THE HINDU, Thursday, February 19, 2004
Love in all its different hues
"People, especially artists, have to be like sponges as otherwise the world will get away from you. You need to be with it."
TEA party reminds you of all the formal clothing, the pleasantries exchanged for the sake of the occasion and people wondering how to strike a conversation. Put this image into an artist's mind and what you get is a bunch of leaves with different heads that look very high society and exchanging formalities! This is how Martine Quentric-Seguy's interpreted a tea party when she saw a sheet of handmade paper from Auroville.
"When I saw the paper in front of me, I saw the four leaves standing near each other in an awkward sort of way and that reminded me of a tea party. So I left out the formal dresses and clothed the people in leaves but had the spirit of the time in the painting. Just imagine if those people were really clothed that way," she said with a giggle, adding, "Of course I am surprised how I did that one," with a typical arch of her eyebrows and a smile that reached her eyes. This painting is titled 'meeting' and is in the company of her other works that are exhibited at the Aurodhan Art Gallery on Rue François Martin.
But where is love, the mainstay of the exhibition in that painting? Well, Ms. Martine has the reply for that also: the two people standing there have a "little something going on between them but since they are in public they would rather choose to be reserved". "The painting also is about bonds between people, which are very important in people's lives. For, when I was a psychotherapist earlier, I found that all the problems arise because of the lack of love; love for themselves, lack of love for the life that people live, and also lack of love from other people." Love, according to her, is oxygen itself and people cannot live without it... All the 15 paintings in the exhibition are on the topic love.
In the middle of the interview, we were interrupted by a couple of girls, students of art from the Government-run Bharathiyar Palakalai Koodam, who wanted to know more about the artist. And she told them that from her childhood she had watched her father paint and then also that she went to art school where she learnt commercial art, but the course 'taught her the tricks of the trade.' Later, she attended workshops on calligraphy. "After that it's just working, working and working because learning is only one part. You then have to forget what you learnt and create your own style," she said while giving hints on how they can better their work.
Coming back to the interview, she said, "People, especially artists, have to be like sponges as otherwise the world will get away from you. You need to be with it. When I am in France, I am there and am touched by the things that I see there. I will not paint Krishna the way I have here but in His French form," she said as she explained her painting 'Gopi,' where the leaves around the image of Krishna playing a flute symbolise feminity and thus the Gopikas who always mill around him. "Krishna and the Gopis symbolise another kind of love, infinite love," she added.
If love found many forms of expression in this exhibition, then compassion was the topic at the one held at the Tibetan Cultural Centre in Auroville, which concluded recently. Do take some time off to look at 'Ms. Martine's works that are on display till February 29.By Deepa H. Rama-krishnan
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