Monthly column on the arts

One of today's buzz-words in art is 'fusion' - the bringing together of two or more very different traditions to create something that draws from both but is neither. In music, jazz and classical music have often formed alliances - the use of the sitar has been popular with composers ranging from classical composer John Mayer to the Beatles.

Dance often draws upon very diverse national styles, British Black writers have fused their home culture with Britain's to create a distinctive new genre, and in popular dance music 'British Asian' is a technical term for a movement that draws from both sources.

Having worked mainly with British South Asian Christians for the past year or two, it's Asian fusion I'm most familiar with. South Asian Concern, for example, has produced an attractive worship CD in aid of three Third World health charities. Celebrating Together brings together East and West in a rich mix of cultures that's both musically engaging and also says something about the global gospel. You can buy it for a donation (£5 suggested) from SAC, 50 Grove Road, Sutton, Surrey SM1 1BT.

A touch of class

It was fusion art that took me in early October to London's Nehru Centre, where Indian artist Ramesh Darji was exhibiting his paintings for a week. His title, 'A Fusion of East and West', aptly describes his current work. He became a painter after working in graphic design and film, and his early work was done in the hot arid country of Rajasthan.

Several paintings from that period were included in the exhibition. I'd seen them in reproduction, but it was only when looking at the objects themselves I was able to appreciate the technique that made him famous in India. The strongly Indian themes were inked in meticulous cross-hatching, using a steel nib whose scraping is almost audible as you look at the work. To this he added areas of subtle colour, achieving an unusually smooth texture with chalk pastel. Touches of gold, highlighted by the heavily textured surface of the paper, complete a style that was unique at the time, became much imitated, and was christened by Ramesh 'A Touch of Class'. Don't be put off by the naff title, these are strong works.

Going Dutch

In 1989 Ramesh moved to Holland, having married a Dutch wife. Now the colourful landscape and culture of Holland inspired him to shift from primarily black-and-white to colour. His work from that period shows many influences from Western art, particularly cubism. There are images in his early Dutch paintings that derive literally from Picasso and Matisse. Ramesh denies any conscious influence, and I believe him, but it must have been very difficult to avoid being unconsciously influenced by painters whose work is 20th-century icons. Fusion art it was not, but already there were interesting departures: for example some striking pictures of horses (Ramesh's lifelong love) begin to push at the boundaries of what in the early Dutch paintings sometimes seems a restrictive style.

Fusion

The exhibition included several current works (Ramesh now lives in England), and it is in these that real fusion appears. The classical Indian beauties that populate his early work are now neither Indian nor Western, though you can identify elements of both: a bangle here, a Western hairstyle there, an Indian palace hinted at in the background. The paintings have soft-edged expanses of rich colour, achieved by sponge and roller, though he deliberately prepares the canvas with a very rough texture that adds movement and vibrancy to the colour. The cubist influences have long gone.

Ramesh became a Christian as a teenager, and sees his art very much as an expression of his faith. 'Only through the five senses can you recognise God,' he says. 'People have asked me why my paintings have such peace and colour and joyfulness. I couldn't understand it myself at first. Then I heard within myself a voice saying: Where do you find joy? In the presence of God. That's what my paintings are about.'

In some of his work Ramesh espouses a literalism that might be seen to detract from the broad unspecified impact of the paintings: a symbolic dove, a title that tells you more than you need to know. Some of the Dutch paintings are almost cartoons: 'High Flyer' shows a sharp spike below the heedless figure, warning that those who soar also have to land. It's a use of intellectual images that for me was not entirely convincing. These paintings communicate best at the level of colour and joy: Ramesh considers them expositions of the fruit of the Spirit, and I can see his point. They don't need symbolic footnotes.

These are individual paintings: not everybody will like them. Technically assured, and very thought-through, they really do achieve a meaningful fusion of national styles. In my opinion they leave quite a few questions unanswered (how much baggage comes across when you harness the artistic style of another faith, for example). But as examples of what fusion can do, and as paintings in their own right, they are a most satisfying display.

Profusion of styles

A touch of class

Going Dutch

Fusion

David Porter

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