Bharat Tripathi’s art is inspired by an engagement with enduring themes drawn from the religious And philosophical tradition of the Indian subcontinent. In the Navdurga series (2009), he addressed The manifestations of the Devi, the great mother; in the Dashavatar series (2011), he drew out the nuances of the ten form assumed by Vishnu, the protector in the Hindu trinity, Over the to redeem the world from evil. In the story of Shiva (2012), Bharat attended to the narratives Associated with Shiva, the great ascetic from whose dance the universe is born. in the Tirthankars series (2014), he invoked the ‘peaceful liberators’, the twenty-four spiritual guides whose teaching from the foundation of the Jain world-view. In his current solo exhibition, Bharat turns his attention to the Ramayana, which, with the Mahabharata, is one of India’s perennial epics: an encyclopedia of human experience, vulnerability, wisdom, sorrow, and serenity.
While the Mahabharata is classified as an itihasa, a ‘history’, the Ramayan is regarded as a Mahakavya, a ‘great poem’. Attributed to sage Valmiki and later re-interpreted by Kamban and Tulsidas, among other writers, the Ramayan tells the story of Rama, the prince of Ayodhya, the seventh of Vishnu’s ten avatars. It tells of his birth and youth, his marriage to the princess Sita.
His fourteen-year exile to the forest with sita and his brother Lakshman, Sita’s abduction by the demon-king Ravan, Rama’s alliance with the Vanaras or monkey-people of Kishkinda, and of his campaign to subjugate Ravan’s island-kingdom of Lanka and rescue Sita. Rama and Sita’s return to Ayodhya cannot recapture the happiness of their early years. In a melancholy turn, the blameless sita, under the shadow of rama’s unfounded doubt, is banished to the forest, where their sons, Luv and Kush, are born, as Valmiki’s acolytes, they come to Ayodhyas as boys. In an extraordinary literary move, the Ramayan tells us that attend the sacrifice hosted by the king their father, and sing to him the story of his own life: the Ramayan itself.
In these twelve painting. Bharat revisits the scenes of the Ramayana, re-creating in the his own idiom its familiar and well-loved characters: the dignified but troubled prince Rama, his steadfast and loyal brother Lakshmana, the beautiful and noble Sita, the unswervingly faithful hanuman, and the brave old bird-king Jatayu, who lays down his life to protect sita from Ravana. Bharat’s visualizations imbue the events of the epics with a measure of human Tendeness, suggesting the general contexts of the narrative though a spare imagery white focusing on the drama of the passions that lies at the heart of the story.
Stories on Indian mythologies intrigued me ever since my childhood days. It took me into the world of fantasy as bedtime stories told to me by my grandmother or mother. As a kid, I read the stories of Hindu gods and goddesses in Amar Chitra Katha comics. I went to a convent school where the moral science periods installed the good values in me; but I was bereft of the Indian mythology. My only connect to mythology was the different festivals at home. However, for me, the festivities such as killing of Ravana on Dussera or lighting of lamps and bursting crackers on Diwali or rather the fun and frolic associated with these festivals was more important than the stories behind them.
It was only after three decades that I started deving myself into mythology when I did my first solo show navdurga. I found it very interesting and I started to read and explore the stores behind various gods and goddesses. My mind did not question how and why but tried to extrat the relevance then and what has come down to us till date. That’s how my journey began in religious art and I tried to transform these stories in contemporary art form in my previous solo shows.
My present works are inspired form Ramayan, one of our greatest epics and the story is known to almost every Indian. Ramayan is divided into chapers called kaand. For instance baalkaand is from the birth of rama to his marriage to sita; ayodhya kaand is the exile of rama for 14 years; aranya kaand is the time spent by rama, sita and lakshman in the forest where shoorpanakha tries to unsuccessfully seduce rama and as revenge ravana abducts sita; kishkindha kaand is when rama and laksham reach kiskindha in search of sita meet sugreev, the king of vaanar (monkeys); sunder kaand is entirely dedicated to hanuman and rama reaching lanka and killing of ravana, sita’s agni pariksha, and rama coming back to ayodhya after 14 year of exile to become the king of ayodhya. Uttar kaand is believed to have been written later, which narrates banishment of sita, birth of luv kush, the sons of rama, aswamedha yagna and sita entering the earth her mother.
I have tried to show the above story on twelve canvases. I have conceptualized the entire Ramayan in such a manner that every kaand is conveyed in one canvas or sometime two canvases.
As a Hindu, for me Rama is one of our gods, an incarnation of Vishnu. The story set the ideals and morals, which have been engrained in us. Rama the ideal son, ideal king, ideal husband. And so on, sita the ideal wife, queen, and daughter. The good always wins and the dad is destroyed. As an artist, for me, these ideals are universal irrespective of religion and I have tried to take the essence of Ramayan and present it in an absolutely form.
I would like to dedicate this show to S H Raza who inspired, encouraged and mentored me to follow my heart and paint, and ms Anjolie Ela Menon who has been guiding me with patience in teaching the techniques and nuances which I could have never learnt in an art school.
When one listens to the heart and is passionately with something, there is nothing to hold back. Bharat thripathi, a Mumbai based artist, just love to paint. His work are very conceptual and thematic. He is greatly inspire by the Indian mythology and religions, and present them in a figurative abstract form. He believes that the art of religion is the best of all arts and the story of religion is the best of all stories. Hit themes are very strong but he expresses them on canvas in simplistic forms, which clearly reflects his knowledge and depth on the subject.
He was always interested in art and won many awards in his early part of his life. His passion got buried in his quest for a career in civil services, when he joined the Indian revenue service in 1988. Double graduate from Harvard university, USA, where he has done management and masters in international taxation from Harvard law school.
He kept his interest alive though it was only limited to visiting the art galleries in india or abroad. He picked up the brush once again in the year 1999-2000 after a change meeting with raza who not only inspired but also encouraged his to paint. He mentored his for about 10 year and opened his first solo show in 2009. He is presently under the tutelage of Ms Anjolie Ela Menon for the last five years.
My present works are inspired form Ramayana, one of our greatest epics and the story is known to almost every Indian. Ramayan is divided into chapers called kaand. For instance baalkaand is from the birth of rama to his marriage to sita; ayodhya kaand is the exile of rama for 14 years; aranya kaand is the time spent by rama, sita and lakshman in the forest where shoorpanakha tries to unsuccessfully seduce rama and as revenge ravana abducts sita; kishkindha kaand is when rama and laksham reach kiskindha in search of sita meet sugreev, the king of vaanar (monkeys); sunder kaand is entirely dedicated to hanuman and rama reaching lanka and killing of ravana, sita’s agni pariksha, and rama coming back to ayodhya after 14 year of exile to become the king of ayodhya. Uttar kaand is believed to have been written later, which narrates banishment of sita, birth of luv kush, the sons of rama, aswamedha yagna and sita entering the earth her mother.