· Goa: At the forefront of a new art movement with the comforts of urban living and the pleasure of being one with nature

From a sleepy old Portugese outpost in India, Goa's growth into a bustling tourist's paradise is well known worldwide.

Its development into a major art centre of the sub-continent, has, however, escaped public attention.

Not only are newer art galleries coming up all over the coastal state, several well known painters and sculptors from Mumbai, Baroda and Pune have set up base there. With each passing day, the media 'discovers' fresh talent at group shows and various art meets.

"Goa has emerged at the forefront of a new art movement in India," remarks Atanu Sanyal, a Bengali painter from Mumbai who plans to convert his property near Mandova beach into a residence-cum-art gallery. "Goa has taken Calcutta's place as the art capital of the country."

The biggest benefit of shifting to Goa is that even in the capital city of Panaji, property prices are still ridiculously low and artists can enjoy the best of both worlds ­ the comforts of urban living and being one with nature.

Moreover, they have a ready market for their works with foreign tourists flocking the area right round the year.

"We do not have to push hard to sell our paintings and most importantly, nobody is hard up because the cost of living is comparatively much lower than in Mumbai or Calcutta," says Sanyal.

The oil and water colour guru Laxman Pai and master print maker K.S.Vishwambhara have become dominant influ-ences in the Goan art world. Similarly, relative newcomers like D.Harinar and Sadgure Chandvankar have become sought-after signatures among collectors.

But the most visible faces of Goan art continue to be veterans like Francis Newton Souza, Gaitonde and Raza, who are regarded as 'sons of the soil'. To them goes the credit of spearheading the progressive art movement in the forties and effectively internationalizing Indian art.

Art in Goa has moved from the past to be more forward-looking.

Artists are trying to affect the contemporaneous in art with their own ideology and sensi-tivity to modern situations.

Modernism in art came to Goa as late as the seventies with the establishment of institutions like the Kala Academy and the Goa Art College. The latter was modelled on the lines of the prestigious Sir J.J.School of Art in Mumbai.

With the tourism boom, art catered to the demand for souvenirs foreigners took home from a holiday in Goa. Much as this was initially resisted, artists soon began to realize its validity in a market-driven economy and have turned increasingly com-mercial in their approach.

Says an artist, "Nobody is any longer ashamed if his piece is picked up from an emporium or gallery by a foreign tourist. We've got to be practical about how we conduct ourselves. The biggest advantage is that nobody dictates what we should do or not do. Our artistic freedom is protec-ted."

­ Maharaja Features