Alakesh Dutta with Cristina Megia, about to start work on wall painting at Sawsymper
Fellow AiR Imtiaj Islam Rasel and Christophe Riva near Mawkyrwat
Fellow AiR Thlana Bazik near Mawkyrwat
Community engagement was very high on this residency with wall painting workshops with schools; skill building painting day with young adults. The residency concluded with the presentation in Mawkyrwat DC Public building. Entitled Jingkieng (in Khasi meaning bridges) the project is designed to bring a rural community into direct contact with contemporary painters.
AiR team mix paint at Hope Children Home Mawlangwir
Wah umkhluit (river flow) on cover Jingkieng brochure
My interest in India has developed with conversations with artists from India and a desire to engage with the culture, environment and social condition. Colour is the overarching thematic concern of my practice and the rich pigment colours and natural light are subjects I am drawn to in the context of the Khasi culture and wider India.
My methodology of working on location is defined as creating ‘scapes’ (involving multiple facets of a subject) evolved through both exploratory studies and in the production of a definitive project portfolio (for exhibition or presentation). The new approach to thinking is defined by the response to Place: how different cultures perceive visual themes, particularly colour. My interest is broad and includes ecological, geopolitical and cultural indicators of Place.
In approaching the new landscape around Mawkyrwat, sensory and perceptive observation facilitated an exploration of Camel acrylic paints. The vibrancy and range of hue introduced, for example, Indian Yellow, a rich Sapphire colour. My current interest in Place and colour is part of an ongoing project, looking at the way location and culture can develop the language of painting. New work is defined as ‘scapes’, works that are responsive to multiple influence both through actual production on site and also reflective painting in the studio. With this new work, aspects of landscape, experienced by moving over and around the territory (as opposed to merely looking at it) created a dynamic enthusiasm for making new paintings.
Earlier stage of Mawkyduk
Mawkyduk 2019 acrylic on canvas 75 x 100cm Collection Picasso Pupils
Earlier stage of Lum Symper
Lum Symper 2019 acrylic on canvas 75 x 100cm Collection Picasso Pupils
On reflection, the paintings had a lot to do with being close to the river at Jakrem. I was aware of the sound of the river constantly whilst working outside..The flow of the river (I walked down most days to sit near it) and the sound permeated the imagery...I like to now think of these as the sound of colour...
Earlier stage of Wah umkhluit (river flow)
Wah umkhluit (river flow) 2019 acrylic on canvas 75 x 100cm Collection Picasso Pupils
1. How was the experience in Mawkyrwat?
Artists Point was very positive in a number of ways. Firstly the natural environment and location was visually inspiring with rolling plateau hills covered with forest. Natural is an important description because the vastness and untouched character was striking. Secondly, the interaction with other artists was highly rewarding as contrasting practice raised interesting discussion. Thirdly there was good balance of time to allow the development of some new experimental work.
Wah umkhluit Jakrem
2. How was interacting and teaching the children like?
The children were highly motivated and engaged in the new experiences of using art materials and making images collectively and individually. They handled the tasks well and were enthusiastic for achieving a result.
Sawsymper S.Fernando Secondary School
3. What did you learn about the place and people?
I learnt that the Khasi languages the main spoken tongue and Khasi identity includes formal dress, music and dance. The khasi alphabet was introduced by Welsh missionaries and the patriarchal song has the same melody as the Welsh national anthem. On visiting Sohra, the first chapel of 1840 established by Welsh presbyterian missionaries includes Thomas Jones for whom there is a holiday dedicated on 27th June. The Khasi / Wales exchange is current in music particularly and it was a pleasure to learn about connections and exchange cultural contexts.
Presybyterian Church Cherapungee
The people were very friendly and inquisitive. There is a strong sense of community with school and church at the centre of society. People seemed close to the land and live practical lives using the natural resources for daily living.
4. After being in Meghalaya for quite sometime, what is your experience?
I would have liked to have stayed longer. There was a sense for me of readjusting to a different pace of life.
5. Meghalaya is a natural beauty. What has to be done to preserve the beauty?
It seems local government is protecting the environment from development for either mining or quarry work on any large scale. Tourism seems in the hands of the local community. Plastic waste is an issue along water courses.
