'Space',Fabric Assemblage,
9" x 1
Natural Pigments on Paper, Bikaner sweets, 23 X 16 cms
When I met Mahaveer Swami for the first time, fifteen years ago, I was impressed by the delicacy of
his colours and the sense of drawing that followed the classical tradition of Mughal Art.
During my annual courses of several weeks, we first worked on painting techniques, much as a pianist
practices his scales. After several years our aesthetic collaboration resulted in two exhibitions in Paris,
where Mahaveer Swami is considered a traditional Indian artist. Today my work has evolved into a
more personal approach. Now, I am concentrating on composition; colours; repetition.
I envision my work as “a variation on a given theme”. With the series of lemons, vegetables, trees and
cakes, I am aiming to create an obsessive repetition of subjects. The choice of the Bikaner pastries
theme allowed me to construct a composition in the space of colour: a diamond, a square, a cube, a
crystal, a circle etc. What is important for me is that this composition creates a balance between
natural colours of Mughal tradition and the sensation of matter and texture (silver, sugar, salt, crystal,
paper etc).
Each composition must be able to respond to all the others and thus create a satisfactory ensemble.
It is as if I am dancing round a theme and creating waves. For example, the beauty of Bikaner’s
stonewalls presents a marvellous subject – colours, matter, form, and space. When I see them, I feel
completely serene. Why? Because they have been done with the sensitivity of artisans, they can be
seen in miniatures. Their form is perfect to the eye.
I hope Mahaveer and I shall continue this journey - crossing the occidental and oriental vision, which
led us from Europe to the East and West of India.
Natural
Pigment on Paper, Maharaja Head, 7 X 7cm
Mahaveer Swami revived the best aspects of the sophisticated and refined Bikaner School of painting with an originality and brilliance unique among contemporary miniaturists. Mahaveer Swami stands out of thousands of traditional painters not only because of his great skills in drawing and painting. But also because he has the ability to recognize the difference between the truly fine and mundane although he possesses the skill to copy any other painting perfectly he prefers to explore new subjects, new contexts and new forms of expressions. For instance, he has created a series of paintings based on the daily life of Indian women, a theme rarely explored by earlier miniature painters.
Mahaveer working style is strongly influenced by his studies of Mughal and Rajasthani Miniatures. His subject matter is often drawn from the life style of holy men and women, daily life of Indian women and sometimes from Hindu mythological terms.
Mahaveer Swami Paintings of ascetics and mystics are particularly striking because of his deep feelings for the spiritual and the emotional. As a child, the various holy men who visited his grandfather fascinated him. Unaware that there were any differences between Sufis and Pundits he met at home, the young Mahaveer was drawn to all of them, enchanted by that he describes as the glow on their faces. As a mature artist he still travels to annual festival at Ajmer, to study the faces of participants.
Mahaveer Swami is one of the finest traditional artists working in India today. His ethereal colours and exquisite brushwork are combined with unique inner vision and great sensitivity of the world around him by tempering his personal vision with the finely toned technique and rigorous discipline of his tradition. Mahaveer Swami proves that there is no real gap between contemporary and traditional, there is only art. His work demonstrates beyond a doubt that a rich and beautiful tradition is still very much alive.