Cyanotype, Lithography and more - Enjoy artwork by Gautam Banerji

“When I paint an abstract picture…….I neither know in advance what it is meant to look like, nor, during the painting process, what I am aiming at and what to do about getting there.” (Gerhard Richter).

Through my short progress in visual art, I find myself, almost by accident, being swayed towards the New York School of Painters, who set the trend for self-expression in some most radical forms of abstract painting. Two visual artists who have continued to inspire me are Gerhard Richter and Jackson Pollock. Their influence is easily perceptible in some of the paintings I have exhibited here.

Painting, in the words of Richter, is almost a “blind, desperate effort, like that of a person abandoned, helpless, in totally incomprehensible surroundings….” Continuing in the words of Richter, “Abstract pictures are fictive models, because they make visible a reality that we can neither see nor describe, but whose existence we can postulate….” The motif that inspires evolves during the process of painting as opposed to any old motif which is supposed to turn into a picture in object-bound representations.

Using again the words of Richter to describe the process, and as he states: “I do not know what I want to represent, or how to begin; that I have only highly imprecise and invariably false ideas of the motif that I am to make into a picture; and therefore that – motivated as I am solely by ignorance and frivolity – I am in a position to start.” Do see the few of my paintings being exhibited here in that light.

The other influence that I have acknowledged is Jackson Pollock. Pollock is also setting an indelible mark on some of my new techniques, recently acquired and which I have applied to some of my works here on display. Pollock pioneered his famous ‘drip painting’ as a new art form in which paint was poured, spattered, and applied in an extremely physical fashion from above to a canvas which lay on the ground. Although my own style has not reached that level of radicalization (or sophistication), I feel the pulse of it already in some of my self-exploration through colour and texture.

Besides abstract painting, I have also exhibited here a few works on ‘alternative photography’ using photographic techniques and motifs that deviate away quite radically from the original. These include two cyanotypes in blue and two paintings in acrylic done over black and white imprints of my photographs taken in winter here in Dilijan (Armenia) but transformed through a splash of colours suggestive of warmer days. I am also an avid photographer and the passion for photography predates no doubt my love for painting. I am finding it fascinating to combine the two into a new visual art form.

I have added captions to my paintings, which are only suggestive. Take them as no more than an attempt at abstract expressionism emphasizing an artist’s liberty to convey attitudes and emotions through non-traditional and non-representational means.

Street murals of Dilijan

This was among my early attempts at alternative photography in using a black and white photoprint taken in winter as a motif and transforming the bare landscape with a liberal splash of colour. It is acrylic on board, touched up with water colour pencil. The final image deviates radically from the original black and white print.

The Mermaid

This is a cyanotype in blue of a photograph I took in Lake Sevan and which in turn has also inspired me to work on a sculpture in clay.  Cyanotype is an alternative photographic technique which originated as civil engineering draftsman’s plans for construction and printing survey maps.

Mysteries of Human Passion

This is an attempt at expressing the workings of the subconscious by fantastic imagery and incongruous juxtaposition. It is in acrylic adopting the drip paint technique. Single use plastic bags were laid out to drip and prepare the paint. The motifs and imagery evolve purely through the process, by chance and not by intent.

Blue Reflections

This is another cyanotype similarly inspired by Lake Sevan. It has a dreamlike effect evoking a sense of the surreal.

Caged

This is an attempt at lithography. Unlike prints, lithographs are original works of art done by a single artist. It emerged in the 19th century pre-dating the advent of photography and soon became a form of graphic art that was unique to any other method. For this image, I have used jute fabric, twigs, and thread with black ink on the lithograph plate. You might be able to identify them besides chancing upon the images that have formed.

Posing Tall and High

This is another piece verging on the surreal where the motif evolved purely through the process and not by intent. It is again in acrylic using the drip paint technique, with some finishing touches done in water colour pencil.

Street Scene

This again is transformed from the second half of the black and white print used for Image1. The trees in the original black and white print were bare and so was the background landscape. The transformation in the final image looked phenomenal to me.

Frost, The Woods

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but I have promises to keep! This one is among my recent attempts at drip-paint techniques and abstract expressionism.  Still miles to go before I sleep!

A lonely walk

This is among my early works inspired by my immediate surroundings here in Dilijan.

Homecoming

A glimpse of the village in the mountains upon return from a long sojourn, with the chalet emerging from the woods. This again is in drip paint image using acrylic.

Old Man River

This is another work in abstract expressionism using drip paint technique. I used a butter knife on the splash spread out on a single use plastic bag to distribute the paint and produce the tree-like images. The bag was in turn squashed and crumpled and then laid out flat.  The paint was then pressed against a thick absorbent board paper.

Speaks for itself. I have again used my drip paint technique here, rolling the plastic bag with paint around the lampshade. The lampstand is my first attempt at papier-mache worked on a dried gourd cut to shape as a mould.

Last work just finished

 Also abstract in acrylic with pencil water colour finish.