Printmaking as a medium of expression has already gained an immense popularity. With the advent of Modern Art it assumed an independent status with in exhaustive experimentation and exploration of its medium. There are artists who have chosen printmaking as a sole medium of expression dedicating their entire energy in this medium alone. With the coming of computers the printmaking medium has seen a further extension creating digitally enhanced prints. Querozito De Souza is one of the artist from Goa who has been consistently working in printmaking medium maintaining a purist approach. Though he has an access to computer he has so far refrained him self from the use of computer simulated prints, there by working mainly in Lithographic process. It is actually the close participation & the physical interaction which is involved in the process of printmaking that he enjoys most and hence prefers working with it.
Querozito’s present works exhibited at Alliance Francaise are in continuation with his previous preoccupation with symbolic representation of creative energy. For quite some time he has been working with phallic images.
The very ancient and potent symbol of the act of creation invented by Indian mind is ‘Shiva Linga’ symbolically representing the union of Purusha and Prakriti. Though this symbol I centuries old, the very fact that the artist even of contemporary times using it in their works emphatically suggests its universality & timelessness.
The need to give a visual and tangible form to an abstract force or energy is as old as man’s awareness of the existence of these forces. Even Querozito’s obsession is the same- the visual representation of creative energy, the act of creation. ‘HERE, THERE, EVERYWHERE’ the title of this exhibition is connotatively an apt presentation of his ideas. Through his works he embodies in pictorial form the procreative energy. ‘Procreation’, ‘Bearer’, ‘The Base of Existence’, ‘The Act’, ‘Resurgence’, ‘The Transcendent’ are the titles of works which amply provide scope to derive meaning out of given visual images.
His works are the representation of the act of union of opposites conceptually and visually. Conceptually it is the union of cosmic forces ‘Purusha and Prakriti’, its visual representation is done through the juxtaposition of animate and inanimate forms such as Linga and snake, Linga & fish, Linga and bulls head or for that matter even linga and flowers. The oppositeness is enhanced by way of contrasting dark and light shades. The concept of germination & eroticism are paralleled in his work.
The bulls head, snake & fish are the recurring motifs in his works. The bulls head represents symbolically the strength & virility of masculine nature as against the feminine quality of restlessness. The soft, tender, undulating body of a fish making rhythmic movements suggests the feminine nature. The symbolism of fish is steeped in myth. It implies regeneration & a new cycle of evolution. The symbolism of fish or fishes connects not to a male deity but to the primal mother whose manifestation is water. It is one of the theriomorphic images. It is both pagan and Christian and ultimately feminine in nature. The two fishes together in opposite direction mythically symbolize one of them as a great fertility goddess & the other her son. She is devouring and destructive & lascivious; the primordial world of instinct. He is the redeemer, the Christ. Interestingly in his print ‘The base of existence’ one sees the overlapping of two fishes, a linga, moon, submerged in water.
The bulls head, snake & fish are the recurring motifs in his works. The bulls head represents symbolically the strength & virility of masculine nature as against the feminine quality of restlessness. The soft, tender, undulating body of a fish making rhythmic movements suggests the feminine nature. The symbolism of fish is steeped in myth. It implies regeneration & a new cycle of evolution. The symbolism of fish or fishes connects not to a male deity but to the primal mother whose manifestation is water. It is one of the theriomorphic images. It is both pagan and Christian and ultimately feminine in nature. The two fishes together in opposite direction mythically symbolize one of them as a great fertility goddess & the other her son. She is devouring and destructive & lascivious; the primordial world of instinct. He is the redeemer, the Christ. Interestingly in his print ‘The base of existence’ one sees the overlapping of two fishes, a linga, moon, submerged in water.
He also touches upon the metaphysical concept of ‘Bindu’ the emergence of the universe from a point. Querozito touches upon this concept as it is again related to the act of creation though there is a difference. Here the cosmic creation is from a single point & not from the union of opposites. His print titled ‘Bindu’ represents the emergence of energy from a source giving rise to an abstract form.
Querozito’s work are riddles to be unfolded for meanings from the obvious to the subtle or hidden.