Sunday (Sep 4) was a special day… For a long time I wanted to visit some art galleries. But was not finding the time. So finally yesterday went with Sagar to Om Krishna Art Gallery on SB road. It is a good place to see some curios. Some drawing room art pieces. It was good but not really what I was looking for… L
From there we headed to India Art Gallery in Shivaji Housing Society. It was closed at the time. The bungalow looked so desolate that I am still not sure if it is an art gallery. J
Then from the internet we looked up Deep Art Gallery in Model Colony. It turned out to be the ground floor flat of Mr. Dipak Patil. The door was opened by Mr. Patil himself.
He came across as a person in his late 40s. A quiet dignified demeanor. Fully buttoned somewhat soiled shirt. Paint stained trousers. Wearing ordinary slippers. A typical white French beard. I guess all artists have to “look” the part. ;)
The gallery is right next to Kejriwal Girl’s Hostel, in the Cosmos Bank lane, near Deep Bungalow. The first room was the hall of the flat. Some 10-12 paintings were hanging. Some had a very van Gogh look to it. I was not very excited to see those 10 paintings. Somehow I wanted more. But slowly I started to appreciate some of the pieces. Mr. Patil was an unassuming person. We talked in Marathi. The first few minutes were introductions etc. He wanted to know if we were artists, art students, or art critics. When I told him I had never held a brush in my entire life he was surprised. Then we talked a bit. He told me to visit the other two rooms. There was true art which caught my eye. The color, composition, and overall feel just jumped to me. He made us sit on the indoor swing and we started chatting. I have seen one of his paintings on the net. In actual this is just wonderful! So vivid - so colorful!
We chatted for a good hour and some more. We touched many things. The sacrifices he has made in his life for painting. How he works, breathes, lives paintings. His experiments with art and techniques. His favorite impressionist style (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The thing about impressionist paintings is (1) you have to be at some distance to truly “feel” it (2) you have to spend a considerable amount of time soaking it in. It is just like classical music (3) it is costly to own and (4) completely useless if you do not have a room which is at least 15 feet in length. But then “All art is quite useless” ~ Wilde. J
His is a life spent in the service of the art. In “tapascharya”. He is a “rishi” so to speak.
My knowledge as well as regard for the art and the artist grew manifold in that short one hour. It was a fitting tribute to him to touch his feet and leaving instead of the mere handshake that we had. I had a big happy beatific face when I came out. Wish I could spend some time more. I am not blessed with the hand to paint. But I will try to at least appreciate what others can.s
I cannot simply put in words what the entire experience was! Do take out some time someday to visit this master and his art.
Deep Art Gallery in Model Colony, Pune
#1038/8
Madhusagar Gokhale Road
Model Colony
Off
Pune -411016
Mr. Dipak Patil. On his left is a wonderul painting of a bar in Europe. The mood is wonderfully captured. On his right is a flower market in India. The color scales of both paintings is so very different!
Just behind him is the swing on which Sagar and I sat chatting with him. On the left of his head is a Maharashtrian Rural market painting. It had more vivid and bright colors.
Another great painting. You have to see it for a long period of time to soak in as the colors are muted. Below is grayscale painting of a chawdi. Partial on the right is the award winning abstract "Puzzles". He actually told me how to read abstract paintings. How critics can detect random and themed works. And sometimes it is ok to turn the painting upside down and display!
Google listing of the Artist @ Maps.google.com:
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