The Blue cityscape

About Artist

THE BLUE CUBE: UNRAVELING CITY by MADAN PAWAR. I have been born and brought up in the small village of Maharashtra, very few people of which have been explored to the extent of large urbanized town and cities. It was quiet happily astonishing for me to receive upon confirmation of admission in the Field of Fine arts in the most esteemed college of the city of Skyline of Highrise contrasting with the complex connectivity of slums, Mumbai. Prior to the achievement of the post-graduation degree in Fine Art, I consider myself grateful for the study tour during my art school days to Jodhpur in Rajasthan. The first encounter of the Blue City bathed in the golden light of the rising sun one momentous winter afternoon has remained forever printed in my memories. Jodhpur proved to be turning point of my life as an artist and image maker. What followed was series of representational landscape in an academic style, including the breathtaking view of the central point of the city- the picturesque lake Gulab Sagar. Subsequent visits and informal chats with the locals revealed information about the name ‘Blue City’. Legends state that the Brahmin Community of Jodhpur worshipped Shiva, or Neelkanth, and therefore the houses are painted neela or blue. Though fascinated by all, he discovered about the place, it was the sheer geometry of the city, the cubical constructs of varied shades of blue, gray and ochre held me spellbound. The city became my inspiration and a reference point for the vocabulary of formalism that marked my works. The artist choses mostly long shots, aerial value or panoramas, which offer, in one sweep, the entire character of the city. The monotony of the cubical dwellings in highlighted by the tiny square windows, an occasional street or an open stairway leading up to the sunny terrace. The windows I learnt were effective in ventilation and allowed for cooled air to circulate in houses even in the extreme heat of Indian summers. The artists approach to his work reflects his personality and upbringing. There is a natural simplicity, pre-determined control from jumble of too many forms. The absence of human activity is intentional and conscious. My paintings are without excessive features and romantic remarks associated with a place like this steeped in a history an illustrious past. My main focus is on plastic values, the cubical houses in an orchestrated colour harmonies with blue predominating, along with dull pinks, ochers and reds have an architectonic solidity and three dimensionality reminiscence. At the same time smooth planes intersecting with angular lines create a grid like impression. ‘The Blue Cube’ is my personal journey as a painter and the filtration and combination of ideas and impressions absorbed during the process.