Artist J.P.Das’ exquisite works make one forget life’s dreadful weariness, writes Sarah NH Vogeler
AUTHOR Jane Austen’s last finished novel, Persuasion, is one I return to annually, normally towards the end of every year and perhaps, this phrase best encapsulates J.P.
Das’ The Dialogue Heart To Heart — “There could have been no twoheartssoopen,notastessosimilar, no feelings so in unison”.
Das is, after all, Odisha’s (India) most well-known cardiologist, nicknamed affectionately, “Odisha’s Father of Cardiology”.
The Dialogue Heart To Heart is a collection of his works compiled in a book, and edited by prominent art historians Dr Dinanath Pathy and Soubhagya Pathy.
The dedication, in exquisite penmanship, sums up both book and exhibition delightfully: “This book is dedicated to my family, friends, and my patients whose interaction and love have made these dialogues possible and have given me the inspiration and opportunity to enter their hearts”.
This is his first solo show in Malaysia and Das’ works, according to Pathy, can be observed by numerous means, as virtual semiotics, as semantics of aesthetics sensibilities, as a wonderful tale of an inner journey and also an inspiring isometrics of the “gathering of bliss”.
One thing that’s evident is the artist’s unending passion, each painting, drawing and sketch a testament of a life lived in beauty, in grace, in love.
Das says: “When I paint, emotions of family, friends and society all blend together to create something different and unique that I enjoy myself.
At the end of a painting, the piece becomes a joyous creation — a personal satisfaction beyond everything ephemeral.
I love colours and mostly in my paintings they descend, then whether unconsciously or not, the human figures emerge to convey both mood and surroundings.
The feelings are layered with colour and elements turn out like whispered words.
Love, dream, frustration are all essential steps in growing up but none of those have overpowered me.
I have accepted things as they come.
Life without love and dream is poor and deprived.” Recently, I had the opportunity to cover a brilliant, albeit disturbing, Galeri Petronas show which gave me night terrors.
So “real” it was in the logic that you could sense, and hideously so, the aridity and pointlessness of things — that Hell is a reality we face every day.
And so, it was lovely to feel quite the opposite when viewing The Dialogue Heart To Heart, works which make you yearn for that other person (painfully so) paintings which flow fluidly, where sweetness preponderates, and for a few moments, we forget life’s dreadful weariness.
ART OF THE GOOD DOCTOR
The artist himself is quite the marvel.
Being in his presence immediately soothes - that sparkle in his eye, the remarkable soulfulness, such spirit and vivacity seems impossible considering the gravity of his profession.
Das’ medical career is a stellar one.
After graduating in 1956 from S.C.B.
Medical College, Cuttack, India, his work took him around the globe.
A member of several prestigious medical associations, Das was the first professor ofcardiologyappointed at S.C.B.
Medical College in 1962 and served in that capacity for 17 years, then opting for an early voluntary retirement in 1987.
He is currently the director and consultant at the Heart Clinic in Ranihat, Cuttack.
Even in works, which spell gloom and doom such asLamenting Mother, Das, whether deliberate or otherwise, still accomplishes to inject the whole composition to express hope.
That even in a state of utter despair, faith is the one thing that would carry us on through.
And how lovingly the artist paints his women: Goddesses in swirls of cascading hair, sensuous silhouettes, gorgeous limbs, creamy skin in hues of gold, bronze, olive juxtaposed against backgrounds of azure, crimson, topaz — that barelyveiled coyness, eyes of fire and light.
It is the artist’s existence in the wonderfully- abstract on full display in this exhibition.
I do not know if anyone else is aware of this deeply significant element, but Das’ deities in The Dialogue Heart To Heart are incarnations of his wife Gayatri.
Each breathtaking avatar (although nowhere near the protagonist’s loveliness), suggests that even though mortality is unavoidable, for the rare ones, where love surpasses everything else, his is tethered to hers.
IN DAS’ OWN VERSES
Your eyes of liquid emotions
Your smile spreading a thousand
moon shine
Your voice echoing the melodies
of earth
You r presence creating
contagious of hope
Your charm symbolises God’s
creation
Your whisper creates hopes and
joys
Your silence spreads endless
dreams
Quietly into eternal time