New Delhi, Sep 25 (Inditop.com) Memories of the sweeping wilderness of Africa seep through the works of urban designer-cum-artist Antonio E’Costa, who spent a better part of his life in Kenya.
His recent solo exhibition in the capital, “Vistas”, at the Gallery Art Motif in Ladosarai, was inspired by nature. The dozen or so oil and mixed media compositions on canvas were about nature and its “boundless barren stretches” executed with a touch of abstraction and graphical representation of reality.
A composition on paper measuring 56 cm X 76 cm, “Primordial Forest”, harks back to the wild continent – the jungles on the fringes of Kenya, the game parks, wildlife and the ethnic lifestyles.
Painted in a rather scattered palette of yellow ochre, green, white, hints of red and tones of blue, the composition conveys a forest in late summer when the leaves are scorched yellow by the fierce sun, bulk of the trees are bare and the wildlife is on the run in search of fresh water holes. It is the season of migration.
“I had painted prolifically in Kenya,” E’Costa told Inditop. The artist is now settled in Goa.
He says his love for nature – most of the works are inspired by nature – stems from his extensive journeys in Africa. “It offers very dramatic vistas,” he said.
E’Costa’s drawings are his reflections on nature. “The vast storehouse of events and actualities that are invested in the sky, water and the earth worlds, the way they have shaped and reshaped themselves into a composite whole – baffling and astonishing in its wealth of presences- never cease to fascinate me. Every experience in a new place, including Africa, resulted in emotional and intellectual displacement, leading to my complete absorption of the place and environs,” the artist said.
Now, the artist tries to balance between Goa and Africa, both of which have wide vistas, on his canvases.
