Miles to go before I sleep...

             Every space and time has its own spatio-temporal realities. The ‘thinking people’ of that definite time and space try to critically map and mediate these realities by various intellectual/creative means and strategies. Assam, a state situated in the eastern corner of the country facing a plethora of challenges particularly in the realm of visual arts, saw this attempt for mapping and mediation in the activities initiated by GAG – “Gauhati Artists’ Guild” founded in the mid seventies of the last century. The challenges were many - first and foremost being the “Survival angst” in a society where newer idioms and modern vocabularies of art found limited acceptance. Besides creating an atmosphere for art awareness and resolving the infrastructural inadequacies of all sorts, transcending the polarities of the rational/intuitive, aestheticism/ materialism both in terms of the ideational/ideological and economical or financial contexts were of immediate concern. (Though these may seem like things of past and almost irrelevant today!). The fate of the artists of that time was like, as aptly been compared by writer artist Bhupendra Narayan Bhattacharya in his editorial in the Silver Jubilee edition of the Chinha, the journal of GAG, that of the protagonists of Marques in “Love at the time of Cholera” who keeps shunting between the banks of “Realism” and “Romanticism” with their eternal dilemma about where to land and why.
 

             It was amidst such challenges and dilemma that, in 11th July of 1976, a meeting was held in the drawing room of Scholar-folklorist Prof. Birendranath Datta, to form an organization which came to be known as GAG. The time was conducive. Artists trained at various art institutions of India had returned with new ideas and thoughts bringing in a new momentum. It is herein worth mentioning that, in Assam, seeds of modernism took root during the late second and the third decade of the last century where prevalent mood was that of romantic expressionism and naturalistic rendering. Few glimmers of Bengal school, pointillist symbolism and surrealistic evocations marked the phase of the subsequent period. But it was during the seventies that saw the entry of a few significant artists marking a departure from the past. With their eclectic mode of representation and holistic vision, they tried to free art from its overbearing romanticism, unilinear trajectory and other lingual and conceptual limitations. Artists like Benu Mishra and Neelpawan Baruah belonging to this group also, came forward to usher new responsibilities in the name of GAG. Under the leadership of Benu Mishra, artists like Late AsuDev, Late Rajen Hazarika, Tapan Bordoloi, Dhruba Deka, Jogendra Nath Seal, Sashi Bordoloi, Noni Borpujari, Jnanen Barkakoti, Biren Sinha, Aminul Haque, Ramesh Ghosh, Sarat Baruah, Prabhat Dutta, Dibakar Choudhury, Sonaram Nath, Girish Bora, Champak Barbara, Pranabendu Bikash Dhar, Bidyapati Sinha, Naren Das, Nava Choudhury, Tridiv Bhattacharya, Bhupendra Narayan Bhattacharya and others came forward to form this organization. Literary figures like Navakanta Baruah, Hiren Bhattacharya, Nilmani Phookan, Tirtha Phukan also joined hands. The aims and objectives were to find a platform, to look for sponsorship and other financial aid alongwith creating a conducive environment to address various issues and problems. In the next year, GAG opened a school with the two yearly art course & curriculum for children and other aspirants. It was also decided to publish an art journal called ‘Chihna’. In 1978, GAG organized its first group exhibition in the premise of North Eastern Hill University of Shillong. Art discussions, seminars, exhibitions along with many other activities became a regular feature. In 1983, they published two albums of art works by eminent artists Asu Dev and Late Rajen Hazarika. In a rented space of GAG, artists would gather, work, discuss their works, argue on issues about art, literature, cinema and other things in life… during the day time they would join in the collective venture of raising funds for GAG by working in various commissioned works, painting Signboard, hoardings, designing book covers and other commercial works and when evening descended, they would go out to the open spaces outside the studio to work. New people came up, once students in the art school of GAG, now they became the responsible members – Deben Dewan, Punam Kalita, Jabeen Rehman, Simanta Jyoti Baruah, Raj Kumar Mazinder, Nikhileswar Baruah, Kishor Kumar Das, Subhash Mahanta, Srikanta Sinha, Abhijit Das, Laishram Surjit Khuman, Mrinal Nayak, Niva Devi, Nilima Thakuria Haque, Lutfa Akhtar, Debananda Ulup, Bikramaditya Choudhury and so many others. People come generation after generation and karwa banta gaya ….
 

           After two decades of “rented” existence, GAG at present has a premise of its own, class room for the art school, studio, seminar space and an office. It has indeed been a long journey, celebrating the Silver Jubilee and the years after. That GAG has played a significant role in the public life of Assam is an undebatable truth. Though GAG does not make very taller claims with regard to intellectual/ideational innovations, one cannot undermine the restless creative/ideological endeavors of GAG. It has indeed a long way, but also in the Frostian sense “have miles to go…..  GAG wants to create and communicate, to reach within and outside, and this exhibition is a humble step in this direction.

MOUSHUMI  KANDALI