The Bulls -Details

The WSC in Mumbai — Bombay at the time of the commissions — perhaps with the few, if any, connections that the city and its neighbouring regions have with historical traditions of handmade textiles, emerged as the foremost in the Visvakarma commissions in the area of contemporary printing and painting. Its prolific contributions to several of the exhibitions was informed by the presence of several artists here trained in India’s nascent, yet rigorously guided, art colleges. Many of them did not belong to lineages of textile-producing families, and came from diverse social, economic and geographical backgrounds. They brought to the experiments at the WSC fresh perspectives, and offered, at a time of unprecedented innovation in design and materials in the country’s mechanised and mill sector, the chance to convey the highest excellence in individual and collective artistic creation by hand.

The bulls in this panel are reminiscent of the Bhimbetka cave paintings of Madhya Pradesh. The artist, freed from the need to imitate a specific style of representation, in this case, completely transforms what appears to be a folk or tribal motif. In a very unusual and distinctive rendering, the bulls are depicted with udders, which adds a unique and unusual twist to the artwork. The piece demonstrates the thin line between contemporary art and craft, as it takes a traditional motif and transforms it into a modern and expressive work of art. The use of bold colours and dynamic composition make this panel a standout piece in the Visvakarma commissions.