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The Longest Indigo Painting on sustainable handspun khaddar textile …..
“Aadiyogi Shiv – A Journey In Cosmic Indigo”
“I was in Jaipur to receive a lifetime achievement award for my contribution to the field of fine art on 26th December 2019 at an art festival organised by Art Fiesta.
During the festival, I met Mr Ashok Aatreya a writer, an old acquaintance. I had time on hand and we had some meaningful conversation about the indigo natural colour and dye.
Just on impulse, I said I would also like to paint on hand-spun khaddar with indigo. On the last day of my trip, Ashok took me to a work centre in the village of Ratelia, Sanganer to make me have a hands-on experience with indigo. I started to paint on the hand-spun khaddar with dabu (mud resist). I was excited to experiment and could really paint well.
Then and there I decided to create a mass appeal for revival of natural indigo by making a 100 metre long painting using the natural colour and dye on hand spun khaddar.” Says Sangeeta Gupta.
That day was the beginning of a new found passion, which kept growing inside her. She thought of it all the time and waited for the right time to start, a more favourable weather to paint for long hours.
She had been conceptualising this painting since end of December 2019.
After the purchase of handspun khaddar cloth, natural indigo colour and dye, She started the actual painting on 25th February 2020, working for nine days in Ratelia village, Sanganer at Shilpi Sansthan.
“I first painted with dabu, a mud resist with brush and then put sawdust on it and then sun-dried the painting. After that, it was soaked in drums of indigo dye and then washed and dried again.
The second method applied for painting is that I dyed the khaddar cloth first in light shades of indigo, dried it and then painted on the cloth again with a paintbrush in dark shades of indigo colour. I have used both these methods to paint on the hand-spun khaddar.” She says
She completed 185 metres in nine days, and worked at Shilpi Sansthan, Ratelia village, Diggi road, Sanganer Jaipur, India.
Then she returned to Delhi on 4th March 2020 because Coronavirus infection had started spreading in the close-by city of Jaipur.
After 4th March she painted on the dyed cloth with dark indigo. The rest of the 15 metres painting she completed in her studio at Delhi.
These works are born out of infinite, formless energy of Aadiyogi Shiv, Ardhnarishwar, the ultimate feminist.
There is no beginning, no end, all encompassing, omnipresent Shiv is present in all of us.
“In this series of works I have tried to remind people of my country, India to take pride in our heritage. Khadi and Neel are our very own since ages. Our block printing technique is our own age-old way of chhapakala which is now becoming extinct. Machine has made everything so mechanical and impersonal. I just wanted to give some new, abstract idioms to our chhapakala which may be refreshing and contemporary.
I have also painted Sanskrit text on some paintings to quote Aadi Shankaracharya specially his Shivoham stotra and Ardhnarinateshwar stotra.
All this has never been executed by any other artist as far as I know.” Says Sangeeta Gupta
Title of the painting
“Aadiyogi shiv… a journey in cosmic indigo”
Technique and style
Abstract, conceptual, minimalist painting on natural sustainable hand spun khaddar with organic indigo colour and dye.
Basic details
Painting done by Sangeeta Gupta
185.0 metres done in Ratelia Village, Sanganer, Rajasthan
15.0 metres done in my studio,
A-1 /232 Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi 110029, India.
Total length of the painting
200 metres.
hand spun khaddar /textile
Width 36 inches /45 inches
Colour
Natural indigo plant extract colour
Dye
Natural indigo dye.
Duration of Execution of the painting
Painting initiated on 25th February, 2020 and work continued till 4th March 2020.
Work venue
Shilpi Sansthan
Rataliya village, Diggi road, Sanganer Jaipur 303905, India
Independent witnesses
Brij Udaywal and Ashok Aatreya
Team/associates and other witnesses
Brij Udaywal
Ajay Rakesh Singhmar
Surender Meena
Satish Joshi.
“We have to return to the basics if we want to survive in peace. Hand-spun khaddar is environment friendly and natural colour and dye are handmade too, they are chemical free. Therefore, to promote sustainable living and promote natural indigo I decided to create this painting that is abstract, conceptual, minimalist painting on natural sustainable hand-spun khaddar with organic indigo colour and dye.
To encourage the revival of indigo cultivation, a cash crop as a mass movement to make it a commercially viable venture for farmers, dyers and craftsmen.
To encourage printmakers to apply contemporary art, merge it with the traditional craft of block printing with natural dabu (mud resist) and organic indigo.
To make it a highly sought-after export product.” Says Sangeeta.
Adiyogi Shiv, her 36th solo exhibition was held at Bihar Museum, Patna (5th November to 26th November 2022).
Before that it was held at Bikaner House, Delhi between 6th to 12th October, 2022 wherein a book titled ‘Aadiyogi Shiv: A Journey In Cosmic Indigo’, published by Bihar Museum, Patna was launched and a documentary film titled ‘Aadiyogi Shiv: A Journey In Cosmic Indigo’ was also screened every day during the exhibition.
