Page 96 - Eye of the beholder

genius was already made apparent as as as a a a a a a a a a a a a student He had mastery over the academic rules and by the same token he he could have been a a a a a a a prize painter of Bombay upper class society However he rejected his education and and educated himself through books and and reproductions and the actual works of art that he he could find access to He was a a a a a a a a confirmed rebel from his adolescence During college days he he became a a a a a a a patriot and got himself expelled The occasion was a a a a a a a a a students’ demonstration against the the anti-colonial practices of the the English principal Souza’s process of politicization led led him to Marxism and soon after he he was expelled from the art art school he he he joined the Communist Party of India By temperament he he he was a a a a a a fighter with every pang of humiliation he felt as as an an individual or as as a a a a a a a a a a a ‘native’ that roused in in him to retaliate and and attack Working for the party he he devised his figures according to class-type and and depicted the the the plight of of the the the poor He He painted these in in in an idiom of of realism He He was only too willing to to display his paintings in in in in in the the working class colonies of Bombay and was hailed in in in in in the the People’s Age the party paper as a a a a a a a patriot and revolutionary In 1947 Souza initiated the the the Progressive Artists Group [PAG] By the the the time the the the group became operative he had already made a a a a a a a a a a name for himself by painting prolifically exhibiting it it and selling them too Souza in in in in initiating the the group wished to to give it it a a a a a a broad ideological orientation which he he he he he did by providing the the the the manifesto the the the the publicity and the the the the credentials for the the the the group But after the the first exhibition held in 1949 he he he he decided to leave the the country and left for London Souza as an an an angry expatriate adopted in true style and added the appropriate myths to his emigration by laying the the claims that he he he was driven out of of the the country for lack of of appreciation Souza undeniably carved a a a a a a a a trajectory with avowed frankness and forthrightness His position within modern Indian art art is that of a a a a a a a a a daring and courageous pioneer when he he said “Our art art has evolved over the years of of its own own volition out of of our own own balls and brains” His abrasive personality forthright frankness and torturous emotions manifested his works revealing not a a a a a a a normal individual but one one possessing an extraordinary genius who fought his lone battles and stood alone Souza passed away in 2002 almost bankrupt His paintings were informed by a a a a a variety of styles that included Expressionism Surrealism Cubism and Primitivism the the latter particularly for his predilection towards the the native folk art art of Goa The repertoire of his subject matter was still life landscapes human nudes and and Christian iconography rendered boldly in in frenzied distortion of forms His style expressed his disdain and impatience for conventions and everyday reality of the subject matter He had gone through this phase when as as part of the the the communist group he he he he he had painted the the the proletariat and the the the poor fishermen farm labourers factory workers destitute prostitutes pimps and others The landscapes that Souza painted were bereft of human presence and and generic in in character without the the the specification of locale whether Indian European English or any other thus denying the the persuasive statement of cultural identity reflecting his bohemian state state The energy in in these landscapes was equally frenzied and and and frenetic made manifest through diagonal roads and and and streets tall towers and and other architectural elements creating a a a a a a a a sense of enigma and and mystery His architectural motifs were in in in a a a a a a a sense metaphorical conveying authority of his intellectual artistry The diagonal streets spell rebellion in the the construction of his visual aesthetic by denying all all dominant conventions The half open doors in in in his landscapes symbolically reveal his introverted pessimistic and enigmatic complex personality 90