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Fusing calligraphy with Devnagri
A CALLIGRAPHER by choice, Swati Calvez-Lall's journey into the artistic realm commenced with commercial advertising. Art earlier meant to her Monet, Manet and Toulouse Lautrec on account of her heavy French influence in Pondicherry. Her desire to further her potential led her to explore the neglected art of calligraphy and she soon mastered the infinite possibilities of the Devanagri script. Swati's raw talent and interest in the fine arts took her to the Ecole Superieure Estienne, Paris, where her Indianness became her strength and she was encouraged to take full advantage of her experiences and culture.
And having worked with reputed publishers like Michel Archimbaut and Francois Da Ross, she has understood the importance of typography which lays emphasis on the structure of the letter and in effect is the essence of the art of beautiful writing.
And so, in her forthcoming exhibition, "When Writing Becomes an Art" to be held at the Galerie Romain Rolland from December 9 to 13, she has attempted to provide an overview of the important periods of the development of the art of writing and a glimpse into the different styles which have sculpted modern day typography, besides trying to trace the history and origin of the Latin and Roman scripts. Also, she provides a gimpse into the Devanagri script and how it is so different from the scripts that originated in Europe.
"I have always been fascinated by the Devanagri script and have researched it intensively," says Swati, who has, over the years, evolved her own style. Her style is a `lipika', a writing which is a synthesis of four existing Indian languages, namely Devanagri, Tamil, Oriya and Bengali, to create an aesthetically pleasing script. "It is imperative to understand that while working on a text, the graphic artist omits the meaning of the text and concentrates primarily on the emotion and the stroke. The total focus is on the letter, the word and the text as a whole."
Swati, who will conduct two workshops on calligraphy writing during the show period in the gallery, says calligraphy is such an exact art that there is no touching up or coming back on the stroke. "So, a lot of practice is required before attempting a final work," she says. "The calligrapher's art needs concentration, poise and calmness of mind. Without any of these, the exercise is futile."
By K. Kannan
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