Near Cherapungee
6. Is Meghalaya an artist's paradise?
I am bemused by the concept. Not really sure what an artists’ paradise is or whether I would want to be in one !
Wahumlwai Falls
Wei Sawdong Falls
The residency concluded and I moved onto to Shillong for three days before departing for Kolkata..
Semenova 2019 Acrylic on Canvas 100 x 100 cm. Vilaka Municipality Art Collection.
Day 7. Working on Rekova 22.07.19
Vilaka 2019 Acrylic on Canvas 100 x 100 cm. Vilaka Municipality Art Collection.
In July 2019, I was selected with five other international painters to take part in the 3rd International Plein Air at Vilaka, Latvia. The project is under the direction of Daugavpils Mark Rothko Art Centre with curator, Māris Čačka. The Plein Air celebrates the work of the renowned Latvian painter Valdis Bušs, whose work I reference in the statement for catalogue below.
The residency was short and intensive with other international painters, something I have not done before as usually it is with artists from different disciplines. It is international and competitive for selection, so the work produced was varied and critically robust (each participant has to leave at least two works for the collection; all left more than four). Different approaches to painting furthered ideas for location based practice and further network.
Rekova 2019 Acrylic on Canvas 50 x 50 cm. Vilaka Municipality Art Collection.
Catalogue Statement: Painting has led me to many locations and places.The region around Vilaka is striking inrich abundance of nature and it has provided a fertile environment in which to work Plein Air. We were introduced to the work of ValdisBuss and I was struck with the immediacy and vibrancy of his paintings. We have had good quality and plentifulacrylic paints and canvas. It is always exciting to use new paints and here I have used silver for the first time as a pictorial colour! (continued)
Balvi 2019 Acrylic on Canvas 50 x 50 cm. Vilaka Municipality Art Collection.
Day 7. Working on Semenova 22.07.19
My recent work has been evolving through location based practice and the desire for a more expressive and perhaps less controlled method that allows the material to lead the way in the construction of an image. Through the idea of ‘scapes’, paintings attempt to respond to Place, and involve multi-sensory perception. We have seen so much of the local culture and the experiences of sight, sound and atmosphere are from the food, landscape, music and song. Attempting to resonate with this experience is a large part of the drive in these four paintings.
Building on practice that explores the way Place influences language of painting, this series of 24 studies are reflective on travel through Indonesia and Thailand.
Each painting acrylic on canvas 20.5 x 25.5 cm.
Social media comment on the city of Bangkok, January 2019:
'Bangkok is a city of opposites. Religion and State are
everywhere. It is hot and humid with a hazy diffused sunlight. Orange marigolds
are on every street at Buddhist Wat, contrasting with the greys of streets
stained with pollution. The city has no centre, it is one big sprawl and bus
journeys take an hour and a half in the choking traffic. Museum of Comtemporary
Art played music and had no contemporary art. Queens gallery, better but
traditional imagery permeates. It was the BAC Bangkok Art Biennale that saved
the day at the Bangkok Culture Centre, with engaging works and a floor of
performance stages each with video documentary. City wide works impossible to
locate. The 1km mural of Ramayana at the Grand Palace best traditional
work..stunning. A city of opposites.
My methodology of working on location is defined as creating
‘scapes’ (involving multiple facets of a subject) evolved through both
exploratory studies and in the production of a definitive project portfolio
(for exhibition or presentation). The new approach to thinking is defined by
the response to Place: how different cultures perceive visual themes,
particularly colour. My interest is broad and includes ecological, geopolitical
and cultural indicators of Place.
The final two large paintings were resolved over several days whilst working on the series as a whole. I felt intense involvement at this stage of the project and felt instinctively as it progressed, that the work had gone somewhere. Whether that remains to be seen is of course another matter as only time can tell if a painting is worth anything at all. I knew when I started this series and particularly the two larger paintings that I had again, whilst working on this residency, put myself at a place of unknown destination. Maybe it comes with a desire to make the best work one has ever made, exceed previous. When I started the residency and again when I began the paint studies, there is a trepidation; it is the unknown. This element of 'what on earth am I doing' has to be there otherwise you are not really painting anything worth while at all.
