Freedom Of Expression

Chandigarh Newsline
Monday March 30, 2009
By Parul

It’s a brush with art, as Paramjit Singh urges 15 artists from the city to paint sans any inhibitions, play on the canvas & in the process explore themselves.

It’s walk in the woods, into to sunset, with landscape painter Paramjit Singh. Flaming orange lights up the bare canvas and with quick, effortless strokes, sans consciousness, he brings black into the picture, creating a canopy of trees and you’re transported into the woods. As the canvas waits, Paramjit Singh whose landscapes, with their loaded silence evocative of the other works, have became over the years, a distinct mystical utterance in pictorial terms, moves to another one and it’s back to nature and its innumerable shades of white, green, black, and red.

Fifteen other artists from the city, watch the captivating and fascinating process, as they create their own works at the art gallery of the Museum. Paramjit Singh is here for a four day art workshop organized by the Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi, as part of the ongoing Chandigarh Arts and Heritage Festival. Inaugurated on Sunday by Prof. B.N. Goswami, the endeavour, explains Diwan Manna, is to provide an opportunity to citizens to have a first-hand experience of how a work of art takes shape and an occasion to interact with the artists, while at work. “This workshop should provide an opportunity to artists to be more experimental and to think liberally, an excuse to try and walk uncharted paths, “adds Manna.

Paramjit Singh puts the value of the workshop into perspective, describing it as a chance for artist to explore themselves in the company of art. “This is not an art class and I’ am not a teacher. The freedom of expression is the essence and my fellow artists should paint with honesty, without inhibition and be completely natural, “being open to criticism, praise, suggestions in valuable. Art believes the painter, who expresses the esoteric in his landscapes, has no end point or final destination.

The pursuit to reach the unknown, smiles Singh inspires him, and it’s life – long one, so humility and being natural are integral to the process. And is there a concrete thought before he approaches the canvas? “The essence is there in the mind, but there is no form. For instance, here the idea is a walk in the woods, which I am doing on two horizontal canvases simultaneously, but this is not literal, for the form is not pre-decided, “Paramjit Singh works in oil and says his leaning towards nature comes from where he grew up. The principle of life for any artist, adds the painter is to be true to oneself and have no ego, subtly directing, reading and listening to your canvas and develop a language that expresses the inner self and in turn, an individual vocabulary of art……

Filling The Canvas

HT City
Monday March 30, 2009
By Saurabh Gupta

How often do you get to see a legendary artist’s work in front of you? Or, for that matter, see 15 other established local artists paint? Well, at this work shop- part of the Chandigarh Arts & Heritage Festival – artists and aficionados relished the chance to see Paramjit Singh, one of India’s most renowned landscape artists, do two paintings and explain the process. This four- day workshop by Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi opened on Sunday morning at Government Art Gallery-10.

The 74 year old Delhi artist first dabbed the white canvas with saffron, then put black and made patterns. “Like some artists draw with pencils, I draw with colours,”he told all, and began spreading the fading blackness and put patches of yellow. Then he took a break. On the other, smaller canvas, he first put black, then white, making it grey and then put violet dots all over. “I have a certain feeling and begin with that. Then it flows, “he says. Meanwhile, the 15 participants were warming up the canvas; some had painted the first base – in sky-blue, grey, red, and yellow- and were readying to do shapes on them. Like Kavita Singh, with her women’s fables on mixed media. Or Mahesh Prazapati who was trying to embody Chandigarh in a nubile woman on a swing. Anjali S. Aggarwal was bringing to life a bull. “The animal has so much energy inside and still it’s so quiet.”

Pankaj Saroj was painting City’s spring. The other artists at work were Anand Shinde, Aradhna Tandon, Subash Shorey, Ram Partap Verma, Sadhna Sangar, Prabhinder Lall, Viney Vadhera, Ravinder Singh Gusain, Pramod K. Arya, Jaskanwal Kaur and Guneeta Chadha.

Different Stokes

Tribune Lifestyle
Monday, March 30,2009
By Manpriya Khurana

It’s a bliss to watch an artist at work-brush running about, mish mash of colours, dart of tools, the paraphernalia, water, mug, palette…How many of us get to see the action live? Get into his studio, if not the mind, see the bare basic canvas transform into a thought, revolution, statement….this Sunday, as part of the ongoing heritage festival, visitors were treated to an exceptional opportunity, of an interaction with renowned painter Paramjit Singh while he turned a thick a paper into a woody landscape.

