The grand Fontainhas Heritage Festival (archived at www.goaheritage.org/events_fountainhasfest.htm ) has sparked off a renewed interest in Goan Art. Here's a synopisis of what's available for lovers of Goan Art on the Internet.
Official Sites
The Goa Tourism website (www.goatourism.nic.in/fcolart.htm) has this to say about Goan Art "Goan art colourfully illustrates the unity in diversity of Goan heritage. Various art forms pertaining to different religious beliefs and life styles have mingled into one unique identity that has developed into Goan art. Thus we find Hindu artists chiseling out Christian images in villages and cities. Goan art, developed around religious requirements, represents this process of assimilation, interdependence and mutual acceptability".
The official website of Kala Academy (www.kalaacademy.org) says " The changing colors of history have left their multiple shades on the Goan life. And folk art has not been an exception to it. The traditional folk music and dances have continued uninterruptedly, while the influence of the Portuguese music and dance on the local culture has helped to evolve new forms. This happy blending and co-existence of cultural traditions gives Goa unique character. It is in this context that the Academy's aims, objects and activities are directed at fostering and developing dance, drama, music, literature and other arts and also promoting through them the cultural unity."
The Goa State Museum is featured at http://goamuseum.nic.in/. " The museum at present has the collection of about 8000 objects, which includes Stone Sculptures, Wooden objects, Bronzes, Paintings, Manuscripts, numismatic collection, anthropological objects, clay models etc". Many of these objects are viewable at the site though there is not much descriptive text.
All time greats
"The historical development of Goa has dictated the predominance of different art forms and the diverse influence of Greco-Latin art and the indigenous Goan culture has found a combined expression in the paintings of contemporary artists from Goa". www.indiaprofile.com/art-crafts/goa-artists.htm has an interesting profile of two great Goan artists Laxaman Pai & Francis Newton D'Souza.
" Pai is strongly attached to his environment. He finds in nature and its creation a perennial source of inspiration. Goa, its verdant landscapes, its joyful, fun-loving people, its culture of colorful festivals have probably spoken through his cheerful carefree style. He constantly returns to his native land for symbols of expression"
"The influence of Goan culture has found its place in Souza's work in a number of ways. Natives of Goa, fisherwomen, children, priests have all been subjects in his paintings. The churches and homes of Goa in his landscapes. On a different plane, primitive Goan traditions and beliefs have been used as symbols to express a spiritual conflict. ".
A profile of Francis Newton D'Souza by by Joel D'Souza & Alexyz can be found at www.goacom.com/goanow/2002/apr/greatgoa.html. Reminiscences of an interview by Ben Antao with D'Souza 40 years ago are archived at www.colaco.net/1/BenFN.htm
Contemporary Art Collectives
The Goan Art Forum - an artist collective, constituted of artists, art educators and art theoreticians - were perhaps the first to showcase their works on the Net (http://www.goenkar.com/com/gaf/). Consisting of some extremely talented Goan artists, The Goan Art Forum was very active in the promotion of Goan Art in the 1990's. Unfortunately one doesn't hear much about their activities now.
Last year Cymroza Art Gallery in Mumbai had an exhibition of Goan Art. At www.cymroza.com/Goa/about.htm one can find small profiles of the artists who exhibited. Though some nitpickers may question the 'Goan-ness' of some of these artists it does have some big names from the Goan Contemporary Art world - Subodh Kerkar, Harshada Kerkar, Viraj Naik, Santosh Morajkar, Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal, Sajal Sarkar, Chaitali Morajkar, Pradip Naik, Sonja Weder, Theodore Mariano Mesquita, Shireen Mody, Liesl Cotta De Souza & Querozito De Souza.
