ArtIndiaGallery

1966 : BORN AT DELWADA (INDIA)
1990 : MASTER OF ART IN CREATIVE PAINTINGS FROM
FACULTY OF FINE ARTS M.S. UNIVERSITY
BARODA (INDIA).



4th July 1966 Delwada village (Gujarat) a child is born. Parents name him Jitendra. From his very
childhood Jitendra was different. He used to paint on the walls of his village home. His mother, a
humble soul never refrained her son from messing the walls. In fact she encouraged him . At the age
of six Jitendra joined the village school. Fortunately for him the school encouraged all forms of arts.
His uncle who was an artist helped him in developing his interest and skills in art. Seeing the potential
of the Jitendra his elder brother who had by now moved to the city made arrangements and got him
admitted to Art college.
In college he excelled in Lithography and Drawing. Being a Rebel by nature, he constantly
experimented different techniques & art forms. He started painting on large canvases. He used to
burn plywood and try out different ways of creating art. Once a whole lot of his paintings got burnt in
the process.

Later he took Osho’s Sanyas. His Sanyas name was Swami Antar Vartan. His friends call him Vartan.He
then moved to Osho’s Pune Commune. For over a year Vartan worked at the paintings in the Ashram.
A number of exhibitions took place around this time at the Commune. Vartan in between went into a
mental turmoil due to a break up with his associate in the commune. There was a feeling of being
rejected; He had before him two choices, either get drowned in the sorrows of a failed relationship or
do some soul searching. He moved to the nearby mountains which is close to Pune. The name of the
place is “Mystic Village”. Here he lived close to Mother Nature. He hardly spoke around this time. Three
years latter he returned to a normal life. He came out spiritually strong and vibrant. By now he was a
transformed person. He chose to live in the moment.

Vartan dives into his painting, flow’s with it, lives with it, this has been his approach towards his painting.
Vartan’s bold abstraction and free brush strokes epitomize the spontaneity in a grand scale. He
creates on canvas something of himself - after he has given it the power of expressions. It is through
his art he speaks directly to his viewer. The harmony and balance of elements reflected in his painting
evokes great mystery. Vartan’s painting represent the five elements of Nature or the five Tattva’s. The
basic colors that dominate his paintings are Red & Blue representing Fire and Water. Vartan with his
touch creates forms which has taste. You will find the flow of water, the energy of fire and movement
& vibrations of air in his paintings.

Vartan’s View

I immensely enjoy watching the works of the Masters like Jackson Pollock, Howard Hodgkin, Franze
Kline and Mark Rothko, I also like the works of Laxman Shreshtha and S.H. Raza.

I use large thick canvases for my paintings. Many of my painting involve brush strokes rubbing,
scratching and removing of paint to create texture and layering. I paint "wet on wet" and apply the
paints to the canvas on top of each other and into each other, whilst still wet. The order of the colours
and surfaces is very important to me, because I use a lot of paint, which is applied very thickly.

Sometimes it takes several days, before I can start on a painting. I just feel the blank canvases and
feel my breathing. Then I wait a the right moment, but once I have started, I work very quickly. For
me this moment is the moment of celebration and dancing. I enjoy this tremendous energy force
during work.

• 1994 Graduation (BA) Kolakata
• 1999 B.V.A. (Govt. College of Art & Craft), Kolkata
• 2001 One year non-collegiate student of graphic in MS University in Vadodara, Faculty of Fine Arts
• 2002 Master of Arts (Fine) in Graphic Art from Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University in Vadodara

"There is no fixed source for my work. I take inspiration from varied sources whatever images come from any literary piece or a poem or a cinema or music or even mythological stories. I develop upon my images by interplay between what I collect, accumulate from these source materials and also my observations about reality varies - its political sometimes, sometimes sentimental, paradic, iconic or even sometimes very feminine."

Born in West Bengal , this young artist has just completed her M.F. A in Graphics from The Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S. University, Baroda. Nabanita Saha completed her B.V.A from Kolkata in 1999 before coming to Baroda to pursue the art of printmaking.
Though most of the Nabanita's works are either etchings or serigraphs, a choice that has come from the need to show details in her works, the artist also works in oils occassionally.

Metaphors and symbols are the core of the works. She uses traditional, cultural and religious metaphors and it is through these images her language is spoken. That metaphorical images carry more than a single meaning is just as important as the use of the symbol itself. Prominently, one sees the chakra (wheel, in reference to yoga),linga (the iconic representation of Lord Shive), the womb, the swastika, the snake and the lotus in no specific formator organised presentation.The artist has gradually progressed from one work to another through herunderstanding of metaphor in the form of its meaning , its character, its uses and its values.

