Dancer Caught In The Ecstasy of Her Art

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

This contemporary painting by a Delhi-based artist Anup Gomay, rendered in oil on canvas measuring 3ft by 4 feet, portrays a dancer performing all alone, fully enthused and as in ecstasy. Anup Gomay usually prefers a background in deep tones of colours and abstract forms, though unlike the contemporary abstract artists who render such forms for the sake of such forms itself or for emphasizing abstractness in Anup Gomay’s paintings such forms are often symbolic and convey some meaning or at least add thrust to the painting’s central theme. Here the disorderly background with irregular strokes of brush – deep tan, maroon, red, grey and in between patches of white, as well as the dancer’s disordered costume – the sash around her waist, skirt, the dancers’ decorative furs on legs, upper shortie – collected around breasts, sash tied around her knotted hair … all symbolize the burst of energy that the kind of dance she is performing generates. The arms’ resplendent decorative covering, the legs’ fur-fittings and the short skirt – typical of European folk dancers widely used by Helen like hot dance performers in early Indian films attribute to her figure in the painting great ethnicity, medievalism and flavour.      

As suggests her specific costume, the fur covering for legs, the arms’ guards and her short skirt in special, she is a dancer in Westernized dance style. The dancer has European appearance, especially in structuring of her face; however, it also blends some moves of Tandava-like Indian dance of dissolution that with the burst of energy dissolves forms and heralds new forms to evolve. In the portrayal Anup Gomay combines a modern abstractionist when doing the background, and a miniaturist when doing portrayal of the dancer. He has most accurately revealed the movement of each mussel, in each one’s projection, every curve and twist of each of her body’s parts, exertion on the face, absorption in eyes, and burst of energy both in her entire being and the background. Besides projecting the dancing figure’s golden complexion against its dark tan the background immensely highlights the theme’s thrust. Thus in iconographic perception Gomay is as accurate as a miniaturist while in overall impact he is a modern abstractionist.

With her angular face – angularity enhancing more towards the chin, elevated cheek-bones, deep socketed eyes expanding across the face, fully closed in ecstasy, thin eye-brows expanding such far as covered the expanse of eyes, broad forehead, sharp but pointed nose with elevated nose-tip, black long hair, high neck and a tall slender figure is a realistic painter’s vision of the dancer. Gomay’s emphasis is on, both, the figure, figure’s beauty as also the figure’s form, in which reveals dance. The dancer’s vigorous and ecstatic moves revealing immense energy and the figure’s beauty – highly balanced and perfect in anatomical proportions, gold-like complexion and sharp features, and every limb gesticulated to a dance-form go together, and the artist does not comprise on either. Strangely, the artist has wondrously combined with vigour and figure’s massive moves absorption and a state as that of trance. Not only its portrayal but also the dance by itself is the great art for dancing all alone she is dancing for own delight, not commercially for viewers.

Oil painting technique – India centric

Oil painting is the most interesting technique in art. Unlike other paintings or art forms, oil painting is a process in which colored pigments are painted on the canvas with a drying oil medium as a binder. This medium helps colors blend beautifully to create layers and also makes them appear rich and dense. Several varieties of oil are used in this painting such as sunflower oil, linseed oil, etc., and depending on the quality of the oil, a particular consistency of the paint is developed. With the use of an oil medium, the painting gets a natural sheen on the surface which appears extremely attractive. India is famous for its old tradition of making oil paintings. This art form was brought by Europeans in the 18th century and is now practiced by almost all well-known artists. Nirmal, a small tribal town in the state of Telangana is the center of traditional oil paintings in India where the local people practice it with dedication. Most Indian artists still use the traditional technique of oil painting.

Canvas of the required size is prepared

The artists use either a wood panel or canvas made from linen or cotton. Sometimes the canvas is stretched onto the wooden frame to form a solid base, or cardboard may be used. The canvas is coated with a layer of white paint or chalk mixed with animal glue. This mixture is then smoothed and dried to form a uniform, textured surface. The wooden panel is more expensive and heavier but its solidity is an advantage in making detailed paintings with ease.

Sketch is drawn on the canvas

Now the artist starts to draw the subject of the painting on the canvas using the actual charcoal or a charcoal pencil. Sometimes, he may sketch with thinned paint as well.

Oil paint is applied using paint brushes or palette knives

Now that the rough sketch is prepared, the artist is now ready to paint. Oil paint, a special paint that contains particles of pigments suspended in a drying oil (usually linseed oil), is again mixed with oil to make it thinner for applying it on the canvas. Proper consistency of the paint is maintained to avoid its breakage. The most important rule for the application of oil paint is “Fat over lean” in which the first layer of paint is thin and later, thicker layers are applied. This means that each additional layer of paint contains more oil. This results in getting a stable paint film. Traditionally, paint was applied using paint brushes but now the artists also use palette knives to create crisp strokes. To paint using this technique, the edge of the palette knife is used to create textured strokes that appear different from that of a paintbrush. Sometimes, oil paints are blended simply using fingers for getting the desired gradation.

Smaller oil paintings, with very fine detail, are relatively easier to paint than larger ones. The most attractive feature of these paintings is the natural shiny appearance that is obtained on the surface because of the use of oil paint. The blending of colors looks extremely realistic and this is the reason why oil paintings are loved by everyone throughout the world.