Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Jaipur : : Travel Diary

In around of Jaipur • City's hustle bustle • Old city charm and of course exhibition

Whenever I am in Jaipur, make sure to visit this place. This block print I tried with craftsman who demonstrate to every visitor.

Qalam Aatma : : Jaipur • January 2013

The first month of this new year is almost gone! Suddenly time is running too fast. I was absent from the blog world because of exhibition in Jaipur. I landed today after a hectic but super exciting week-long exhibition held at super awesome place called Jawahar Kala Kendra. Qalam-Aatma, a calligraphy exhibition organized by a Qalamkaari Creative Trust Delhi founded by super talented Qamar Dagar.
Few of them were the same bunch of artists who participated in last month's ONE ASIA exhibition. There were few new artists (they were actually hidden jewels) who Qamar founded in and around of Jaipur. We total 21 artists came together and interpreted our individuality in our own skilled manner.


Abid Saghir Jaipur, India (displayed marble and metal pieces where letters are carved, inlaid and etched–real masterpieces!) • Adil Writer Auroville / Mumbai, India (letters on ceramic? Yes, waxed and then fired with experimental techniques–amazing results) • Amir Abdullah Khan India (Master– guru, blessings are always with us)  • Ashok Sharma Jaipur, India (neat and consistent devanagri writing) • Bahman Panahi Iran / Paris (Great calligrapher and musician, what a awesome combination and skills; reflects the personality in his work) • Dharmesh Jadeja Auroville, India (Architect by profession. Boldness, energy of devnagri letters are incredible, again experimental ceramic plates and tiles has given new dimension to letters)  • F. Wasifuddin Dagar Delhi, India (Lovely person, lovely voice and lovely hand also) • Idermurun Khurelbaatar Mongolia (Never seen such a beautiful script) • Irshad Hussain Farooqi New Delhi, India (National award winner craftsman, he carved letters in wood, he has magic in his hand) • Jyoti Naoki Eri Auroville, India / Japan (Founder of ONE ASIA project, this time he tried Indigo, cloth and wax, his batik experiments are hotcake of the show) • Keiin Yoshimura Tokyo, Japan (Classical dancer, performer also writes harmoniously) • Matiullah Nawab Wasifi Tonk, Rajasthan, India (Ideal example of traditional calligraphy, salute to his skills and patience) • Michele Archambault New York/Paris (Ikkat collector, practices Chinese calligraphy, must see her work) • Mohammad Aslam Jaipur, India • Mohammad Yasin New Delhi, India (Senior most artist-90yrs+ displayed his old work still seems very fresh and contemporary)  • Nikheel Aphale New Delhi, India (he is owner of this blog, hope you know him well ;)) • Poosapati Parmeshwar Raju Hyderabad, India (Calligraphy and mythology, another layer of letter art, truly inspiring) • Qamar Dagar New Delhi, India (Founder and pillar of the QCT, pictorial calligraphy is her speciality, amazing sense of word-play and colours) • Syed Imtayaz Hussain Jaipur, India (Calligraphy can be written with mica? yes created really enticing Urdu script pieces with this unusual material) • Syed Salman Chishty Ajmer Sharif, India (Photo interpretation of calligraphy, they are still but incredible depth as they move you) • Tanjung South Korea (Very graphic and experimental) • Werner Sasse Germany / Korea (I am his fan now, his experience and command shows in his work)


It was a great platform where calligraphy is presented in traditional and contemporary form. It was a  visual cum educative treat for everybody who can't imagine calligraphy (alphabets) can be translate this way.
There were workshops arranged for everybody. I also took one session on 'contemporary calligraphy', I had fun; most importantly participants also had fun. Its always exciting and interesting to explore calligraphy with fresh and raw talent.

Both images are from ONE ASIA facebook group.