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December 18, 2009
Nature is prominent
Artist paints the light, air, color of Israel.
OLGA LIVSHIN
One doesn't have to be born Jewish to feel a deep connection to the land of Israel. Ranjan Sen's solo show, Scenes from Israel, which opened at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery on Dec. 10, proves the artist's profound kinship with Israel's hills and valleys and her piercingly blue sky.
"There are many similarities between India and Israel," said Sen, "similarities in family ties, people's values and ideas, the soil and the scenery."
Born and raised in India, Sen was initially attracted to the stark Israeli vistas because of his Jewish wife. But after his first visit to the country, in 1994, he fell in love with the land. His paintings demonstrate his affinity to Israel.
Sen grew up in an artistic family. His father was a prominent Indian painter, and Sen started showing his own artistic merit when he was very young. At 10, he won his first artistic award – he was named Best Child Artist in India. He studied art in India and Canada and received his master of fine arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967. In the four decades since, Sen has tried his hand at a variety of creative endeavors, from sculpture to printmaking, but painting has remained his main medium throughout his long and successful career.
The paintings in the current exhibition are mostly landscapes. Two colors dominate the walls of the gallery: green and yellow, the colors of Israel.
"Up close, Israel is the narrow alleys of Mea Shearim, textures of stones, shimmering olive trees, dry yellow desert hills and violet cliffs, dotted with wild flowers and scrub brush, date and palm trees; and, in contrast, in the distance, the pounding surf and vast expanse of the Mediterranean Sea, with Roman and Turkish ruins in the foreground – a tide of push and pull of history and landscape," Sen wrote in his artist's statement.
He confessed that he never paints from photographs. During his multiple trips to Israel, he would drive to the desert or to the Dead Sea, stop wherever his fancy took him, get out of the car and sketch in watercolors. Afterwards, the sketches could sit in his studio for months until the painting was clear in his head. Only then, would he transfer it onto canvas in oil.
Like the artist himself, Sen's paintings are thoughtful and quiet, reflecting life but never overshadowing it. "Paintings shouldn't be overly dramatic," he said. "They should be contemplative."
The contrast between light and shadows in Sen's paintings is never a screaming trumpet. Instead, it is the whisper of a cello. It is fitting that the show should open with the painting of a cellist, "Mischa Maisky in Concert." The piece is unique in the exhibit, the only image with no nature in it, set in a concert hall and executed almost exclusively in black and white. Sen sketched it during the concert he attended in Israel. Music seems to strobe off the painting in waves of intense notes – the notes of human life.
Life is everywhere in Sen's art. Green life flows past the viewer in "Yardenit," the emerald waters of the river reminding everyone of the beginning of history. The ancient ochre hills of the desert in "Chalk Hills" have existed since the birth of time, their wild, untamed beauty defying man and technology. The air glimmers above, hazy from the heat, vivid blue like distant harmony.
Light and air play an important role in many works. The sky soars on the hot thermals like a bird over the desolation of the dry, unconquered landscapes. The sky coalesces above the golden city in "Jerusalem," the shining crown of Israel. The sky ponders the mysteries of civilization in "Ein Karem," where so many cultures interlock. But whenever people step into the image – like in "Chol Ha'Moed" and in "Mea Shearim" – the sky is blocked. And, unlike the sharp contrast of hills and sky, the people are blurry in the paintings, unless they are part of the landscape.
"Nature is prominent," Sen explained. "People just live in it. They should blend in, adjust. They should become part of nature." This is why there are no people or cars in the artist's rendition of Jerusalem. "I filtered them all out," Sen said.
Of the trappings of progress, only grindstones fascinate the artist. They appear in four of the paintings in the exhibition. "The grindstones are a metaphor," Sen said. "They symbolize the hard work, the essential hardiness of life in Israel."
Scenes from Israel runs until Jan. 6.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She's available for contract work. Contact her at [email protected].
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