Healing Touch

This is a place where people can pick up good works at a low cost, of masters, and new artists who might well be the Husains of tomorrow,...

Written by Chatura Poojari

January 6, 1999 12:00 AM IST

3 min read

This is a place where people can pick up good works at a low cost, of masters, and new artists who might well be the Husains of tomorrow," says the grandaddy of Indian art, Kekoo Gandhy, on Multiple Images. An exhibition organised by the Mumbai chapter of Multiple Sclerosis Society of India (MSSI), it includes an assortment of works — from Bendre, K K Hebbar and K H Ara to the current generation of artists. A total of 225 paintings, contributed by over 150 artists, are on display, including one by S H Raza, who sent it via courier from Paris.

Organising such an event for the first time, Sheela Chitnis, honourary secretary and national coordinator of MSSI, during her interaction with the artists was pleasantly surprised to find that they were "very encouraging". The fact that the artists have been chosen by a person who doesn’t know the who’s who of the art world, has also given a kind of transparency to the whole event.

There is a whole set of paintings by artists like V R Amberkar, which show thetransition of the academic school to the modern school. Paintings which have moreof expressionism and impressionism. "Being a scholar and a teacher, Amberkar never showed any of his paintings. We unearthed some of his paintings from his son," reveals Gandhy.

It also includes a painting — of Buddha in meditation, surrounded by people in anguish, depicting the current state of affairs — by Rahat Mansoor, a Pakistani artist. While in Mumbai, one of his paintings was liked by Mani Bhavan, and he generously gifted it to them. Later, the same painting was gifted to Prime Minister Vajpayee on a visit to Mumbai.

The MSSI, established in 1985, is said to be the only organisation in India working for people suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is a chronic, progressive disease affecting the central nervous system which makes it difficult for the person to perform simple, everyday tasks. While it is not easy to detect and diagnose, the worst part of the disease is that it strikes the young affecting an agegroup of 18 to 28. The money received from this exhibition will be used to start a respite centre for MS patients. "Most artists have agreed to give 50 per cent from the sales to MSSI. That is fair. They shouldn’t feel that they were exploited," says Gandhy, who has been actively involved with the event. Yet, around 30 artists, like Baburao Sadwelkar, Adivrekar and Badri Narayan, have generously forwarded the full proceeds of the sale to MSSI. "This is a disease which is incurable and requires attention," says Baburao, who has donated Communication’ from a set of 20 paintings done on space, during 1974.

Tags: