Gond Paintings: From The Laps Of Nature

Priyanka Rout

Gond Paintings: From The Laps Of Nature

Gond painters allow themselves the opportunity to represent everything their creative imagination conjures, from the attractiveness of a small ant surrounded by thick grass to a magnificent deer with antlers that becomes a blossoming tree with birds perched on it, to horses; flying "as they did in past times."

Tale of a timeless art; Image Source: Me Meraki

The Gond people have a written history stretching back fourteen hundred years, but given that they live in places where Mesolithic rock drawings have been discovered, their ancestors are likely far older. Many of the Gonds' practices are similar to those of their Mesolithic forefathers. One prominent example is the practice of adorning the ceilings of their homes, which may have originated in the cave-dwelling customs of their forefathers.

Tribal art in India is a centuries-old tradition that vividly depicts the life of some of our country's oldest residents. Gond Art – the one-of-a-kind art style of the Gonds, one of Central India's powerful tribes, particularly in Madhya Pradesh – fully defines the spirit of tribal art.

Gond painting, which comes from one of the country's significant tribal populations, is a playful take on lines and colors beautifully drawn by Adivasis from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Bihar. Gond art, influenced by folktales and Gond mythology, was initially created on walls and floors before spreading to other mediums.

Gond comes from the term 'Kond,' meaning 'the green mountain.' Because every Gond painting has a strong, holy link with nature, most Gond paintings center on features of nature — creatures, birds, forests, rivers, and mountains.

The Pardhans launched tales about the Gond people's religious values, religion, and folk mythology. By expanding Gond Paintings to a larger and more prominent platform, it progressively transferred from mud walls and ceilings to other mediums such as canvas. Gond paintings can now be seen everywhere and everywhere. These paintings add to the authenticity of the settings, but they often remind people of the fantastic talent that emerges from the Gond community.

Even if they are not related to the contemporary world, they have a significant effect on the realm of culture and art. Gond painters regard all aspects of nature as sacred, as seen by their depictions of forests, creatures, birds, streams, and hills in these Gond paintings. According to their beliefs, looking at these paintings might bring good luck and fortune; hence, they are fervently carved by Gond people for various events as a mark of respect.

Apart from various natural features, Gond painters get inspiration from local folklore, Gond mythology, and many stories found across the region. They do not limit themselves as painters to making Gond paintings that are an expression of their views and creativity.

Gond art has considerably affected today's painting world by widening its paintings to many topics and even delving into abstract images.

The paintings are constructed using eloquently painted lines and dots and employ brilliant hues such as orange, yellow, blue, and red. These gorgeous paintings are created using natural colors acquired from diverse sources such as flowers, stones, etc. The Gond artists have devised ways to work with many modern mediums and materials over the years. They'd start by making dots and calculating the density of the pictures.

These dots would be joined to form an outside form, and then be colored. Each thing they meet in life is artistically changed as they adapt to the current social setting and environment. Tattoos or minimalistic human and plant forms are seen in the photographs.

Although Gond paintings have been there for millennia, this art style has steadily evolved from the mud walls of the dwellings to canvas and paper. Apart from drawing inspiration from stories and myths, the main topic of these paintings is nature.

Trees have a crucial role in Gond art. Trees are vital for people and animals alike – for wildlife alike – in the summer to shield them from the warmth during the rainy season to shelter them from the rain. Trees supply both sustenance and food.

Paints are often made from natural materials such as charcoal, colored dirt, plant fluids, mud, flowers, leaves, and even cow dung. However, because natural colors are scarce, Gond painters have begun to employ poster colors and canvas to paint on. Because both genres use dots to make the image, Gond paintings resemble aboriginal art from Australia. Different types of dots appear in both art styles. The dots in aboriginal art represent territory and dreaming, but in Gond art, the shamans assume that the fragments of their bodies spread into space to merge with that of the spirits to produce other bodies.

The Gond community's faith is intricately linked to these elements of nature, and by painting them, they bring in good luck and show their gratitude to nature. Famous Gond art is precisely executed utilizing dots and lines that practically merge into each other; these bits and lines combined depict the daily existence of the Gond people and their views about the social, religious, holy, and natural world.

Gond painting has tribal origins that may be traced back to the Mesolithic period when cave painting was an everyday activity and way of life for the people. Gond art replicates the same technique of sketching on floors and walls. Men and women have been decorating the ceilings and walls of their houses for centuries, and it is still performed in many parts of the world. The Gond people practice this custom as well. Gond artwork is also thought to be an offshoot of Dighna or Digna art, which the Gondi people also performed.

Digna art was created for celebrations and auspicious occasions such as marriage, birth, crop sowing, etc. As a result, it is thought that Gond art is a contemporary adaption of Digna art, and the parallels in the religious ideas and practices of both arts might be regarded as an impact on each other.

The voyage of Gond art began in the 1980s when the Pardhan Gonds pioneered this narrative technique of storytelling via Gond paintings. Gond art is also known as Pardhan Gond painting or Pardhan Gond art. Former priests Pardhan Gonds were noted for their exceptional creative abilities and pioneered using many materials and colors such as canvases, acrylic paints, etc.