‘Do not call me an artist, do not call me a social commentator. I am just a politically aware person, who uses paint to tell the story of the world,’ says Chandrashekhar Purandare, the Scotland-based erstwhile Puneite, whose thought-provoking art on pressing social issues goes up on the walls of the Sudarshan gallery, Shaniwar Peth from July 22 to August 5 between 4pm and 8 pm.

Convention and Purandare never saw eye to eye. A trained metallurgist, who studied sociology, did social work, interviewed Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh, rebels in the North East and finally, in 2001 found solace in oil on canvas.

Actually, it was his disillusionment with both engineering and sociology that made Purandare turn to art. ‘‘When 9/11 happened and America attacked Afghanistan, I had a deep urge within me to say something. I chose to ignore words and instead picked up the brush,’’ says Purandare.

Purandare showed his first few paintings to artists in both Scotland and India. ‘’All of them uniformly dismissed my paintings. They said it was not art. They picked up a hundred technical holes in my work. However the social activists and scientists [sic] whom I met , liked my paintings and urged me to carry on. That is how I have stuck to this medium,’’ explains Purandare.

Purandare who went to the United Kingdom in 1995, has been a resident of Perth in Scotland for the last six years. Today several leading British academic publications, some magazines and books use his paintings for their covers. And in 2006 Purandare even exhibited a few paintings at the prestigious Edinburgh Cultural Festival in Scotland. ‘’The festival committee purchased a painting too,’ says Purandare with obvious satisfaction.

It is clear that social pathos and human suffering prompt Purandare to pick up the brush everyday. ‘’Not for me the beautiful landscapes, the pretty flowers and beautiful faces. Human suffering disturbs me and the canvas is my only outlet. I paint, because I feel it is the best way to reach out to the people of the world.’ says Purandare.

Typically, Purandare’s work concentrates on illustrating the miseries of the world like human bondage, exodus of people because of war and famine, racial discrimination, illiteracy and riots. Purandare’s website : www.art-non-deco.com is widely seen and has comments and feedback from all over the world. So moved was a Bolivian artist with Purandare’s work, that she actually gifted him one of her prized works recently.

The unassuming Purandare says, ‘I do not have any fancy notions about myself. I am happy if my paintings can make people pause and think.’

[The Times of India, Pune, July 23, 2007]