in fast growing Western Suburb of Goregaon. He had converted his flat in the studio  where each and every millimeter was occupied by wooden frames, canvases, paints, brushes but he was able to adjust me in between. So I could see few completed few paintings in the creative process.

I could sense that the theme of his solo art show  scheduled between 4th to 10th December 2018 is based on music.

Before we talk to Sujiet about this, I tried to trace his early formative years.

'I was born in Chaibasa of Jharkhand which is predominantly tribal area. So I grown up with tribal music as  well as dance forms like Jhumar, Natua, Chau, Agni, Ghatwari, Santhal, Matha and Sohrai, which are  performed here during festivals and celebrations year round. So consciously or unconsciously music was embedded in my personality. Over the years, I started listening various other genre music.'

'You formally studied art somewhere ?'

'Yes, I wanted to give wings to my creativity so I thought of studying art. I took admission at Patna Art College. But it was a turbulent time, no classes for months altogether.'

'Than how you learnt art ?'

' Luckily we had  many seniors at our college who were very talented , they came to our rescue. They became our mentors and guides. I would like to mention name of renowned world level artist Subodh Gupta and Arunanshu Chaudhary. I am in touch with both of them till date, take  guidance on an on going basis.Apart from this I was regularly visiting the best place to learn art in India i.e. M S University, Baroda. I get opportunity to meet great artists and contemporaries, it inspire an artist in me. This place has left indelible impact .'

'Now I come to my main point, what made you to choose music as theme of your solo exhibition ?'

 'Brass Bands fascinated me. I traveled across the country to know more and more about brass instruments and the artists who took bands to great height. I started painting life and time of brass bands and bandwalas. In the meantime read about  an American artist Stanton-MacDonald-Wright. He once said, “Whenever man had a desire for heavenly intoxication he turned to music, yet color is just as capable as music with providing us with ecstasies and delights.” It inspired me further and I started going deeper in the realm of music.So my first solo exhibition is an outcome  of my search, research, interaction I did in last three years.'

'Tell me something about how music has helped in your creative process?'

 'The environment we experience influences our creative process. When we experience variations in lighting, colors on the walls, different smells, and different types of sounds, they evoke different feelings within us and in turn these sensory experiences invade our creative process. The sensory effects of music affected my painting process; I distinctly see how music plays out in my art.'While talking to me, Sujiet was working on a huge canvas. I could identify the lady in the painting, she is Gauhar Jaan. Behind her I could  see a man sitting with a primitive recording device looking like old Gramophone. 'What is the story behind this painting?'

'  Well Gauhar Jaan was celebrated singer of her time. She used to get princely sum for her renditions. You see cat besides her on chair. I tried to capture her life and time in this work.'

I could see seven paintings done on the old wood panels of side walls of harmonium. I tried to understand the thought behind these painting.

'I researched on seven Indian swars Sa, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Nee than I found in Vedas that these swars are based on the sounds taken from birds and animals. For example Sa has origin in the rapturous sound of the peacock when rain clouds gather in the sky. Rishabha (Re); the bellowing of a cow when her calf is separated from her.Gandhara (Ga); the bleating of a goat in a flock. Madhyama (Ma); the cry of a heronPanchama (Pa); the sound of the Indian Kokila (nightingale) in spring. Dhaivata (Dha); the voice of a frog during rain.Nishada (Ni); the trumpeting of an elephant. So I have tried to create these effect in this series.'

'Sujiet  how you see future of art in India ?'

' India is a very fertile ground to breed new talent. My friends 

such as Beer Munshi, Manjunath Kamath, Prafull Singh are very talented artists, I see  great future for them Beer works in mixed medium, Manju is  conceptual artist, Prafull  works in sculpture.'