“I let him persuade me” – Rasa Masterpiece

2.000,00 

Rasa Masterpiece “I let him persuade me”- by Mumbiram

A Flagship of Rasa Renaissance

  • 90 x 120 cm

Collector’s Item

High Quality Canvas Print

individually signed by Mumbiram

Description

Collector’s Item Canvas Print of Original Charcoal Masterpiece: “I let him persuade me” by Mumbiram

Simple, graceful charcoal lines depict the Rasa of this soulful situation. Mumbiram’s paintings show the folk-people of India for the first time in the sublime context of high-spirituality and neo-modern aphrodisia.

90 x 120 cm

High Quality Canvas Print
individually signed by Mumbiram

This is a collector’s item and you will get your Rasa Masterpiece individually signed by Artist Mumbiram.  

Rasa Appreciation of original charcoal masterpiece

 

“I let him persuade me”

(Charcoal on cotton-rag hand-made paper, Pune 1985, Mumbiram)

Living in his studio in downtown Pune or cohabiting with the tribals and gypsies on the hills of coastal wilderness, the artist was making paintings that show the folk-people of India for the first time in the sublime context of high-spirituality and neo-modern aphrodisia.

The remote hills of India are inhabited by tribals that subsist on wild grains, fruit, berries, herbs, honey as well as fodder and firewood that is gathered from the forest. At the end of the day men and women come home with heavy loads much to the happiness of those waiting for them all day.

Mumbiram is immensely attracted to that life close to nature. He experiences echoes of the pastoral scenes of Krishna’s boyhood leelas in the forests of Vrindavan. Of course young boys and girls meet in the forest and there are all sorts of loving exchanges that take place. It is unfortunate that the civilized world of city people misses out on the very beautiful and touching human side of the tribals that live a life that is closer to the life of adolescent Krishna that is considered to be the ultimate object of meditation by the revered scriptures of India.

It has been said that in Mumbiram’s Rasa Art one hears reverberations of nectarean melodies of the ancient scriptures of India. Certainly his paintings are far more than just illustrations of existing texts.

I let him persuade me, charcoal, Mumbiram, detail 2

The people appearing in Mumbiram’s paintings are all real people that were sharing life experiences with this passionate artist. These life experiences had a déjà vu quality. They reminded one of situations and episodes from the classics. What is more amazing is that the persons appearing in the paintings exude the same unabashed innocent passion that the great Sanskrit Rasa Classics arouse.

We have all seen Krishna-Leela depicted in Pahari or Mughal miniatures. It is all stylized. The Gopis all look alike. They all have the same fish eyes, the same straight noses that emanate from the same curved foreheads. We can only relate to them as distant mythological figures.

I let him persuade me, charcoal, Mumbiram, detail 3

Mumbiram’s pictures show individuals. Women that could be the girl next door or movie actresses or rag-pickers or bird-catchers or whatever. They bring the eternal causeless sporting of the divine with the living entities, Leela, to today’s light. They breathe life-air into scriptural visions. Mumbiram’s treatment is free from painterly affectations of brushstrokes and shadows. The lines are sweet and simple, nearly minimal. Such leela ……!

One can readily see that Mumbiram’s contemporary renderings are based on the artist’s own life experiences but they appear inspired by the same ideal and paradigm that is evoked by the verses from Tenth Canto of Shrimad Bhagavatam:

व्रजति तेन वयं सविलासवीक्षणार्पितमनोभववेगाः
कुजगतिं गमिता न विदामः कश्मलेन कबरं वसनं वा ॥१०.३५.१७॥

“We are enamored with Krishna’s walk. But when he bestows a sporting glance upon us we are totally bowled over. We are transfixed to the ground like trees. We perforce yield to the urges of amour. We are unable to mind our clothes or hair.”  

(ll 17 ll Yugala Geetam, Five Songs of Rasa, Mumbiram)

वयमृतमिव जिह्मव्याहृतं श्रद्धधानाः
कुलिकमिवरुताज्ञाः कृष्णवध्वो हरिण्यः
ददृशुरसकृदेतन्नखस्पर्शतीव्रस्मररुज
उपमन्त्रिन् भण्यतामन्यवार्ता ॥१०.४७.१९॥

“Our story is a little different. We were drawn to him just as the beautiful innocent black doe are drawn into trap by the false mating-calls of the hunter. We believed as true all the lies he told us and all the promises he made to us. And now we have experienced the whole gamut of symptoms and sufferings of this excruciating malady of passion caused just by the touch of his mercilessly adept finger-tips. Dear messenger. Tell us about anything else.”   

(ll 8 ll Bhramara Geetam, Five Songs of Rasa, Mumbiram)

 

The simple, graceful lines in Charcoal depict the Rasa of the situation in a masterly way. 

The title suggests the young lady’s inclinations towards the young boy’s light-hearted liberties.

These renderings are examples of how enlightenment and aesthetic are intimately intertwined in the Rasa masterpieces of Mumbiram.