The Veena Player

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Batik represents a fine fusion of an extremely tedious craft activity and aesthetic content of a high quality. The intricate process of batik involves boiling and beating the cloth with a mallet, to soften the fiber and enable the material to absorb wax. A design is then applied by pencil to the prepared fabric. Hereon starts the time consuming cycle of waxing and dyeing till the desired results have been achieved. Cloth is usually dyed in boiling solutions. Not so with batik. Because wax has such a low melting point, batik must be dyed in cold or lukewarm baths. Crackle, a characteristic of this art, is actually an accidental texture which is governed by the artist with effort.

This work in batik has a curly haired musician, sitting cross-legged playing the veena. He seems to be playing to an audience but is not in direct communication with them. His body is frontally placed but the face is in a profile. The artist has infused life in the picture by placing the fingers deftly on the strings. With a little imagination, one can hear him strum the veena, which too is wonderfully crafted. Attention has been given to each detail of the instrument, trying to make it as realistic as possible. Each stone studded in the veena would have taken a number of waxing and dyeing sessions.

The background is dyed in a subtle green shade. the corner of the picture is cut diagonally by the curtain. Dark drapery offsets the width considerably. From conception to the end, this batik piece is a marvel.

This description by Renu Rana.