BEAUTIFUL SCULPTURES OF GANESH KUMAR SHARMA

                                                                                     

                                         

                                         

                                         

                                           

                                         

                                            

                                                                            

                                      

GANESH KUMAR SHARMA ( Born 1956 ), A SCULPTOR WHO PLAYS MAGIC WITH HIS HAMMER AND CHISEL.

“ Every block of stone has a statue insideit and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”………..Michelangelo

The sleepy border village of Sanoora falls in the Ghagwal block of the Samba district. It is about 10 km from Samba town. The residents of the village used to be either farmers or would join the army. However, with the spread of education, the literacy rate of village Sanoora has reached 87% ( males 94% and females 80 %) . This village has produced Ganesh Kumar Sharma , a leading sculptor of the UT who’s sculptures demonstrate his creativity,manual dexterity and a profound understanding of forms and materials. About himself, Ganesh Sharma has this to say:-

“ I have learnt this art out of sheer personal interest. I am the only member from my family in this field. I belong to a family that has served the nation through our army. My father was in the army and my brother retired as colonel in the army. I did my schooling from a government school in Sanoora village and later joined the degree college at Kathua. I was drawn towards art from my childhood. After finishing my college studies , I enrolled myself as student in Institute of Music And Fine Arts ,Jammu. Starting with watercolour paintings , it was Shri Vidya Ratan Khajuria , the well-known sculptor who moulded my aptitude towards sculpture. He remained my life-long Guru. Amongst other sculptors from Jammu, Shri Ravindra Jamwal is doing excellent work currently. His installation work is quite impressive . I am also impressed by the work of Shri Rajendra Tikoo .When I was about to leave the IMFA ( Jammu ) Shri Rajinder Tikoo another well known sculptor also joined as faculty. I am impressed by the work of Latika Katt of Delhi. Her sculptures bear the profound influence of Auguste Rodin. She has a variety, technique and something to say through her sculptures. Many sculptors in our UT are doing very good work. So many I mean.”

Trained by great sculptor Vidya Ratan Khajurua, Ganesh Kumar Sharma has exhibited his work in many solos held in various cities of the country. Two times Gold Medalist from the USA, Ganesh Sharma has done 24 solo shows of his work in India and abroad and attended about three hundred National-level exhibitions in the UT and various other cities of the country. Not only Lalit Kala Akademi, his work is in possession of many galleries, hotels, corporate offices and private individuals in India and abroad. He adds this:-

“ Presently, I live in Hiranagar town .I receive many invitations to join overseas exhibitions but I am constrained to decline all as I can’t travel much. Through some divine intervention only, I survived from a major road accident in 1991. It kept me confined to bed for 2 years. I was operated 19 times but in the hospital also , I didn’t give up my passion for art. I wanted to get up as early as possible and resume my creative work. Covid 19 opened the online platform for exhibitions. I have been joining many national and international online exhibitions. I don’t remember the number of online exhibitions wherein I participated . God has been kind that way .”

Some Awards conferred upon him could be listed as under:-

(1) J&K State Government Award and Gold Medal on Republic Day in 2006.

 
(2) National Award received from the then PM Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998.

 
(3) Best Artist Award’ ( online participation ) by the Egyptian International Foundation for Fine Arts.

(4) Awarded In the prestigious Virtual International Exhibition ‘Homage to Venezuela’( online participation ) organised by ‘Escuela International Arte de America’.

(5) OSCAR, a magazine for Arab and International Literature and Arts declared Ganesh Sharma as one of the 100 most creative personalities of the world for the year 2023.

(6) International Picasso Fine Arts Award (online participation ) organised by Oxford University jointly with two other universities.

(7) Awarded by Arnay Palma International Academy of Arts And Literature, Hungary for participation ( online ).

(8) Broadway Award by J&K Academy of Art ,Culture And Languages .

(9) Award in All India Exhibition organised by Academy Of Fine Arts , Amritsar , Punjab .

From the long list , I have mentioned only 9 awards . Through online exhibitions post Covid 19 epidemic , many awards and a global recognition has come his way.

UNIQUE SCULPTURES OF GANESH SHARMA

Art, in all its forms, has the incredible power to inspire, provoke thought, and evoke emotions .Sculpture, with its three-dimensional nature, takes this experience to another level. It engages our senses, inviting us to explore its contours, textures, and forms. Sculptures remind us of the importance of tangible objects and the beauty of physicality. Through their presence, sculptures enrich our surroundings, infusing them with aesthetic pleasure and cultural significance. Whether created in traditional or contemporary styles, they serve as timeless markers of human creativity and expression.
 

I saw Ganesh Sharma’s sculptures recently . He must have made about 650 sculptures till now using Devar stone ( from Kashmir ) , granite , marble ( black and white ), terracotta and wood ( Deodar and Sheesham ). He has also created some masterpieces on drifted wood. He uses the elements of art to create an effect and convey his intent. These sculptures are based on principles of art and design like balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, rhythm, and unity/variety. I could see some of his sculptures representing human torso ( male and female ) or faces that convey a special type of originality that captures the imagination . His sculptures reflect perfection in carving, assembling, modeling, and casting. In his female faces or forms done in abstract format , he chisels and polishes aesthetic sensuousness .These sculptures have the power to create a mood , convey a story .Ganesh Sharma knows well the art of depicting things by focusing on geometrical forms and reducing the recognizable characteristics of his subjects by experimenting with space and form .This is how he represents the broad possibilities of art. Influence of V R Khajuria is starkly visible in Ganesh Sharma’s work. In his simplicity and humbleness , Ganesh Sharma doesn’t know how profound and delightfully creative sculptures he creates that could compete with any front line sculptor on the national scene .

About Ganesh Sharma’s work , noted artist and critic , Dr Alka Chadha Haraplani writes this:-

“ Ganesh simplifies shapes in his sculptures to their elemental form and brings out the essence of things with his nuances of hammer and chisel. Be it human torso , face ,family , bird or biographic form , all are chipped , scrapped , carved, drilled ,polished , filed and forged as a combination of curvi-linear lines –enigmatic , gestural and symbolic. There is a magical play of positive and negative space in his sculptures. One can see the way in which wood is burnt at different places to bring out tonal gradations .The armature for support , tautness and compressions, chiseling and then the stone cutting machine – all contribute in becoming a modeling tool for his movement of lines and highly polished and finished surface of his sculptures .”

( Avtar Mota )

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