The Hindu Business Line : Musical strokes

"I believe every form of art is related in one way or another; and the commonalities that music and painting share are that both communicate — one through its notes and the other through its strokes... "

Vijay Warthe

As the music flowed from the drumbeats, the sitar and the violin, Vijay Warthe's fingers moved deftly to paint a young boy and girl, embracing and waltzing with gay abandon in a heavy downpour. The occasion was World Music Day in 1985 and the venue, Sriram Sangeeth Mahavidyalay, a Raipur-based music college. He was one of eight artists invited from across the country to participate in an experiment to study the impact of music on artists. Little did Warthe realise then that he had in fact captured the beauty of Raag Megh Malhaar, a raag representative of rain.

Formerly a commercial artiste with Bharat Aluminium Company,Warthe first held a solo exhibition of his paintings — a series of about 35 works tracing the history of Bilaspur district (then inMadhya Pradesh) — in 1978. In 2001, when Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, Warthe was asked to sketch the idol of Rudra Shiv at Talagaon Open Museum for the First Day Cover brought out by the Postal Department.

Today Warthe is busy completing a set of paintings on the culture and traditions of Chhattisgarh. He hopes to exhibit these at a solo exhibition in Raipur soon.

Interestingly, most of Warthe's recent accomplishments have come after he underwent a surgery to remove a brain tumour and, subsequently, an involvement in a road accident, both of which have weakened his limbs. The tremor in his right hand affects its movements and he has a slight limp in one of his legs. But these setbacks have in no way affected his passion for, or involvement with, his art.

Warthe's tryst with colours began in his childhood. "My father used to bring home a magazine called Dharam Yug, which had poetry and paintings by Mahadevi Verma; I admired her ability to pursue both art forms and took inspiration from her poems to express myself with the brush," he recalls.

Warthe has till date captured the works of over 150 poets including Rabindranath Tagore, Amrita Pritam, Srikant Varma and Nagarjun on the canvas.

His experience at the Sriram Sangeeth Mahavidyalay made him embark on a journey of exploring music and painting. "I believe every form of art is related to the others in one way or another. I visualise the sounds and hear the colours that go down on my canvas! The power of music is so immense that there is so much scientific evidence on its therapeutic value; I see it as an excellent medium to unwind, to release emotions and I do this through the sketches and paintings inspired by a particular piece of music," says Warthe.

He has since created paintings inspired by several musical scores including those of Rabindra Sangeet, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. And the medium he uses include black ink, pencil, charcoal, acrylic paints, crayons, watercolours and oil paints.

Apart from thematic portraits Warthe loves to dabble in a range of subjects - from the abstract to folklore, nature and landscape. "My themes largely depend on my moods. The same is true of the time when I sit to sketch or paint. ," he says.

The Last Journey is a painting symbolic of Warthe's philosophy in life: from mud we come and to mud we go; but in this process we seek to elevate ourselves, climbing up the tree to reach its top — to the place of light (knowledge) represented by the sun.

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