The notably well designed www.arthouse-india.com/htmpg/artists.htm features interesting profiles and works of many noteworthy Goan artists who have exhibited in the ArtHouse India gallery at Calangute. "The concept is kept very simple: the exhibits are contemporary art... paintings, drawings, art photography, video art, installations and sculptures, mainly by Indian artists"
Individual pages
Mario Miranda has been profiled by Wellington Dias at http://www.goa-world.net/cartoons/mariomiranda/. Mario Miranda, in my opinion, is a living legend and needs no introduction from me. One only wishes he would have a website of his own where we could all appreciate his genius. As in the print media, Mario's cartoons have been used to embellish many websites but rarely with his official permission. I spoke with Mario on the phone and he too expressed his dismay at people who use his works to illustrate advertisements, menus, restaurant interiors, whatever - without so much as asking his permission or even giving him due credit.
Swiss born, Goa based artists Sonja Weder and Thomas Schnider, have their 'art objects' and paintings on display at www.soto-art.com. Sonja & Thomas have been part of the art scene in Goa for many years now, ever since they made their home here in 1990. The site is pleasant to browse and even has a nifty feature where one can use one of the pictures to create and send a e-postcard to a friend.
Dr Subodh Kerkar gave up medicine to dedicate himself to visual art. From his delightful cartoons in the 1980s, to sculpture, terrecotta & painting in various media - and international exhibitions, Subodh has done it all. His Kerkar Art Complex is featured at www.subodhkerkar.com.
The tremendously talented husband-wife artist team of Querozito and Leisel De Souza have recently set up their own website at www.artdesouza.com. "Querozito De Souza's works recall an immediate reconciliation with the mythological plane, on the one hand and on the other, allude to introject and associate with the real " - whatever that means. Leisel's 'paintings in thread' are a uniquely different art form that has many admirers. The D'Souzas' otherwise beautiful art sense has not translated well in the website design and it could do with a full revamp.
Goa-art.com
By far, the most comprehensive website on Goan Art is www.goa-art.com. A well designed interface allows one to browse through artists residing in Goa and abroad. In addition to a generous sampling of works by each artist there are interesting articles on Goan art by Om Prakash, Theodore Mesquita and others. The site has been promoted by Rudolf and Yolanda Kammermeier, (Art Chamber, Galeria de Bellas Artes), primarily for the exposure of Goan art and artists world wide through the Internet.
An introduction and plan of activities at www.goa-art.com/gallery/gallery.htm reads:
"In times gone by the aspiring Goan artists had to leave this inspiring land for greener pastures elsewhere. Names like F. N. Sousa, Laxman Pai, Prafula Dhanukar, Mario Miranda immediately come to mind as some of those who carved a niche for themselves and are household names in the art scene of modern Indian paintings. Art awareness in Goa has grown tremendously since; much credit for this should go for the Art College, set up some 25 years ago."
"Relatively new therefore in this big competitive world of survival of the fittest, the young Goan artist has come up trumps with significant works. Goa today is slowly but surely emerging as a busy art centre - attracting both, the artist and the art connoisseur. "
"This site is not only intended to be an on-line Gallery, but an instrument of art education and communication in its wider sense and will be featuring also articles on art and artists."
" The forthcoming activities will be
1) Widening the spectrum of talented artists
2) Showcasing fresh talent from Goa
3) Maintain and update the artists' portfolios
4) Publishing reviews/art critics of contemporary art exhibitions
5) Featuring special events or exhibitions; book releases with relevance to painting or drawing
6) Featuring special artists who stand in connection to Goa "
Miscellany
ArtNOW (curated by artist Rajan Fulari) is a subsection of Joel D'Souza's monthly webzine GoaNOW. Though not a monthly feature, when it does appear it has many interesting articles and pictures on Goan Art (eg. http://www.goacom.com/goanow/2001/dec/artnow.html). It must be mentioned though that GoaNOW has a extremely large archive of features on Goan art. In fact Joel's coverage of the Fontainhas Festival is far superior to the official website - which has not been updated since before the festival began.
Querozito de Souza organized the International Sculptors Symposium at Surla, Goa in December 2001. A webpage dedicated to this event is available at www.goa-world.net/sculpting/
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WEBQUEST was my monthly column in Goa Today magazine. This article appeared in the April 2003 issue.
Cecil Pinto =======
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