Prutha Goa

The man engages his audience with candour and the humour that effortlessly emerges from it. Alexyz, the cartoonist and the fearless activist for any legitimate cause, will wake you up with his wit and a dash of laughter therapy should ennui impede your concentration. The Friday Balcao, an initiative that evolved in 1999 out of the need for information and discussions related to issues in Goa,  hosted Alexyz   on the first day of the Konkan Fruit Fest 2016. He spoke on the topic ‘Goa, Today and Tomorrow’ using the description of cartoons from his latest book O to be in Goa…Today as an insightful yet playful educative tool. Alexyz began with the monumental problem of alcoholism in Goa that shows no signs of abating. The cartoon declares that Goa is a government approved bar and restaurant. The chance for cheap liquor has tourists from other states heading in droves for Goa where the highest number of deaths are alcohol related. Goa Medical College records 300 deaths connected to alcohol

Apurva Kulkarni is a name that immediately evokes a response of acknowledgement in artistic and literary circles. A teacher for over 25 years, Apurva has curated art shows such as I am Red , Bioscope , and, more recently Kama, Interrupted . The art historian with a post graduate degree from the Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda has furthermore been involved in conducting courses in art history and art and film appreciation in various art galleries in Goa. As a pioneer of performance and conceptual art in Goa, Apurva has an oeuvre that certainly offers a wealth of knowledge and comprehension of art. He spoke of his manifesto called The Manifesto of a Dirty Bomb at Kokum Design Centre, Porvorim, giving his audience insight into the mind of a man who is very much a social activist in his own right and is not afraid to echo it in his work. The 1900s saw the emergence of the Modernist art era, and manifestoes were a much needed aid in comprehending the mystery enshrouding the artwor

From anthropologist to writer, from NGO (Tara Trust) founder to artist, Katharina Kakar has donned many mantles and excelled in them all. However, it is art that fires up her passion in every other area. ‘I am just driven by it. Art has always been my oxygen,’ she says. Her mother was an artist and, as the daughter of an artist, Katharina’s own foray into the world of art was anticipated. The influence of art was all pervasive in her life, with her mother taking the family to exhibitions which developed Katharina’s sense of ‘seeing’. She and her siblings were also encouraged by their mother to experiment with different things and exercise their creativity. Despite the expectations, Katharina chose to study Anthropology and Comparative Religion in Germany. It has been a few years since she came back to art as a full-time occupation, and in doing so she has come full circle. The journey of research, teaching, writing and social work she has made to this point now serves to enrich her ar

Unnati Singh’s exhibition Webotika-I am an Alien and this is my Spacecraft at the Cube Gallery at Moira, challenges the norms of quintessential art and jolts one out of the humdrum of routine. A written text that is part of her painting says it all about the appearance of her work ‘When life is not pretty, why the f**k should I make pretty pictures?’ This is not visually soothing art and it provokes one to introspect, so be warned. ‘Webotika’, a word coined by curator Katharina Domscheit-D’Souza, is a combination of three words: web – denoting the World Wide Web, the web of network that connects humans and nature together, and the web created in nature by the spider; robotic – signifying artificial intelligence, the desire of man to scale the heavens by playing God; and erotic – a much evident presence in the paintings in the form of phalluses, vaginas, breasts and body fluids. The exhibition consists of a series of paintings on canvas; three series of paper drawings: I am an Amplifie

Alex Rodrigues, who is having his exhibition of paintings titled Christus at Carpe Diem, Majorda, sets himself on a different plane from that of his contemporaries. He gives expression to his artistic prowess through techniques called finger painting, and engraving and embossing (nail art). The extraordinary aspect of his art is that Alex has no formal training. It has been purely talent, initiative, and critique and encouragement from family that have brought him this far. Alex Rodrigues has always been artistically creative and hardly recalls a time when he has not been doing anything of the kind. It was sketching, drawing and painting for the joy of art rather than with a professional outlook. However, a turning point came when a dance student chanced upon his works under the couch and asked if she could sell them for him, since she appreciated his talent. He agreed to it and from then on art became his career. Alex was brought up in Mumbai and came to Goa on holiday to stay at the

