Adwaita Gadanayak: The Commonwealth Scholar

Adwaita Gadanayak
Adwaita Gadanayak
BFA: B.K.College of Art and Crafts, Bhubaneswar-89
MFA: Delhi College of Art, New Delhi-92
Post Graduate: Slade School of Fine Art, London -95
Scholarship: Commonwealth -93
Triennale-2001
The installations in this Triennale which observed the norms of art and not flouted them, were those like the ones by the sculptor from Orissa, Adwaita Gadanayak, in a work titled Soul, a genuine piece where full justice would seem to have been done to a hallowed word. Here potent idea and the created image were finely, very precisely dovetailed, in order to build up a convincing metaphor…Keshab Mallik

Gandhi Musuem, New DelhiAmong the outdoor displays, a full-scale replica of Hriday Kunj, the residence of Mahatma Gandhi and his wife Kasturba in Satyagraha Ashram at Sabarmati where they lived from 1918 to 1930, the seated sculpture of Mahatma Gandhi, Adwaita Gadanayak's black marble stone of Mahatma Gandhi followed by some of the Marchers on the famous Salt March and the replica of famous Bose's woodcut 'Walk Alone' carving in cement are surely a feast for the eyes of visitors.
Adwaita Gadanayak is an alumni of BKCAC and he is working as President of the organization.
AlumniBKCAC
City Office : Plot-132 1st Floor,Forest park, Bhubaneswar-751009
Campus Office : B.K.College of Art and Crafts,Tapovana,KhandagiriBhubaneswar-751030 Web : http://www.alumnibkcac.org/
Ashok Art Gallery is proud to be a part of this Silver Jubilee Celebration

Pratul Dash, alumni of BKCAC

Pratul Dash
Bachelor of Fine Arts, B.K. College of Arts & Crafts, Bhubaneswar, India, 1995
M.F.A (Painting), College of Art, New Delhi, India, 1998Important scholarship :2004 UNIDEE in residency
Born: Burla, Sambalpur, Orissa

The Horror Show is an installation against violence. The viewer is invited to sit down at a table and browse through the images in a photo album. The photos are, however, not of the kind we are used to finding in somebody's home, but depict victims of massacres and wars. From hidden speakers in the room we can hear people crying and suffering. The sound was recorded on location in Nepal, but has been distorted with the help of Peter Verwimp in order not to belong to one particular place, but to be universal. These issues are not only confined to Nepal, India or the Middle East, it's something that concerns all of us, everywhere. Next to the photo album, the viewer can find paper and pens and write down his/her opinions on the matter. Pratul will later send these letters to the UN.Pratul has also worked on a proposal for the design of Illy Cafe coffee cups and plates. The cups and plates are decorated with photos of the thumbs of people from different classes of society, of different colours, religions, professions, and so on. The cup of coffee therefore becomes a meeting-place where social aspects are no longer relevant and Pratul hopes it will help to bridge the gaps between people.

He has also been thinking a lot about the relationship between architecture and human beings. All buildings have their own history and he's interested in studying how we react to it.The works done during Pratul’s formative years exemplified his existential dilemmas in a sharper way. He made his self portrait in various postures, at times going to the levels of contortionism. These portraits were seen against the backdrop of barren lands and abandoned city scapes. The sparsely inhabited cities become a metaphor for him to emphasize his angst as a lonely man who traverses through un-chartered paths. The egg shaped forms, or melting ice forms blown up beyond the point of reality gagged his portraits that forced him into a struggle of muteness. He vocalized his concerns through these mute and mutant images.His sustained interest in postmodern theories and various articulations of these has taken Pratul Dash to make a lot of works on paper also. His water colours deal with the particularities of an urban space; especially the displacement of the self and body in relationship with the animal imageries that are seen quite unnatural in the naturalness of the urban aloofness. The animals that abundantly come to play a dominant role in the pictorial renditions of Pratul Dash underline the unnatural existence of the human beings within the alienated modern and post modern urban locales.A series of paintings on contortionism has helped Pratul to bring in his observations on the dilemma of contemporary lives. Also the recent video works that he had done when he was in Italy and later in New Delhi show his engagement with the spaces of commodities and commodification. Extensive footages of malls and mannequins are edited skillfully to create a hyper reality that corresponds to the erotic and ethical instincts of the consumer man. These videos function as a field of retrospection and introspection rather than an active critique on accentuated consumerism.

