Known as the most prestigious practitioner of Gond art, Bhajju Shyam’s work has a rare uniqueness that embodies the entire range of human emotions through folk imagery. By Uma Nair

Gond artist Bhajju Shyam has carved a space for himself in India’s art landscape by combining tradition and simple beliefs with acquired techniques of expression. And he uses folk motifs as urban metaphors. For example, he had once pictured an airport as a gobbling bird. So there is a rootedness that informs his works, some of which are on display at the Ojas Art Gallery.

Among 50 artworks of different genres of folk and indigenous arts of the country, the work of Padma Shri Bhajju Shyam stands tall. There is not just compositional control but a felicity and fluidity with contours and colour tones. Known as the most prestigious practitioner of Gond art, Shyam’s work has a rare uniqueness that embodies the entire range of human emotions through animal imagery. In an interview to me last year he had said, “I’m constantly finding new subjects and metaphors from the stories of the Gond art tradition. That comes from the cradle, we are born with it and I cannot deviate from my being. My inspiration is my uncle Jangarh Singh Shyam. Whenever I mixed colours for him in his palette, he would share stories and thoughts with me. They stayed on and I draw on them for my interpretations.”

Saila Haathi

Another delightful work is Saila Haathi or the dancing elephant. Acrylic and ink become his favoured medium here. The elephant is both subject and object, myth and reality. It belongs to the figment of Bhajju’s imagination as well as the folk lore that he loves to transcend. But the elephant also brings us face to face with man’s greed and selfishness, the truth that this beautiful giant is on the way to extinction. Remember the persecution and cruelty meted out to  elephants in the temples of Kerala and many other places? This image becomes a mascot of malpractices and the last cry  of an animal that is pleading to humans.

Nau Rupi Macchli

The piece de resistance among the artist’s works is Naur Rupi Machli, which translates as a fish-shaped boat. You have to admire the intricate details of Gond art and the thoughts behind the creation in this beautifully-painted work of two large fish, a bird and smaller fish around them. Characteristic of Gond art are Bhajju’s  teeming decorative patterns that fill the images. In order to highlight these patterns — which each artist develops for her/himself as a unique signature it  — are their neatness and accuracy. Bhajju’s versatility stands out for his perfection in the geometric patterns that he creates. That expertise comes from helping his mother with digna or the geometric pattern before he apprenticed under the masters of Jangarh. The colours are both neon-tinted and flat, yet he weaves in a robust balance of darkness and light to create a surreal syntax.

Pawan

In another work titled Pawan, we see an idyllic simplicity. Worms and reptilian species dot the “tree of life” canvas but what stands is the continuity of tradition through antiquity that seems as just as relevant to modern contexts. Bhajju has a distinct approach and understanding; we see the way he fills in the details even as he plays with the beauty of concentric and geometric circles. There is a strong sense of symbolism in the manner in which he uses juxtaposition. While this varies from modern sensibility, it becomes a delicious blend of indigenous and contemporary explorations.

It also draws attention to the symbiotic relationship between nature and the individual. So when we see the work, there is a  holistic pattern and aura of indigenous wisdom.