16-Apr-2015 12:00 AM
2010
The Raza Foundation through its series ‘Art Matters’ provides a platform for open discussion on such issues. It endeavors not only to release the true essence of art from the clutches of definitive modernist approach in order to grasp myriad ways of extolling art, but also to stir up debate on the changing meanings of social and political theoretical concepts like rights, justice, liberty, citizenship, etc. Well known, renowned scholars and practitioners from all the diverse fields of arts, dance, music, social science, poetry, and so on are invited for this purpose.
Here, we publish the twenty eighth panel discussion of ‘Art Matters’, in remembering friends with Paramjit Singh, Manu Parekh and Amitava Das.
Paramjit Singh is an Indian artist. He was born in Amritsar, India. Currently he lives in New Delhi, India. Singh is married to fellow painter Arpita Singh, with whom he has a daughter, the artist Anjum Singh. He earned his Bachelors and PhD in Fine Arts from Delhi Polytechnic in 1958 and 1962, respectively.
Manu Parekh is an Indian painter, known for his several paintings on the city of Varanasi. Reported to be influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and Ram Kinker Baij, Parekh is a recipient of the 1982 Lalit Kala Akademi Award. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of the Padma Shri, in 1991.
Amitava Das is born in New Delhi in 1947 and graduated from the Delhi College of Art there in 1972. He was appointed lecturer at the Jamia Millia Islamia University in 1974. He is best known for his existential vision of human forms in his work. He has been influenced by existential philosophy of Sartre and Camus as well as the poetry of Jibananda Das and Shakti Bandopadhyay. From the gentleness and resignation in his earlier works, Amitava moved on to canvases that depict the violence and avarice of modern times. Working with a variety of mediums, Amitava uses watercolours, oils, and pastels to portray his thoughts and feelings evoked by his observations of the life around him. His work is primarily based on human situations, where man is both the creator and the destroyer. The natural and artificial are cleverly fused to show the interdependence of the man-made and natural worlds. He tries to bring out the inner struggles of men placed in difficult times.
The event was organized at the Indian International Centre on 23rd of April 2015.