One of his video works that Pratul has specially prepared for his major solo exhibition shows the artist in his native village in Orissa. He is seen in an act of tying himself with a thread, which could be a sacred thread that demarcates his caste position, around his head and face. The violent action with which he ties himself turns his face into a distorted mass and the untying of the thread leaves a mesh of markings on the skin. It looks like a body drawing, using body as the medium and surface. Like a Chris Burden or Vito Acconci he inflicts pain on himself to eke out a meaning of affection, infliction and restoration.Pratul in his concept note on this work states: “One might get a strange sense of relief as the performance unwinds and the distorted image of the face gains balance. What remain are the marks of the string’s path of punishment and an extremity of detachment and peace in the end. It is a kind of come back for me in my native land.” This coming back (of a not so prodigal son) is substantiated by further enactment of the same action in artificial situations, edited and incorporated into the main body of the video work. Pratul Dash is a painter who cares for the environment and his fellow humans, and uses his canvas to voice his cares. Every work of art is a window to its makers’ beliefs — aesthetic, political, philosophical...whatever. In the case of Pratul Dash, that window is wide open. You can see Dash’s engagement with social and political issues affecting the country all over the canvases, photographs and videos .Large vistas of bare landscapes; geometrical blocks evocative of the concrete maze our cities have become today; scaffoldings, ladders and pipelines that seem to stretch into infinity — these are recurring tropes in Dash’s work, used to signal the paradoxes of urbanisation, of the country’s headlong rush towards Western-style development, leading to the depletion of forests and alienation of individuals. “I have nothing against the growth of the country, but my concern is with the cost of it,” Pratul Dash says.

Pratul says that during his stay in Nepal he could see the pain in the eyes of people. The day he got there he saw the news on TV about the massacre of a family. Pratul went the following day with an artist friend to scene of the crime, the only survivors were the mother and her two-year-old child. It was a shocking and difficult sight. He strongly believes that silence is not a solution to these situations and he has continued working on these matters to bring the issue in front of an international community and ask for our direct participation. Working at Cittadellarte has helped Pratul realise that it is possible to create networks and move art out of the galleries and into society. It's the artist's duty to deal with social issues. Besides many exhibitions in India, his works are exhibited at USA, UK, ITALY, HONG KONG and DUBAI.
Pratul Dash is one of alumni BKCAC and working as Executive Member of the Organization
AlumniBKCAC
http://www.alumnibkcac.org/

My College, My City and My State by Jagannath Panda

Jagannath Panda, Bhubaneswar 2008
Today the field of art has become so vast that medium is no longer a barrier for an artist. Now art is not limited to conventional art and craft. Contemporary artists are versatile. They are adept at every type of art including canvas painting, video art (narrative and non-narrative) and sculpture (stone, wood, fibre, glass, etc).But as far as opportunities for artists are concerned, the scenario is bleak in Orissa.

The government is least bothered about art students' future so talented artists cannot go abroad for higher studies. If you're a traditional artist, somehow you'll survive here but if you're a modern artist you won't. Serious practice of art is missing here which forces good artists to migrate to other cities.Like, after completing graduation from BK College of Art here in 1991, I studied post-graduation in fine arts in MS University, Baroda. Then I moved to Delhi in 1995 and started practicing as an artist. Then again I went to London in 2002 to pursue MA in Royal College of Art by achieving INLAKS foundation scholarship. After returning from UK, I set up my own studio in Gurgaon. Had such facilities been here I would have preferred to stay in Orissa. My dream is to develop Bhubaneswar as a global hub for artists where international-level artists would come and interact with local artists. When it comes to contemporary art and new research in the field, we need an up-to-date centre having a library and facilities for holding workshops and events here. Now I am trying to develop a state of the art studio in Bhubaneswar and hopefully it'll come up within next few years.

'Gandhi's ideas have always influenced my work. His phylosophy always gives me the opportunity to create works for society, I thought I would explore Gandhi's physicality and philosophy against contemporary, urban structures by juxtaposing Gandhian idealism or optimism with darker reality,' Jagannath Panda said.New Delhi has become a kind of place for artists from across the country and to work here is not only a challenge but also a privilege. Art is a very important segment. Artists contribute considerably for development of the aesthetic culture of a state. History says, governments or connoisseurs of art did always patronage artists.Times are changing, so also the mindset of people as well as government towards art. A case in point is beautification of Bhubaneswar. It shows the positive attitude of the government which has started giving priority to art and heritage. But we need to deal with such things delicately. Some serious intellectuals, architects, designers and artists should have been involved it, to make it a planned and better way like Bindusagar.But job opportunities for artists are very poor in Orissa. Small jobs like screen painting, design units and part-time jobs are only available. In the last quarter of 80's art teachers' posts were abolished. Lectureship is deemed to be the best job in our field but new colleges are not being set up and posts are not created, neither vacancies are filled up. Even if foreigners are visiting regularly Orissa only through this beautiful city Bhubaneswar and in the name of beautification people are just giving it a more and more ugly look, our city will say all about us, if a visitor comes from outside. That so we guys who are passed out from B.K.College have formed an oranigation named AlumniBKCAC. We all has a dream to bring our college, city and state in national and global platform regularly.We are planed out some initial projects , one can find by browsing alumnibkcac.org.

There are six to seven art colleges in Orissa, out of which only two are government. There is not a single art university here, I will never admit this culture university as an university. I have abashed when visited it recently, nothing is there to claim as an university. Existing colleges need to be upgraded, global model should be adopted in art education. Facilities, infrastructure should be upgraded in art institutions. Time to time evaluation should be done to improve curriculum. Aesthetic art, architecture, design and craft should be properly presented. Serious institutions should be there to promote local art and craft. Local aesthetics, local culture should be taught to students at school-level. School students should be imbibed these things.The government should give a serious look into this in view of the fact that demand is rising in the field and more students are opting for art as a career.

