months refusing to sell any of the works that he completed during
would in turn unify the whole structure of paint layers while, in
this period, the resultant collection when finally exhibited, was
addition, offer an additional ‘glaze’ of the thin layers of paint that
spectacular, to say the least. The show was titled Golden Orb, and
covers them. Van Eyck, it is now known, often applied such layers
included several of his drawings besides large and very large can-
after his preliminary drawing was done in Indian ink or, occasion-
vases and a few circular disc of fibreglass coated with gold leaves
ally, with brown earth colour. William Etty, as recorded in the
and painted over. Neeraj insisted for a preview in Delhi, before
Oxford Companion to Art, applied a thin coat of umber mixed with
the show was airlifted out of the country, to enable his Indian
copal varnish over his under-paintings in black, white and Indian
admirers to view his latest works, which were, arguably enough,
red to warm them up before the final painting in full colour. In
the best till then. In retrospect this decision of a preview in Delhi
Neeraj’s work we notice a significantly different use of ‘imprimat-
appears to have been a good one as, as the opening day itself, half
ura’. It is a carefully personalized approach in its execution as his
the show got booked and the Aicon Gallery owners had to suspend
art is seldom pre-planned unlike that of the Renaissance Masters.
further sale at this point to enable their American patrons to collect the rest, for when the Golden Orb was shown in New York.
The very first layers of paint his white canvases receive do not have any under-drawing to direct his choice of palette. For this
9.
act he depends entirely on his meditative skill and a trained hand
‘Memories go back and forth’ says Neeraj, ‘it is attachment and
that takes over the intellectual function to interpret what his mind
the association of memory that plays an important role in the cre-
has began to imagine. It is more like the clouds gathering up in
ation of an image. It takes a long time to work on a single im-
the sky to form floating images. In his case the images remain hid-
age. I guess the layers that come become the manifestation of the
den in the depth of his mind and he continues to rub in ‘paints’
inner workings of the subconscious’. A closer understanding of
using hand-rollers of various sizes and shapes, and erasing also
Neeraj’s painting technique is helpful in order to arrive at a bet-
at will whenever necessary depending on his intuitive acumen,
ter appreciation of his art which, as he rightly says, is intricately
while the image germinates and grows within. The first layer of
inter-wired with his own sub-conscious self. His paintings bear a
paint is followed by several more layers, some of which may ad-
truthful representation of what goes on inside the man who created
ditionally offer a textured surface too, and together becomes his
them and this is revealed in the layers of paint that he applies on
middle layer (or imprimatura), which by then emerges with the
his canvases.
germinated idea of what shape his creation in his canvases, will appear to assume.
He, as we have already noted, maintains an unshakable link with the art of the past. He almost entirely devotes his creative energy
He works on several canvases at a time, whenever a new set of
to working with paint applied in carefully constructed layers on
canvases arrives at his studio, he works on each of them whenever
canvases that, to a large extent, mirrors the ‘Imprimatura’ tech-
he feels ready for it and the signal always comes from within.
nique of the Masters of the trade both in India and abroad. Invent-
Each painting of Neeraj Goswami thus bears witness to the con-
ed by the early Flemish and Italian Masters and later perfected
centrated act of meditation taking place within the act of painting
during the Renaissance the ‘imprimatura’, technically speaking,
on the canvas itself, and grows along the same pace of organic de-
involves application of a thin layer of paint on the canvas primed
velopment of the artwork so created. Finally he starts to draw his
in white, that provides the painter with a toned ground to paint
images over his layer of constructed ‘imprimatura’ and finishes
upon. Artists in those days always prepared their under painting
his work with touches of colours. Instead of being pre-meditated
carefully as their art was pre-conceived and often commissioned
his working process reveals a growth-pattern whose point of origin
with specific subject-matter dictated well in advance. The role
assumes equal importance for the viewer to decipher along with
of the ‘imprimatura’ for them was several. It not only provided
the end result.
them with a less absorbent ground but would easily be used as a middle-tone, which shows through the final layers of paint. This 128
Neeraj had adopted this technique for quite some time and it at-