Nirupama Dutt
Junoon mein jitni bhi guzri bakaar guzri haiAgarche dil pe kharabi hazaar guzri hai
(Every moment spent in passion was rewarding/ Although the heart had to endure much pain) — Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Coming face-to-face with the paintings of Satwant Singh is an intense experience. For his work is the purest play of passion, worked with intensity found only in masterstrokes. Having shared a long and close association with the artist and his work, what one feels seeing a fresh work by this artist is that each work is painted with energy that ordinary souls would find hard to muster.
But here we are not dealing with the ordinary. Satwant is an extraordinary artist born with gift of art nurtured lovingly for nearly half a century. No, the painter is no old man. The fact is that he started painting when but a boy. For him it was the only way to relate with this delightful and at the same time disturbing world this boy stepped into out of the dark comfort of his mother’s womb. “I was a lonely child and I started speaking late. So even before I spoke, I had started drawing. I didn’t make friends easily. I kept myself engrossed with the goats, roosters and sparrows. Or I escaped into fantasy,” says Satwant. This world of childhood still presents itself in his work which is a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy.
A man of many talents, one could wax eloquent on his many contributions to different forms like caricature illustration, narrative and poetry. The present collection of works that come so like winsome wine that was maturing in the cellar for long and suddenly it has poured out in good measure, with passion put to the finest use.
The viewer is transported into the complex symbology of the inner world of the artist and the erotic that meets the eye is a metaphor for his own creative urge. It is worked out so magically in a harmonious coming together of line, form, colour and texture. All this has been achieved with the long labour of love. The joy and the passion this artist feels in communion with his medium is communicated ever so spontaneously to the viewer.
For passion is indeed a universal humanity, that imparts meaning to art and life. Move from the large paintings to the smaller works painted on discarded brown office files and Satwant’s art comes a full circle. If his forms shimmer in the outburst of colour, the tonal effect takes the viewer to the deep and ponderous layers of the artist’s mind. “Whenever I see a slip of paper lying around, I cannot help but draw on it. Drawing and painting are compulsive acts for me and what you see now has half a century of discipline and dedication behind it,” says Satwant.
His painting on files is in a way symbolic of a freedom that he has recently found from long years of work to earn his daily bread and fend for his family. Now he is back to doing that what comes most naturally to him. Art is a meditation for our ‘Saint’ Satwant who combines the serene and the ardent; the painful and the pleasure giving so with radiance that sparks light the gaze the way of seeing.
Junoon mein jitni bhi guzri bakaar guzri haiAgarche dil pe kharabi hazaar guzri hai
(Every moment spent in passion was rewarding/ Although the heart had to endure much pain) — Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Coming face-to-face with the paintings of Satwant Singh is an intense experience. For his work is the purest play of passion, worked with intensity found only in masterstrokes. Having shared a long and close association with the artist and his work, what one feels seeing a fresh work by this artist is that each work is painted with energy that ordinary souls would find hard to muster.
But here we are not dealing with the ordinary. Satwant is an extraordinary artist born with gift of art nurtured lovingly for nearly half a century. No, the painter is no old man. The fact is that he started painting when but a boy. For him it was the only way to relate with this delightful and at the same time disturbing world this boy stepped into out of the dark comfort of his mother’s womb. “I was a lonely child and I started speaking late. So even before I spoke, I had started drawing. I didn’t make friends easily. I kept myself engrossed with the goats, roosters and sparrows. Or I escaped into fantasy,” says Satwant. This world of childhood still presents itself in his work which is a wonderful mix of reality and fantasy.
A man of many talents, one could wax eloquent on his many contributions to different forms like caricature illustration, narrative and poetry. The present collection of works that come so like winsome wine that was maturing in the cellar for long and suddenly it has poured out in good measure, with passion put to the finest use.
The viewer is transported into the complex symbology of the inner world of the artist and the erotic that meets the eye is a metaphor for his own creative urge. It is worked out so magically in a harmonious coming together of line, form, colour and texture. All this has been achieved with the long labour of love. The joy and the passion this artist feels in communion with his medium is communicated ever so spontaneously to the viewer.
For passion is indeed a universal humanity, that imparts meaning to art and life. Move from the large paintings to the smaller works painted on discarded brown office files and Satwant’s art comes a full circle. If his forms shimmer in the outburst of colour, the tonal effect takes the viewer to the deep and ponderous layers of the artist’s mind. “Whenever I see a slip of paper lying around, I cannot help but draw on it. Drawing and painting are compulsive acts for me and what you see now has half a century of discipline and dedication behind it,” says Satwant.
His painting on files is in a way symbolic of a freedom that he has recently found from long years of work to earn his daily bread and fend for his family. Now he is back to doing that what comes most naturally to him. Art is a meditation for our ‘Saint’ Satwant who combines the serene and the ardent; the painful and the pleasure giving so with radiance that sparks light the gaze the way of seeing.
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