Checking out the changing hues at the Camlin show

Almost all of us artists from the ‘60’s and ‘70’s knew only Camlin art materials and used them in our art. They were on a par with the rare international brands like Windsor and Newton, Pelican, and Staedtler, and we used them because they were far more affordable.

Over the years, their quality and range improved and Camlin soon became the constant companion to students, painters, architects, interior designers, textile designers, artists, etchers, photographers, calligraphists, silk screen printers and the printing industry. Camlin had no competition in its price range.

Camlin is holding a mega show of rare paintings from the 1960s till date, titled ‘The Camlin Collection: Colours Changing Hue’, at the Jehangir Art Gallery, and which began on June 10. Here, art lovers and collectors can view the works of classical masters like AA Almelkar, PA Dhond, Bikash Bhattarcharya, Baburao Sadwelkar, Prafulla Dahanukar to contemporaries like Sanjay Bhattacharya, Shamshad Hussain, K Laxman Goud, Rameshwar Broota, Nilesh Pawar, Deepak Sonar, Ravi Mandlik, Charan Sharma, Aniket Khupse, among 72 others.

Says Aditi Dandekar, brand manager and daughter of chairman Subhash Dandekar, “This is the first time Camlin is showcasing its works. The collection of paintings which Camlin has today was never collected for making a profit. These works were given by the artists for the support Camlin has given them to turn their passion into a profession.”

Some of these paintings are from a recently concluded Camlin camp held at Hong Kong and Macau, where Charan Sharma, Ravi Mandlik and a few others had participated.

This presentation does not have a continuous thematic thread. Instead, the exhibition takes you on a passage through myriad ideas alive in oil, watercolour, acrylic colours, and mixed media on canvases that vow to indelibly imprint themselves on your memory.

Well-known painter Prafulla Dahanukar said he has been associated with Camlin since the 1960’s. “Their quality is outstanding and they are the pioneers in India in art materials. I particularly like their Camlin green (oil), it is very rare. Students have benefited immensely from these products. I have had a long association with the Dandekar family. Their products, especially acrylic, are of international standard.”

Contemporary abstract painter Ravi Mandlik only uses acrylic in his paintings. “My paintings are about divine power using geometrical basic forms and texture,” he says.

Worth looking out for are PA Dhond’s 1980 watercolour on paper, Baburao Sadwelkar’s 1985 oil on canvas, Prafulla Dahanukar’s 1967 oil on canvas, and contemporary painter Sanjay Kumar’s oil on canvas. The other paintings from the 72 are worth a look too. The bond between Camlin and innumerable artists continues. After all, we’d walk a mile for a camel (the symbol of Camlin).