Ganesh Pyne : A Pilgrim in the Dominion of Shadows. Mumbai, Galerie
88, 2005, 126 p., ills.
Ganesh Pyne : A Pilgrim in the Dominion of Shadows. Mumbai, Galerie
88, 2005, 126 p., ills.
""Lacquerware decorated in gold is not something to be seen in a brilliant light, to be taken in at a single glance; it should be left in the dark, a part here and a part there picked up by a faint light. Its florid patterns recede into the darkness, conjuring in their stead an inexpressible aura of depth and mystery, of overtones but partly suggested. The Sheen of the lacquer, set out in the night, reflects the wavering candlelight... luring one into a state of reverie....The thin, impalpable, faltering light, picked up as though little rivers were running through the room, collecting little pools here and there, lacquers a pattern on the surface of the night itself.
India is a country more accurately defined by migrations and relocations and the shifting boundaries of empires than by fixed regional identities; thus, it is possible that the Pynes may have migrated to Bengal from Rajasthan or Punjab, as we may infer from some of their customs, such as the wearing of a turban in the North-west Indian style by Pyne men on ceremonial occasions, or the decoration of the walls of the house with horses and elephants during special festivities. The family is Vaishnava by religious persuasion, however, in the tradition of the sixteenth century Vaishnava saint, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; and although it has a mercantile past, the artist's immediate forebears were engaged in white-collar occupations." (jacket)