written for Art&Deal Magazine
A lot of interest has been shown in the notion of ‘progressive’ in the recent times. The root of this progressive tendency is broadly understood as a renunciation of the Bengal School Orientalism and early signs of contemporary Indian art (re)aligning itself to a Eurocentric art. In this flow of things one strand of art, in fact, probably the most viewed and sold trends, but under-theorized is that of neo-tantric abstraction. Biren De was one of the first artists in north India to force historians to deal with this not-so-easy understanding of the word ‘progressive’. This is further confounded by neo-tantricism’s engagement with repetition, tradition and meditation, which are semiotically on the opposite side of the ‘progressive’.
A casual chat with a friend made me aware that he had just passed away. Immediate flash backs were those of Prof. Shivji Panikkar classes on ‘modern Indian art’ in Baroda getting reverted by radiation of flowing bright yellows and reds, transfixing minds though the darkness of a afternoon slide show. At the point of time I did not quite understand what the personal and the political were when an artist explores art through Tantra and vice versa. What did strike me was that it must have required a lot of ideological integrity to be an early inventor and a consistent master of a school so easily misunderstood.
The ‘progressive’ situation of Biren De as an artist comes from how it took the West (American expressionism) to liberate him and change perception about what one can do within contemporary painting. But somehow, neither the art-historical formalism of West, nor contemporary Indian urbanity really appealed to Biren De. Till the end he was extremely reclusive and has always been very quiet about the role Tantra played in his process of art-making. Superficially we can talk about the cosmic form and his engagement with energy. But speaking of form and energy separately betrays a lack of empathy to the core from which his art kept coming.
He passed away this Saturday. May his soul rest in peace.
