“The Spring Time” by Archer is Aptly Timed for Nature Loving Art Fraternity

The spring season known by us as Vasant in India spreads roughly from mid February-March to April-May depending upon whether you are in India or Europe-US. The Indian month of Phalgun or Fag heralds the onset of this season and also brings with it Vasant Panchami, gaiety of Fag singing in chorus and of the celebration of the major festival of Holi in India.

According to available critiques ‘Artists have historically associated with spring as the season of new life and represented this in their art using motifs such as elements from mythology, environmental manifestations of the spring season, a personification of the mood and transformation that spring season brings; and also the abstract interpretations.’ In all, the critiques describe five kinds of elements that are used to portray the much-loved season in paintings.

Starting from 14th century when Sandro Botticelli’s work on the spring titled Primavera draws on mythology and paints Flora, the Goddess of flowers, this fancy goes on as Claude Monet leads us to a host of his works around nature as seen in its spring-grown glory dwelling on flowers, trees, gardens and water bodies with all of this mesmerizing natural bounty on its banks. India has had its own prominent tradition of depicting the seasons in its miniature and other folk art styles.

And there are of course other artists and poets who have excelled in the genres of painting and poetry in their haloed romantic expression of the spring season. While on this, one has to recall that there is a rich and ever growing tradition to eulogise and celebrate Vasant in Hindi poetry.

While the Vasant Panchami is gone after ushering in the season for the current year, which is here with its air of cheer and bounce and the festival of Holi is round the corner, in an excellent timing with the season, the Archer Art Gallery started its new show “The Spring Time” by one of the quad of veterans of our times, 87 year young Paramjit Singh of Delhi on Saturday evening. The 1935 born artist who has energetically painted his series on spring from 2014 through 2023 was present for the informal commencement of his show at Archer.

The show which features 30 works in all has a mix of 15 colour works in oil on canvas, seven smaller drawing works in compressed charcoal and eight works in mixed media on paper in monotone grey-black.

While the colored works created mostly by the artist through 2022 and 2033 catch your own fancy of the spring season as they reflect the pleasant bloom of the nature presently being witnessed all around, the grey works in charcoal and mixed media perhaps reflect, if concurrently, the inevitable waning of the spring by giving way to the vagaries of the sweltering harsh summers that follow.

The fifteen coloured works in oils of bright hues of yellow, red and crimson depicting the full glory of the season are as big as 36” by 72” or squarish in 36” by 36”, while the other fifteen are smaller works, of which the eight in mixed media on paper all comprise a complete set available for a unified price.

A good show to go to, all for our innate love and going forward our need to love the nature and its unique seasons which balance the life on planet earth – and the need being underscored increasingly with unpredictably changing moods of seasons – this runs through entire March and upto the first week of April.