Text by Meeta Surana
Lakhichand Jain, a Kalwa (near Mumbai) based artist and mandanagrapher working within a sphere of design and visual folk art, has been constantly working on ritual of mandana for the past 25 years. He is not only a Mandanagrapher, he is also an active research-scholar and documenter of the art of mandana. He has been doing all he can to do the most obvious and yet crucial activity which is to bring consciousness to one of the many neglected and languishing traditional art forms of India. It is no surprise then that Lakhichand has been covered in so many art, design, lifestyle and travel magazines like POOL, Jetwings, Swagat, and Creative Gaga and also in mainstream National print and television media including India Today, Times of India, The Indian Express, The Hindu, Deccan Herald, PTI, DNA, Hindustan times, Mid -day, Zee News, Star Plus, Etv, Sahara, DD metro, and more.
He has given a new lease of life to the mandana. He explored the mandana, with modern means. He was the first man to paint contemporary mandanas on canvass. He moved beyond traditions to new dynamic composition and lively detail in depictions of livelihood of humans, birds, animals, nature and cultural beliefs. The philosophy embodied in his paintings emphasizing the interconnectedness of human beings and nature. Traditionally mandana was custom only on the walls of mud houses and in courtyard. It was not feasible to transplant slab of these mud walls and floor surfaces. So, he has applied canvass to express itself in mandanagraphy.
His vision shows the constancy and reciprocity of natural elements in universal rhythmic cycles of movement and change. He’s trying to creative re-invention of the folk tradition vocabulary that was disappearing; his mandana creations which are expressing the vivid representation and vision of nature and culture in equilibrium, his significant inputs in Mandanagraphy are especially highlighting the contemporary relevance of folk forms with nature, culture, our lifestyle and need to revive the folk tradition.
He is using natural ingredients for creating of mandana paintings to keep the originality and folk intact of this folk art. Simplicity, irregularity and boldness of lines, it is the characteristics of mandana. Therefore he is kept same intact, beauty, simplicity of lines and forms in his mandana compositions.
Lakhichand describes mandana artistically as a mélange of simply uneven bold lines and geometrical shapes. “This is an ancient art based on lines. But when two parallel lines connect by the third lines, it is important to understand what it means. Various new forms are created through these simply lines. And I feel that two energies collide in this process. It’s a pure visual language.” Interestingly, it also imprinted various elements related to the Indian livelihood and festivity by simply lines in the form of mandana like ghevar-phini, kaju katli, shakarpara, Jalebi, keri (unripe mango) etc., musical instruments like chang, dholak, khadtal as well as pankhi (handcrafted fan), pan ka dibba, khanda (sword), taraju (weight machine) many more. Lakhichand feels that even though the physical form might be diminishing, the art form is alive through folk tales and paheliya (puzzles). “They have been travelling through centuries, through journey of lines.” He started off quite early when he was about 8 years old, and he learnt this art form from his grandmother (Late) Smt. Ratan bai and mother Smt. Shakuntala bai. He is deeply inspired by nature and often finds design- ideas for mandana through meditation, nature including its various vegetation forms. He usually keeps the designs in a sketchbook and uses them later for his artwork. Since the last 25 years, Lakhichand has created about 300 mandanas in different sizes on floor and canvas as well as contemporary surface and textures. He has credit to explore hundreds over new mandana forms based on the household objects and childhood sports, due to the urbanization these objects and sports are rapidly disappear from our day-to-day’s activities, they do not need and fit in to our today’s fast and modern lifestyle.
The art form has now evolved from floor and walls to canvas but for Lakhichand maintaining the purity of the art form, remains a priority. He says “From the beginning, I keep separate to the mandana from my profession. It has been adapted as a passion. I’m trying to keep hold it as a treasure. I'll take efforts only on those projects, where mandana art comes alive and to keep his loftiness, respect and sacredness”. He would never make it a ‘mass product’. It will only be art for art’s sake and strictly for design purposes.
He says, “Many of youth-teenagers from different discipline of art and design have came and ask to me for learning this folk painting. That time, I ask them to first they must to prepare mentally and physically to work with gobar-mitti (cow dung-soil), as they hesitate. Only when you can do that, you are ready to learn. It’s a classical art form, and you need to do riyaaz (practice done on a regular basis) to learn this on floor, then paper and then canvas.
His vision shows the constancy and reciprocity of natural elements in universal rhythmic cycles of movement and change. He’s trying to creative re-invention of the folk tradition vocabulary that was disappearing; his mandana creations which are expressing the vivid representation and vision of nature and culture in equilibrium, his significant inputs in Mandanagraphy are especially highlighting the contemporary relevance of folk forms with nature, culture, our lifestyle and need to revive the folk tradition.
He is using natural ingredients for creating of mandana paintings to keep the originality and folk intact of this folk art. Simplicity, irregularity and boldness of lines, it is the characteristics of mandana. Therefore he is kept same intact, beauty, simplicity of lines and forms in his mandana compositions.
Lakhichand describes mandana artistically as a mélange of simply uneven bold lines and geometrical shapes. “This is an ancient art based on lines. But when two parallel lines connect by the third lines, it is important to understand what it means. Various new forms are created through these simply lines. And I feel that two energies collide in this process. It’s a pure visual language.” Interestingly, it also imprinted various elements related to the Indian livelihood and festivity by simply lines in the form of mandana like ghevar-phini, kaju katli, shakarpara, Jalebi, keri (unripe mango) etc., musical instruments like chang, dholak, khadtal as well as pankhi (handcrafted fan), pan ka dibba, khanda (sword), taraju (weight machine) many more. Lakhichand feels that even though the physical form might be diminishing, the art form is alive through folk tales and paheliya (puzzles). “They have been travelling through centuries, through journey of lines.” He started off quite early when he was about 8 years old, and he learnt this art form from his grandmother (Late) Smt. Ratan bai and mother Smt. Shakuntala bai. He is deeply inspired by nature and often finds design- ideas for mandana through meditation, nature including its various vegetation forms. He usually keeps the designs in a sketchbook and uses them later for his artwork. Since the last 25 years, Lakhichand has created about 300 mandanas in different sizes on floor and canvas as well as contemporary surface and textures. He has credit to explore hundreds over new mandana forms based on the household objects and childhood sports, due to the urbanization these objects and sports are rapidly disappear from our day-to-day’s activities, they do not need and fit in to our today’s fast and modern lifestyle.
The art form has now evolved from floor and walls to canvas but for Lakhichand maintaining the purity of the art form, remains a priority. He says “From the beginning, I keep separate to the mandana from my profession. It has been adapted as a passion. I’m trying to keep hold it as a treasure. I'll take efforts only on those projects, where mandana art comes alive and to keep his loftiness, respect and sacredness”. He would never make it a ‘mass product’. It will only be art for art’s sake and strictly for design purposes.
He says, “Many of youth-teenagers from different discipline of art and design have came and ask to me for learning this folk painting. That time, I ask them to first they must to prepare mentally and physically to work with gobar-mitti (cow dung-soil), as they hesitate. Only when you can do that, you are ready to learn. It’s a classical art form, and you need to do riyaaz (practice done on a regular basis) to learn this on floor, then paper and then canvas.
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