Jagannath Panda is an alumni of BKCAC and he is working as
Vice President in organization.

AlumniBKCAC

http://www.alumnibkcac.org/

B.K.College of Art and Crafts and its 25 years in Orissan Art

Bibhuti Kanungo College of Art & Crafts, Bhubaneswar (BKCAC) was established in January 1984 with an intention of fostering and disseminating contemporary art of Orissa. The college was responsible in reformation of art education in Orissa by introducing the students to the national exhibitions, both inward and outward, engaging them to intensified exposure; organising workshops of artists and art historians of repute and inspiring intellectual exchange; providing space for the young generation artists to operate in several Clubs, like the sketching club, walking club and thereby introducing them to the existing monuments of Bhubaneswar. The first experiments of art and poetry, art and music were organised by the college to provide range to the creative faculty of the art students. The attempt was noble and intentions were clear- to make Orissa contemporary art visible on the global perspective.The effort of the teachers and students in the inadequate space dreamt of a new world, which deals with innovation and realisation. The integrated conviction has brought the BKCAC through these twenty five years. In these years there have been ups and downs but the nuance and vibe of the associates has remained intact. Besides national and international awards the students have dissolved the boundaries and attained honour by receiving fellowships from INLAKS, Commonwealth, Japan Foundation, Chinese Government Scholarship and several other awards. The achievements are due to the education that moulded the minds of the students.The college is completing its twenty five years in 2009 and to mark the occasion, the alumni of the college are organising a silver jubilee event (spread over several days) in the college premises at Bhubaneswar, Orissa. The programme of the events is being finalised and the objective of the event is to focus the contribution of the BKCAC to Indian Contemporary Art and to introduce the potential of art students and young artists of Orissa to the global programme in ART. The events include international and National artists participating in workshop and deliberation, spread over three days; audio visual projection of a documentary on the BKCAC; Artists interaction in the global level. In short it projected to be a mega event, involving people from every walk of life. This event would significantly contribute to the development of Contemporary art.

Ashok Art Gallery is proud to be a part of this grand silver jubilee event

AlumniBKCAC
Present Address : Plot-132 1st Floor,Forest park, Bhubaneswar-751009
Campus Office : B.K.College of Art and Crafts,Tapovana,Khandagiri,Bhubaneswar-751030

Web : http://www.alumnibkcac.org/
Email :info@alumnibkcac.org

Alumni BKCAC

The Executive Body of the organization will consists of the followings for present and the persons may change from time to time as and when required.
1.Shri Adwaita Gadanayak
B-404, Vidyut Apartment81, I.P. ExtentionNew Delhi-92
President
2.Shri Jagannath Panda
C-30, G/F, Sun city, Sector-54, Gurugaon, Haryana
Vice-President
3.Shri Subrat Ku. Mullik
Lecturer, B.K. College of Art & Crafts, Bhubaneswar-751030
Secretary
4.Shri Anjan Ku. Sahoo
Village- SampurPlot No.7449/1388Near S.O.S. VillageGhatikia, Bhubaneswar.
Joint Secretary
5.Shri Tarakanta Parida
132, Forest Park, Bhuibaneswar
Treasurer
6.Shri Anup Chand
Flat No.301, Plot No.221, Gyankhanda-I, Indrapuram, Gaziabad, U.P.
Member
7.Shri Pradosh Mishra
L-4, Warden’s QuarterJodhpur ColonyBHU, Varanasi,U.P.
Member
8.Shri Ashok Nayak
I-24(A), Subhash Chowk, Laxmi NagarDelhi-110 092.
Member
9.Shri Prabir Dalai
Lecturer, Dhauli College of Art & Crafts, Near Dhauli Santi StupaBhubaneswar-751002
Member
10.Shri Pratap Jena
Qrs. No.8, Type-II, 2nd P & T Colony, Vanivihar, Bhubaneswar.
Member
11.Shri Pratul Dash
S.F.-4, Siddhi Vinayak Apartment, Abhayakhanda-III, Indrapuram, Gaziabad, U.P.
Member
12.Shri Nigamananda SwainInstructor, Government College of Art & Crafts, Khallikote, Ganjam
Member
13.Shri M. Sovan Kumar
1113, Basista Nagar, Old Town, Bhubaneswar
Member
14.Shri Sangram Kr. Moharana
At-Mahura, P.O.-Retanga, Dist. Khurda
Member
15.Mrs. Kabita Mohanty
SCR-10, Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar.
Member
16.Shri Jyoti Panigrahi71, Ist Floor, Vigyanlok, Delhi-110 092
Member
17.Shri Sudhansu Sutar
J-2/46, DLF Phase-II, Gurugaon, Haryana-2
Member
18Shri Dillip Ku. Tripathy
Lalit Kala AkademiRabindra BhavanNew Delhi-110 001.
Member
19.Priyadarsiini Mohanty
Cuttack
Member
20.Rashmirekha Panda
Central School,SalwaKharagpur, West Bengal
Member