Umakant Kanade

Umakant weaves spells with his black and white drawings, accurately observing the power of these colours, their tones, values and moods. Although the subjects appear to be creative landscapes, they are in fact much more. Nature is used beautifully to express the intricacies and complexities of human life, and its evolution. Subjects such as mother and child, survival and evolution are subtly hinted at through the reactions of natural objects like stones, trees and birds with their surroundings. "I have tried to explain a concept through these drawings. When I look at a stone, I think of tolerance, its patience, its strength to be able to bear the storms", he explains. "I think even stones depict sensitivity, and are part of life seeing the colourful world in black and white observing tones, colours, and converting them into black and white is difficult task. There is huge difference between seeing and observing".

Making dead objects speak is his mission. He regards a stone as silent person who speaks if you have the ears to listen to it. Similarly viewed are his series of birds, nests, the struggles these face in today's concrete world, and the love between mother and child. Umakant lives, not sees, the beauty of nature. He has worked as a calligrapher for several years for renowned Indian publishers.