Art Exhibition: Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal

This short essay was written to commemorate the opening of Amchem Sobit Daiz, an exhibition of artworks dedicated to her forefathers by Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal.

Amchem Sobit Daiz is among the most significant art exhibitions ever to take place in Goa. With this historic suite of artworks, drawn deep from the wellsprings of our culture, Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal makes a compelling case to be ranked alongside the very greatest of our artists. These soulful, joyous images of Goa belong with the best work by Laxman Pai, Francis Newton Souza, Angelo Fonseca and other Goans who have constituted what Ranjit Hoskote has called “an invisible river”, enlivening and influencing the trajectory of Indian art for more than a century.

Born in 1968, Sonia belongs to the last generation of artists that came of age when it was nearly impossible for any young Indian to conceive of making a living from art, the entire subcontinent was home to less a handful of decent galleries, and there was very little interest in contemporary art. As a result of these conditions, Sonia’s is a generation of artists that is distinguished by the trait of persistence – they believed in their work when no one else was there to support it, they laboured in critical and curatorial isolation and struggled to find sales.

All this is particularly true for Sonia and her peers among the young artists of Goa, about whom Hoskote has said “the lack of a context has left them afloat in a void of discussion.” It is a vexing situation that has now persisted for generations. Goa keeps producing some of the best and most promising artists in the country but very few ever receive substantial commercial or critical rewards. Here, we need to acknowledge the ongoing failure of the critical establishment in India to understand the nature of the differences in Goa’s history which have set it apart for centuries, even while it simultaneously fed and shaped the modern cultural expression of India via a long series of pathbreaking individuals.

No Goan can ignore the multiple religious and cultural identities that compete, dialogue and mingle in her own self, and all around us. Fonseca’s sari-clad Madonnas come from this aspect of our character, as also Souza’s chalices embossed with tantric symbology. But it is precisely this profound cultural fluidity that continues to confound the canon-makers of India – Goan art undeniably has a different DNA that distinguishes it, and falls outside their pet narratives.

Unfortunately, the standard response to this difference, in the rare cases when it has been acknowledged, is to treat it as a deeply inconvenient truth. The disrespect has become a chronic condition, an institution in itself. It extends to an absurd refusal to acknowledge that something called 'Goan Art' even exists, a denial that is particularly galling when it is issued right here in Goa.

Because of all these reasons, Amchem Sobit Daiz is more than just a landmark show for Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal. It is evident that she has entered a new and mature period of her career, and that she must now be reckoned with as a major force in the cultural expression of the Goans. Her best artwork is in this suite derived from Goan culture, and Sonia's loving, perceptive soul is mirrored in each painting. But this show is also a powerful testimonial to the finest and highest traditions of what is undeniably Goan art. Taken together, these marvellous artworks make a case which cannot be ignored. In the completeness and self-confidence of these paintings and drawings, in the ambition, scale and execution of this marvellous show in a gallery as fine as in any Indian metropolis, Amchem Sobit Daiz represents a paradigm shift for the art and artists of Goa.

For this immeasurably valuable gift, conceived and presented in the timeless bhakti traditions of Goan this land, I offer my sincere gratitude, and heartiest personal congratulations to Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal.


Mog Asun Di.

Vivek Menezes


Brochure:
http://tinyurl.com/Sonia-brochure


Amchem Sobit Daiz
an historic suite of paintings
dedicated to our Goan forefathers

An exhibition by Sonia Rodrigues Sabharwal

The Exhibition will be open from 11th to 23rd January 2010 between 10.30am and 7pm

Ruchika's Art Gallery
Casa del Sol, Opposite Marriott
Miramar, Panaji, Goa
www.ruchikasart.com