Abstract art found early voice in V’dara’

THE TIMES OF INDIA
BOOK ON RATAN PARIMOO’S WORK RELEASED, EXHIBITION TILL APRIL 2
Abstract art found early voice in V’dara’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK Ahmedabad: Ratan Pari- moo is known to Amdavadis as the innovative former di- rector of LD Museum, emi- nent art historian and for- mer dean of the Faculty of Fi- ne Arts at MS University of Baroda. But a book “The Con- ductor’ on his journey and an accompanying art show in thecity puts him in a new per- spective as an abstract painter.
“I feel lucky that at the age of 85 years, I’m able to display artwork that’s about 50 years old. In a way, it’s not just my journey, but also of the ‘Baro- da Group’ that played a major role in pushing the boundari- es of Indian art in late 1950s and early 1960s,” Parimoo told TOI. “NS Bendre, my tea- cher, taught us the basics of painting that laid foundation
of the experiments. While so-melike Shanti Dave moved to Delhi and practised the abstract art, some branched out in other forms as well.”
He added that abstract ex- pressionism of that period preceded the ‘official recog- nition’ of the form by the US in 1968-69 when the genre
along with minimalism got global shows of the eminent artists. “In a way, we got a unique voice from Vadodara earlier than the West,” he sa- id.
The ‘pure’ abstract, ac- cording to Parimoo, has ele- ments such as non-recogni- zable subject, non-objective,
non-figurative ideation, and colour and form are the main characteristics. Thus, the bo- ok describes Parimoo as a conductor of an art sympho- ny where he composes his ideas, thoughts, emotions and feelings through arran- gements of forms, colours and textures.