‘Meditations on Trees’ brings out the best of Ompal Sansanwal’s works

New Delhi / May 3, 2024

New Delhi, May 3: ‘Meditations on Trees’, a coffee-table book on artist Ompal Sansanwal’s works, is a collector’s item with over 200 pages devoted to his fascinating paintings on trees that take on myriad forms — of a cantering horse, as Krishna holding aloft the Govardhan hill, as Christ’s Last Supper or even trees clasped in a sinuous embrace.

The glossy, brought out by Black Cube Gallery, Aleph Books Company, in association with Namtech Fine Art, is authored by noted art historian and scholar Uma Nair.

‘Meditations on Trees’ was released by Ratish Nanda, renowned Indian conservation architect and CEO of Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), at Bikaner House in the capital. The Saturday release at the Ballroom coincided with the launch of Ompal’s week-long solo exhibition of paintings titled ‘Jiva’, being presented by Black Cube Gallery, which marks its debut at Bikaner House.

‘Meditations on Trees’ comprises a collection of the national award-winning artist’s works produced over the last decade.

Curator Uma Nair notes that the book “is about the silent journey of an artist who is both a master and a veteran”. In her piece in the book, she writes: “To look at a painting by Ompal Sansanwal is to be invited into an oasis of contemplation in which the harbinger of tranquillity resides in the life of the elements, flowing from the tree, through the leaves, through the soil and elements of landscape coming to rest in the diaphanous roots and branches that become the threads of living….”

“Ompal uses classical Asian painting methods and Western modernist techniques with a succinct grammar,” Uma says in the write-up titled ‘Jiva: Reveries of the Solitary Walker’. “His landscape is populated with lithe lines and botanical patterns of flowers, little nodules, berries, as he recalls everyday inspirations from his time in a forest in Mehrauli, which he inhabits dawn to dusk. He experiments with acrylic, pen, and ink, and even uses sandpaper to create a satin smooth perfect landscape as his paintings invoke his urge to seek combinations of alternatively rich textures. The bold treatment of the surface on his canvas demonstrates the artist’s keen eye for the splendid myriad of trees, flora, minerals, and materials that he meticulously examines and sketches during his walks to the forest.”

Ompal, explaining his painting of a tree in the shape of Krishna holding aloft the Govardhan hill and the people of Mathura and cows taking shelter beneath it, says: “I spent my childhood listening to stories of the Mahabharata and Lord Krishna. My love for trees grew as did my love for mythic tales of devotion and Bhakti.”

His paintings, whether done in acrylic and pen and ink on canvas, or watercolours and pen and ink on paper, pen and ink on paper, or even simply watercolours, show trees in myriad forms and shapes. Explaining his intricately paintings of trees that draw the viewer into the depths of the leaves and twining roots, Ompal says: “When I paint, I am lost in the experience that, at its best, is one that transcends time and reality.”

There are some excellent paintings of bulls and sceneries of cities that are not done in the artist’s trademark tree mode.

Uma Nair writes: “Ompal’s trees appear to enter an almost meditative state, in harmony with the corresponding verdant environment that surrounds them. As attested by these paintings, Prakriti or nature is a powerful stimulus underpinning Ompal’s art.”

The banyan or peepul tree abounds in Ompal’s paintings, taking on myriad shapes, each telling a different story with their densely twining long roots and heavy foliage – of Shiva as Nataraja, Krishna and Arjuna in the battlefield, Krishna playing the flute as the cows sit around him, or even as poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

On his fascination for the banyan tree, Ompal says: “The banyan tree for me is an analogy of the workings of the material world. Because the banyan tree spreads out laterally and ‘drops’ roots that form into trunks, it is very hard to determine the original trunk of the tree. In my banyan trees the leaves are not original they are different created according to my own fancy.”

“In the banyan trees of Delhi that I grew to love, I saw a quiet solemnity, a profound air of mystery and spirituality, so many surreal forms, deep almond-shaped eyes, sometimes a subtle smile, sometimes an imposing frontality and decorative elements in branches and leaves that reminded me of human hair and the forehead. In trees I saw facial features and characteristics, in trees I saw solitary people and lovers, and the gods and goddesses,” says Ompal.

The series on horses is equally arresting. It has horses with bushy manes and tails, or very muscular horses in motion, a horse standing on its hind legs, or just horses’ heads – but all done in tree mode with the sinewy roots and dense leaves forming the horse. Most of the paintings in this series are watercolour on paper 11 x 14”.

There are some very interesting paintings of cityscapes from his travels in the Himalayas and Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh.

Uma Nair says this section shows Ompal’s “understanding of Cubism”.

Sanya Malik of Black Cube writes: “An advocate for the extraordinary, Black Cube shatters simplistic stereotypes to present remarkable works of art from both emerging talents and well-established artists within the Indian subcontinent.”

ENDS