Horse

Officially, according to the Government Register, he was born in the year of 1956. But unofficially, his birthday dates back a year earlier. Does it sound justified being so particular about someone’s year of birth? Whatever might be the time of birth that matters very little? But in case of Alay Ghoshal, the matter is quite different, because just like his confusing date of birth, his works drive us not to any contradiction but to a sense of conflict. It may ignite our curiosity to know whether this conflict adds diversity to his work. As we have to depend on time to satisfy our queries, we are not left with any other alternative other than biding our time. Then why on earth is the term ‘conflict’ mentioned? We never found a singular form of Alay Ghoshal while going through his works. The nature of his paintings changes along with time. Recently he has gifted a large oil painting to a religious institution. And obviously they were of few religious personalities of great importance. A few years earlier, one of his solo exhibitions was held in the Academy of Fine Arts. There, the contents of his works were markedly different from that of the oil painting. Those large paintings represented the queries, panic and anxiety that goes beyond redressal because of the socio-political scenario of the recent world–here smile seems distorted, silence is cacophonic and certainty comes as the beckoning of doubt. Did those paintings, exhibited in the Academy, any way resemble the monumental amount of underlying peace emitted by the portraits of those religious stalwarts. And often the artist is found to be creating cats in different postures, on ‘World Cats’ Day’ for display in a gallery exhibition. Beside oil he gained proficiency in other mediums like acrylic, charcoal, pastel, water colour, pen and ink. How should we consider the diversity of his talent? Is it his multidimensional approach towards art or the unrest he feels deep within? Here, this debate can be approached in a rather casual way–of late, the batter Surya Kumar Yadav shows his ability to hit any ball dropping in a particular place of the field with ease at 360° angle. As Alay Ghoshal academically obtained the first position as a student from the Government Art College, his perseverance and practice are unquestionable, as in the case of Surya Kumar. Now, how Surya Kumar would develop himself in future–whether he would be able to reach the super cosmic standard of Sachin–only time can say. We can only appreciate. While dealing with the difference between his official and unofficial year of birth or the year of 1984 when he stood first as a student, what comes to our notice is the incidents of the previous year when the examinations were withheld throughout the year because of the students’ agitation. Otherwise, Alay might have passed from the college achieving the first position in 1983. It may be said jokingly that in both cases, year of occurrence differ, but his birth and his academic achievement remain certain. As we fail to understand whether we should proceed on with all those humorous anecdotes, let’s go of the comparison between that two.

Fun can always be made about him. As a human being he is quite simple, but fully committed to the standard of his works. He loves to come up with complex replies to rather simple questions. Although he himself prefers moderate diet, he likes to treat others lavishly. He seldom loses his temper yet he often gets hurt. He has the courage to smile at his own failure.

Should one make fun of such an artist? Perhaps this conflict of his nature paved the way of his artistic journey. We may come face to face with the artistic self of Alay Ghoshal only after assembling his multifarious approach towards art. Perhaps this is the only way to know him properly.

Alay ages over sixty, in his professional life he worked for a reputed news daily for quite a long time as an art director. Popular among friends and local art lovers, the works of this artist have been exhibited in various galleries of the city. Now let us concentrate on his website exhibition organized by ‘Debovasha’ without paying much attention to other details. About the title of the show one did not need to ponder. The theme of the exhibited art works seems to voluntarily suggest the title ‘Horse’. Barring a very few exceptions most of the horses are done with dry pastel. As a theme, ‘horse’ is widely discussed today. Apart from the vigor of its muscles and the shine of its hide on which the rays of the sun glide down–how can one overlook the compassion in its eyes and the defenseless expression of its appearance. Does the artist seem more drawn to the compassion and defenseless expression of a horse rather than its might and dazzle of its skin?

There is a conventional story in Bengali about a little boy who has mugged up an essay–that was about a cow. Whenever he attempted any essay on any different topic, he used to mention the reference of cow after a few lines. So, if we further continue our discussion about this much-talked-about horse it would sound like an essay on the same. Hope, Alay would not repeat this theme next time–surely, he wouldn’t because changing direction marks his destination. We will keep a close watch on his future endeavour…