No pin drop silence, no stiff neck culture, not even undisturbed solace, the environment could be easily likened to kids nursery, play school art class. Distraction, however doesn’t work up Paramjit Singh any more. “Yes, at times there in some distraction and it’s not comparable to the studio. But there’s no nervousness. At the most what’s going to happen? It will get spoiled? So what? Will make another one. However, one gets used to it. Now I’ve done it so many times, it doesn’t rankle anymore, “he says, an alumnus of School of Arts, Delhi Polytechnics, national award winner, 1970, inapt as it might sound to be asking an artist of his stature, but any insecurities of painting right in front of people? What if someone discovered his ‘secret techniques’? “I’m just moving the brush in front of them, that they can learn and see but what’s going on in my mind how would anybody understand, “he laughs.
And he continues his endeavour of adding yellow to the brown tree landscape, meanwhile wash the brushes one by one, each one, carry on with giving three-dimensional touch with small spade. “I had a certain feel I will depict woods, I began with an idea, but how this painting will finally turn up will be clear only by the time it’s finished,” he says. Then he adds, it all depends on the demand of the canvas, it’s very individual. And art is a combination of both; inborn skill and tutored techniques.” Meanwhile, the painting must have dried, ready to mesmerise.

Welcome To World Of Being

HT City
Tuesday March 31, 2009
By Anuradha Shukla

For painter Paramjit Singh art is no accident. And the pursuit of art has no meaning without the honesty to convey how the soul reacts to the world with all its frailties and life full of beauty.

For, he belongs to the surreal world called art –a world not known to many of us. He knows that all too well and believes the artist’s integrity lies not in playing with the ignorance of the audience. He is here to welcome all to his world through a slide show, interaction and workshop with other artists as part of the ongoing. Chandigarh Art & heritage Festival.
His 50 years –long journey shines through his light eyes as myriad expressions dance on his face while he tells how his childhood was spent in the lap of nature. The magnificence of nature reflects in the movement and dynamism of life in his paintings. It is hard not to be captivated by the sheer brilliance of his strokes that “give meaning to the moment” as he describes his present work.

The obvious leads one to the surreal and eternal in his paintings.
All it took him to move from still subjects to the abstract and now to the land scapes was his own evolution as an artist. An artist who could see stillness in movement as well as movement in what is perceived to be static.
He comes from an era -1950s – when the artist immersed himself in discovering whatever medium he chose for himself. “he was true to his art. Now there are gadgets, like computer, helping artists edit their work. Artists now keep what they like and discard what they don’t with the help of effects created on the computer.” Of course, this does take away the honesty of expression, something he does not stand for.

Drawing From The Great Outdoors

Times of Chandigarh
Tuesday, March31, 2009
By Bhavneet Bhatti

Having spend his childhood around nature, Paramjit Singh wanted to paint the wild than being an observer from afar.

From gushing waters to scenic hilltops, the sharp shadows of inanimate objects to mystical moods of nature… all seem to come alive on his canvas.

“A photographer can only capture a moment, but landscape artist can create and develop a moment further on his canvas,” states Paramjit Singh, an artist who has painted vivid sites and sounds of nature for five decades now. The artist, who is in the city to conduct a workshop with the budding artist at Chandigarh Arts and Heritage Festival, gets talking about his influences, on teaching art and the commercial aspect of it. While an artist needs no reason to settle on a particular muse, there are influences, which make him draw inspiration from one object as compared to the other Paramjit says of his inspiration, “ I believe, more than choosing an object of inspiration it is an evolution of an artist that makes him draw from varied objects during his career.” As he shares more on the growth of his art, Paramjit Singh reveals that his childhood days were spent largely in the wild outdoors and that is where his initial fascination for nature started.”Gradually I wanted to paint nature from a closer distance than seeing it from far and dramatizing it.” And what is the one thing that keeps the artist going? “It’s the sense of wonder which helps a person evolve,” says Paramjit Singh who bagged a national award in 1970 besides having several solo shows across Norway, Germany and Belgium.

Been on the faculty of Jamia Milia Islamia University, besides acting as a commissioner for the participants of the art festival of Pakistan, he shares his bit on teaching art, “Interacting and teaching young artists can be motivating as their feedback helps evolve and rejuvenate the artist,” says Singh. Speaking on the commercialization of creativity, he says, “Artist at times are a clever lot and can easily play with their works to make it commercially viable. But for me, personal satisfaction is my first priority,” signs off the artist whose paintings have gone down the hammer at places like Christie’s London. Paramjit Singh will present a slide show of his works at the art gallery and museum today evening.