KitaMika has a childlike quality that belies the idea that you are speaking to a young mother-to-be in her early thirties. This wandering soul has found her footing as an artist and she pours her very being into her art. Her art is an expression of pure emotion that her subconscious captures with a comprehensive intellect. The young Japanese artist has a tortured past that fuels her creativity. Her mother was institutionalised with paranoia when KitaMika was a child and, at the age of eight, KitaMika saw her father divorce her mother. She lost her father to suicide after his second marriage. KitaMika’s relationship with her stepmother was a tumultuous one and she was brought up mostly by her grandparents. At the age of nineteen KitaMika made her first trip to India and she has been a regular visitor from 2003. It is her love of religion and culture that has set her travelling to different countries. ‘I have travelled all over Asia and Africa but I always find myself back in India,’ say

‘Being an artist is not about a particular style or being from a particular place. It's simply about inspiration’ – Hesham Malik Hesham Malik is a well-travelled artist who was born in Bahrain and is now based in Prague, the Czech Republic. He has an intimate connection with Goa, in that his mother was born in Margao and his grandparents were from Cuncolim. A few months ago he was in Goa to show his collection Embellished at Carpe Diem. If one referred to Hesham as a global citizen, one would not be far from the truth. The man has lived in Bahrain, India and Dubai. He has travelled to Canada and received two bachelor’s degrees in that country, one each from the Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology and the University of Waterloo. Hesham has been to Greece, the UK, Tanzania, Kenya, Spain, Austria, Mauritius, Slovakia, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Germany and other countries he remembers and appreciates for their beauty. Needless to say, his life has been enriched with the exper

Photographer David de Souza belongs to a small group of intellectuals who dare to live life against the diktats of society and practice their chosen profession with a pervasive joy and freedom, teaching others to follow suit and dare to dream differently. He advocates the liberty to traverse different fields of occupation as he moved from the sciences to the arts: a phenomenon more prevalent in these modern times in India than it was in the past. David left formal schooling of nineteen years equipped as a biochemist, and the rebel that he is, he chose to walk the road not chosen by most by working in an adivasi village in Nasik with the non-profit organisation Maharashtra Prabodhan Seva Mandal. It was here that the realisation dawned that his education held no weight in the balance to experience and reality. And so began the process of casting pretentious knowledge to the wayside. After reading Roman Catholic priest and Austrian philosopher Ivan Illich’s surmise the disconnection betwe

Your first meeting with Clarice Vaz will find you a little overwhelmed by the enthusiasm this amazing human being exudes. Her exuberance comes across vibrantly through her vivid paintings, awash with a myriad of colours. As she begins to unfold her artistic journey before you, you realise there is the existence of a great deal of testing, out of which these wonderful paintings have evolved. Clarice excelled in academics but her empathic nature lead her to choose nursing over a more self-serving profession. After the birth of her sons, Clarice gave up nursing full-time and restricted her practice to the quaint village of Saligao where she lives. When her sons left to pursue further education she filled the vacuum with her childhood inclination to paint. In spite of having no training as an artist, Clarice possesses a mastery over her paints that can only come from deep conviction and her love for God. During her early days she produced paintings of the Last Supper, the Saligao church, p

Anushya Sharma is one of those artists who become completely inseparable from their work. It seems as though her spirit infuses every painting with a signature of her self. She hails from Guwahati, Assam, and was an assistant director in films in Mumbai before the call of art proved too strong to ignore. Her first collection, called Miss A Takes a Holiday , was a success and prodded her to continue in this line. Fool Fantasy , her most recent exhibition of paintings, shown at the Art Chamber, Calangute, takes us on a journey of life, discovery of self and the trials in the process. A certain amount of angst is married with a sense of this peeling away of layers of questions. This says much for the value of the journey being greater than the final result. The series of painting begins with the subconscious motivation to make a change. ‘The fool is basically this very youthful, optimistic spirit about discovering the world, exploring new places, new experiences; not necessarily aware of