The film is produced by Prithvi Fine Art and Cultural Centre, Delhi. It is directed, shot and edited by artist/poet/filmmaker Sangeeta Gupta. The 38 minute documentary is self explanatory i.e., showing the whole process and the techniques used for executing these paintings. (link for the film: https://youtu.be/n_phKyTjS8o )
And then it was exhibited at NIFT, Delhi (21st to 30th October 2022).
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sangeeta Gupta is a Delhi-based abstract artist, bilingual poet, writer, and documentary filmmaker. She has to her credit 36 solo exhibitions of paintings and 25 published books including fourteen anthologies of poems in Hindi and six in English. 10 of her collection of poems are translated in German, Greek, Mandarin, English, Bangla, Dogri, Tamil and Urdu. She has directed, scripted and shot more than 30 documentary films 7 of them are in the collection of Library of Congress, US.
2000: Nehru Centre & India Club, London
2003: Tagore Culture Centre, Indian Embassy, Berlin, Germany
2003: Galerie Muller & Plate, Munich, Germany
2005: National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
2005: Hamail Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2014: Ramada Plaza, Belfast, Northern Ireland
2015: EMS Museum Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
2019: Heritage Mississauga Museum, Mississauga, Toronto, Canada
2001: Opera House, Vienna.
2001: Galerie Muller & Plate, Munich, Germany.
2002: Galerie Muller & Plate, Munich, Germany.
2004: Amrita Shergil Revisited-on the eve of International Women’s Day, ICCR, New Delhi, show travelled to State Museums at Tashkent, Brishkek and Almaty in Central Asia.
2004: Hamail Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan.
2005: India-Korea Art Show at Visual Art Gallery, India Habitat Centre, Delhi.
2007: Women Artists of South East Asian Countries, Hamail Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan.
2007: 25 Contemporary Artists of India, Moscow Museum, Moscow.
2007: Group Show at Mississauga, Canada.
2010: Group show Indian Artists at San Francisco, USA.
2015: Seven Indian Artists, Group Exhibition, EMS Museum Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece.
2015: Exhibition of water colour, International Union of Mail Art, Thessaloniki, Greece.
2015: Forms of Devotion, The Spiritual in Indian Art, Museum of Sacred Art, Belgium.
2015: India Festival at Technopolis, Athens, Greece.
2015–16: Forms of Devotion, an exhibition of Indian Art at China Art Museum, Shanghai, China (November 2015 to February 2016)
2016: Forms of Devotion, an exhibition of Indian Art at central museum at Conde Duque in Central Madrid
2017: 3rd Jerusalem Biennale, Jerusalem.
2019: Symposium of Women Artists, Nicosia and Kyrenia, Cyprus
2019: Gallery 26, Oslo, Norway
2019: Symphony of Colors, Galerie Metanoia, Paris
2019: Senlis Sacred Art Festival, France
2022: Ras Al-Ain Gallery, Amman, Jordan.
2022: Fine Arts Department, Luxor University, Luxor, Egypt.
2022: KL International Art Exhibition ‘New Horizon’, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
She has participated in more than 200 group shows in India & abroad, in National exhibitions of Lalit Kala Akademi, All India Fine Arts & Craft Society and Sahitya Kala Parishad and in several international art camps. Her paintings are in the permanent collection of Bharat Bhavan Museum, Bhopal and Museum Of Sacred Art (MOSA), Belgium and Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art Thessaloniki, Greece.
Her paintings were part of 3rd Jerusalem Biennale, Jerusalem.
Her works have been represented in India Art Fairs, New Delhi several times.
She has received 69th annual award for drawing in 1998 and 77th annual award for painting in 2005 by AIFACS, New Delhi. Some of her recent notable recognitions are:
2021: Longest painting made with natural indigo colour and dye, India Book of Records.
2021: Longest painting made on handspun khaddar, Miracles World Records.
2020-22: Longest painting on textile, Limca Book of Records.
2020: Critic’s choice award, World University of Design, India.
2019: Lifetime achievement award 2019, Art Fiesta, Jaipur for her contribution in the field of fine arts.
In February/March 2020, Sangeeta had created the longest Indigo Painting on sustainable handspun khaddar textile. “Aadiyogi shiv – a journey in cosmic indigo“, is a Limca Book of record as the Longest painting on textile (2020 – 2022 edition). To promote sustainable living and promote natural indigo, she decided to create this painting on natural sustainable hand-spun khaddar with organic indigo colour and dye.
Aadiyogi Shiv, her 36th solo exhibition was held at Bihar Museum, Patna (5th November to 26th November 2022), Bikaner House, Delhi (6th to12th October 2022), NIFT, Delhi (21st to 30th October 2022) and NIFT, Patna (28th November to 20th December).
Song of the Cosmos is her creative biography.
Studio: A-1/232, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi- 110029
Email: sangeetaguptaart@gmail.com
Website: www.artsangeetagupta.com
