Chief Seattle said, “Without animals and trees, humans will die of a great loneliness of spirit.” What does one leave with after having seen Pradeep Mishra's recent 'Being Served' exhibition? A sense of protective kindness, a sense of comprehending that all life is precious, that we share this planet with many other living beings who also feel pain and understand delight. All life struggles to be happy and here Pradeep honors those who serve and can communicate but cannot speak.
Pradeep Mishra paints pictures of babies, plants and those gentle, humble animals, usually dismissed as ‘cattle'. There are no sophisticated adults here, just animals and innocence. He paints benevolently and compassionately with a concern for all the unprotected life around us, which so many forget to care for carefully. His calm images of animals and infants look back at us with dark, serene eyes, eyes which do not ask for anything. He paints some human babies too, which are rather reminiscent of the ‘Murphy Radio' baby. Some decades ago, most homes in Maharashtra had portraits of this Murphy baby: nice, very pink, bonny babies with huge eyes. The household's women then lovingly made a collage of clothes and jewelry with these pictures. Invariably these babies were gorgeous, like a film star is gorgeous, and very tender and cuddly. They looked like babies that were well cared for and much admired!
The dark, blood reds in Mishra's backgrounds are a reminder of that with which so much life is nourished. These flat surfaces hold his creatures with their animal eyes: eyes with a gentle point of view, like a young baby looking at you, almost like in the Nativity scenes. However the feeling of pain, of having been exploited is faintly visible. Humans destroy animals and plants without thinking twice, very often for no gain whatsoever. To call this work political or oriented towards animal welfare may be true but it is done so gently and sympathetically that one is simply comforted. In the 'old' days, when people had creatures living under the same roof, and the grandmother fed the cow, the children played with the goats or dressed them up, when they chased the dog and its puppies in a game, this is a reminder of this relationship, this close connection before we moved into cities and forgot where our food and comfort came from. Once upon a time, humans and animals were family and people did not abuse them as machines or factories. These portraits from Pradeep's loving, compassionate paintbrush tell us, not stridently, nor accusingly, but very quietly of the many times when one forgot to be compassionate and that we are on earth perhaps for two things: to enjoy ourselves and to give everyone else a loving hand.
Pradeep Mishra's art tell tales of understanding that the world is one, that all life is intermingled and equally sensitive, that love for anyone has to be love for every creature, that any animal's pain is everyone's. He seems to understand that ecology, coined by the German biologist, Ernst Haekel in 1866, as “the comprehensive relationship of the organism to the environment.” Pradeep says: “It's about relationship and its healthy growth. Whether it's about between humans or any other being, I do believe they can never be separated no matter what space we are living in.” And so he lovingly and softly paints animals, flowers and small babies and gives away roses to care for and enjoy.
In 2005, Mumbai received an unusual amount of rain and humans escaped from flooded homes and left animals behind, still tied up in their sheds. They thought they would return soon and be with them. However these creatures drowned in the floods and died. Like in the Titanic disaster, when some cabins were bolted from the outside so people could not escape while others had access to the limited lifeboats. Pradeep ponders about this selfishness. He has said that this desertion of helpless creatures showed such utter irresponsibility to our animal neighbors, and made him think again. Indians have, or used to have, a deep belief in reincarnation. This callous or simply thoughtless and deadly abandonment of domestic animals indicates that this belief is not so ingrained anymore. Here Pradeep remembers our origins, our animals, our society and our humanness. This has resulted in these paintings with their backgrounds of deep, flat colors. They are moments of compassion, done in great loving detail and with a very skilled hand.
Artists are those who best depict a time, the ethos of what went on. These paintings echo a time when we once more remembered we were one or defied that and chose to be just me. Plants and animals usually calm down humans and Pradeep chose to fill one of his exhibitions with fresh roses and fragrant plants. Roses have been used for declaring love, for adorning a special table, for making garlands for deities, for extracting cherished perfumes, and occasionally supplying dreams as we look deep into the perfection inside every flower and on every leaf. Roses do come with thorns! He had thrown red petals against white walls, and respectfully cleaned the gallery afterwards. These plants were given away to viewers. However we are so far from nature that many today may not know how to nurture roses. How did these roses live in the cold galleries for days? He wonders not about nature complaining but the flotsam and jetsam created by humanity. In nature, every process is food or shelter for someone, but humans often leave detritus which is of no use to anyone, man or beast.
Peter Louis, who is exhibiting Mishra's work in New York , says that Pradeep is an immensely talented artist who has great technique. His first response to his work was that he absolutely knows how to paint, and that is always a source of continuous pleasure. The show has done very well indeed with only one painting currently available, and all the buyers have had that visceral response to his technical ability. Technique will allow him to go far and will allow him to fully and elegantly express his artistic vision. Technique is something that is not too widespread in the current contemporary art market.
Peter continued that his artistic themes are gentle and moving, not so confrontational or pushy or brash as many other contemporary artists. His works are pleasing and yet not just decorative. He uses images such as these animals that are common in India and yet he removes them from a literal representation by removing a surrounding that would keep the images quaint and romantic. He explores issues of innocence lost and innocence found, the interaction of humans and animals, the birth, growth, death cycles of the lives of human beings and plants, and most of all, the inter-connectedness of us all.
Today, Pradeep Mishra's oil paintings on canvas and his charcoal, watercolor and pastel work on paper are admired and collected. An artist, he says he wants ordinary people to view his work and share his oneness with all life. His work provokes curiosity, compassion and then admiration. One remembers Basho's words:
‘Delight, then sorrow,
aboard the cormorant
fishing boat.'
(Fishermen use these birds to catch fish. Basho does not tell us directly about the nooses around the birds' throats which prevent them from eating their catch.)
Pradeep Mishra was born in Maharashtra in 1977, Pradeep Mishra got his BFA and MFA from the Sir J.J. School of Art, Mumbai. In 2004, immediately after his college education, Pradeep was invited to participate in several shows and awarded a residency programme at New Delhi . Since then he has expressed his views in paintings, paperwork and installations. He has exhibited at various important shows like Khoj Peers, ‘Reclaim Your Freedom Week' Mumbai, (2003) and at the World Social Forum, Mumbai, (2004) and Real 2006 and 2007 by www.mattersofart.com. This was followed by installation cum painting shows: Fragranceofearth at The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai, Fertilesoil at the Palette Art Gallery , New Delhi (2005). He lives and works in Mumbai.
Being Served
Pradeep Mishra
May 15 - June 14, 2008
RL Fine Arts, New York
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