The scene at International Stone Sculpture Symposium

International Stone Sculptors Symposium in Goa

Goa's well known painter Querozito de Souza organized the International Sculptors Symposium at Surla, Goa recently.

It was attended by several sculptors from Germany, Japan, USA, Yugoslavia and India. Harald Thomas, Michael Zwingmann, Miyauchi, Mabuchi, Jesus Morales, Boris, Yamaya, Ravinder Bharadwaj, Wilfred Behre, Sukhjeet Singh and Querozito de Souza.

Goa-World.Net Team introduces these fine artists at work in Amchem Goem.

(Exclusive Pictures & Text: Goa-World.Net Team)
 

click on the thumbnail images for larger ones

Boris from yugaslavia - Harald from Germany - Jesus Moroles from Texas

Mabuchi Hiroshi Japan - Michael from hannover - Miyauchi From japan

Ravinder From ganganagar India - Yamaya fro japan - Querozito Goa India

Wilfried from Germany - sculpotors at work

Sculpting at Surla

The Backwoods, a bird watching centre lodged deep in the forest at Tambdi Surla beside a gurgling rivulet, was at full chirp which mingled with the sound of stone being chieselled by a dozen sculptors recently. The famed international sculptors came to Tambdi Surla, beckoned by Goa's popular painter Querozito de Souza and Ravinder Bharadwaj of Shanti Niketan, for a symposium. where they worked on variegated media.

Speaking about the rare symposium, Querozito de Souza said, "It was a very good camp in the Goan atmosphere and pleasant weather. The sculptors even liked the local granite which inspired them to do good work." He added, "It was a golden opportunity for the local artists and students, particularly given the fact that we don't have any worthy sculptor in Goa and sculpture finds no place in the syllabus of the Goa College of Art."
 

The sculptors worked on variegated media at Tambdi Surla. German Harald Thomas, back in Goa after a lapse of 30 years, sculpted to glory on riverine stones. Harald's chiesel combines sculpture as a natural performance of growth, as in the case of the nine river-stones, which he set in threes. Placing a slab on top, he drilled a hole to allow a bamboo  shoot to emerge through it.
 

Michael Zwingmann, a sculptor-teacher from Germany, took on asphalt and steel, with which he wrought his exquisite piece. Zwingman year-long stint at Shanti Niketan and realised that sculpture of Indian artists has a bearing on social realities.

A profusion of thought patterns, talent, media and style turned the international symposium into a rather complex and intricate sculpting affair, and a thought-provoking experience utterly delightful to the eye.

Wilfried Behre, also from Germany, voyaged on a 'Global Stoneline'. He chieselled the eye out of a granite block "to enable this stone to watch the earth".
 

Sukhjeet Singh from Jammu and Kashmir, who bagged the National Award 2001 of the Lalit Kala Academy, worked on a combo of wood and stone. Ravinder Bharadwaj has been in art direction, murals, portraits, wax and bronze sculpture, photography and the like.

Matsumina Teuyasa, who teaches sculpture at a university in Japan, was getting to the concept of zero, an Indian discovery. Matsumina equated an egg with a zero. Another Japanese sculptur Mianchi Hiroshi believed that  India should prefer their native thing and that every area should retain its own culture even while learning about the western influence.
 

Ravinder Bharadwaj said that his "sculpture is thin from the bottom and the lines burst out on the top like a flower in bloom". He said, "The original stone should not be converted into a totally different thing according to the western trend. The stone is a dead thing in which you breathe life while sculpting, according to the Japanese sculptors. We always say that our art should speak and not the artist as is done in the West."

"The concepted of the symposium, which lasted from November 30 to December 12 and attracted a steady stream of art lovers, was to create awareness of the third form--sculpture. This is just a small start...somewhere," said Querozito de Souza.