The Love Songs of Errantry : Brojeshwar Mondal and Parul Sharma

Curated by Prima Kurien “To paint- as some do, even today, taking from colour which, once applied to the canvas transcends meaning and dissipates our memories- is, one might say nothing but itself: one imagines that here the immediate exists, here the veil has been torn open.” (Yves Bonnefoy, “ On Painting and Poetry, on Anxiety and Peace”, The Love and Lure of Painting ) The representation of the exterior world is one of the oldest obsessions of humankind, rivalling hunger, thirst, and procreation, as it is the closest ally to the “self” that seeks its identity in an individual, in relation to nature and culture. It is evident that one cannot be exposed to the “self” without exertion. Hence, one must draw a line to tear through the veil… to break free ( from the mirror that imprisons and limits the understanding of the world and hence of ourselves)- to trace life with an astute eye of an errant- dissecting time, devouring appearances, and etching the partially-realised and the momentary into visual memory. Contemporary artists Brojeshwar Mondal and Parul Sharma break free from visual apathy through their explorations of errantry. Mondal commits to it by venturing...

Bikaner House, Pandara Road, India Gate, New Delhi, India

“To paint- as some do, even today, taking from colour which, once applied to the canvas transcends meaning and dissipates our memories- is, one might say nothing but itself: one imagines that here the immediate exists, here the veil has been torn open.”

(Yves Bonnefoy, “ On Painting and Poetry, on Anxiety and Peace”, The Love and Lure of Painting )

The representation of the exterior world is one of the oldest obsessions of humankind, rivalling hunger, thirst, and procreation, as it is the closest ally to the “self” that seeks its identity in an individual, in relation to nature and culture. It is evident that one cannot be exposed to the “self” without exertion. Hence, one must draw a line to tear through the veil… to break free ( from the mirror that imprisons and limits the understanding of the world and hence of ourselves)- to trace life with an astute eye of an errant- dissecting time, devouring appearances, and etching the partially-realised and the momentary into visual memory.

Contemporary artists Brojeshwar Mondal and Parul Sharma break free from visual apathy through their explorations of errantry. Mondal commits to it by venturing outside of human settlements- into the wilderness of the lush mountainous landscapes of Siliguri (West Bengal) and patches of verdure in the bustling city of Kolkata (West Bengal). He becomes a soothsayer for his culture(s)- who must dive and divine the often unseen and unperceived moments of nature. Sharma on the other hand, explores her errantry by scaling the architecture of the city, to leave behind the pervasive human presence that threatens to engulf her- her ascension into errantry as inevitable as the dystopian future of the city that she leaves behind.

The distinct trajectories these artists choose are not the results of detachment from dominant narratives on art or a state of rootlessness but of awareness and acceptance of their relative position as errant within the changing natural and social landscapes of the spaces they inhabit.

(T.S Eliot, “Burnt Norton”, Four Quartets )