A strong feminist stand dominates several of the artists visuals. The protoganist, a woman is mostly autobiographical, a woman of the society though not confined to a specific one. Having personally been forced to overcome several unpleasant incidents biased towards women, as many women have to face, this has been explicitedly depicted in her work. Remaining in the reach of reality, Nabanita does not intend to stray to the abstract in terms of presentation and form.

There is a feeling of disparity which strikes one on the first look of many of Nabanita's works. And this feeling tends to stay with you for a while. The neccessity to evoke the emotions of the viewer is one of the unconscious motives while the actual one is of expression of the artists beliefs and socio-political stance. The artist feels that it is with her art that she can voice her feelings and opinions about the society and todays comtemporary world, something that she verbally may be at a loss.

Nabanita has been awarded several honours like College Award of Annual Exhibition of the Government College of Art and Craft, 1998 for graphics, The National Scholarship 2001 (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government. of India) and The All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society Award, 2002 (Gujarat State Level). The artist lives and works in Baroda.

• 1996, 97, 98 The Annual Exhibition of Govt. College of Art & Craft, Kolkata
• 1996 & 1997 9th & 10th Rashtriya Kala Mela
• 2001-2002 Annual exhibiton of Birla Academy, Kolkata
• 2001 The State Lalit Kala annual exhibition
• 2002 The Aifax Annual exhibition.

PARTECIPATION :
1983 : ARTIST CAMP AT MANDU (M.P.)
1988 : GRAPHICS WORKSHOP IN C.N. COLLEGE AHMEDABAD (GUJ)
1989 : ARTIST CAMP AT MOUNT ABU (RAJ)
1989 : “UTSAV” TRAITIONAL ART CAMP , SANSKAR KENDRA – AHMEDABAD (GUJ)
1990 : “ALL INDIA” ARTIST CAMP AT UDAIPUR (RAJ)
1997 : BIRLA CENTURY ART GALLERY, WORLI (MUMBAI)
1997 : SOCIETY
1998 : “ INSIDE OUTSIDE ”, PUNE
1999 : STONA’99, BANGLORE
2005 : Brooklyn Art Festival, New York

• 2000, 2001 She has also had solo showings in Baroda
• 2002 Cultural Dept. of the Russian Federation Consulate General in Kolkata & Manthan at Gorky Sadan, Kolkata.
• 2002 Cultural Dept. of the Russian Federation Consulate General in Kolkata & Manthan at Lalit Kala Academi, New Delhi.
• 2003 The Uprising, A Group Exhibition at Son-Et-Lumiere Art Gallery, Mumbai.
• 2005 Bajaj Art Gallery, Mumbai

EXHIBITION :
1992 : FACULTY OF FINE GALLERY ,BARODA (INDIA)
1993 : LALIT KALA ACADAMI ,AHMEDABAD (INDIA)
1994 : “ DARK MYSTERY “ VAN GHOGH STUDIO
OSHO COMMUNE INTERNATIONAL, PUNE
1995 : “ SHUNYA KA DARSHAN “ MEERA – 5, OSHO
COMMUNE INTERNATIONAL, PUNE
1996 : PAINTING DISPLAY IN POONA CLUB, PUNE
1996 : “INNER REVOLUTION” BALGANDHARVA (ART GALLERY), PUNE
1997 : KHUSBOO ART GALLERY, PUNE
1997 : “MOON” THE NECHE ART GALLERY, PUNE
2000 – 01-02 : LITTLE ITALY ARTE MYSTICA, GOA
2001 : STADSBIBLIOTEKET,ANGELHOLM , ITALY
2001 : INDIAN ART GALLERY , LONDAN
2003-4 : GALLERIE LEELA , MUMBAI-400059,, INDIA
2003-4 : CINE WONDER , THANE ,MUMBAI , INDIA
2003 -4 : CINE MAX , GOREGAON (WEST) MUMBAI
2005 : NEHRU ART GALLERY , WORLI, MUMBAI
2005 : PRESS CLUB, MUMBAI
2005 : Eighth Elephant Contemporary Art, Brooklyn, New York

• Certificate of Merit in graphics.
• College award of Annual Exhibition of Govt. College of Art & Craft, 1998 in Graphics.
• College award of Annual Exhibition of Govt. College of Art & Craft, 1998 in Applied Arts.
• National Scholarship 2001 (Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India).

SCHOLARSHIP:
1983 – 86 : FREE INTEREST LOAN SCHOLARSHIP, GUJARAT GOVERNEMENT
1992 : MERIT SCHOLARSHIP FROM M.S. UNIVERSITY, BARODA
1994 – 95 : NATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP FROM MINISTRY OF HUMAN
RESOURCES GOVERNMENT OF INDIA