Retro-modern art

1. A selection
from the works of Prodeep Mookerjee;
executed in a glass box overlooking
the shores of the Arabian Gulf
between the spring of 2007
and the fall of 2009
Verse
by Vickram Crishna

2. Edited by Mina Jethmalani
Photographs by Siddharth Mookerjee
Design and Concept - Arun K Jethmalani
Published by Arun K Jethmalani for Imagene.
First Edition 2009. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form
without the prior permission of the Publisher
except in the case of brief quotations embodied
in critical articles and reviews.
Printed in India
B 44/1, East of Kailash,
New Delhi - 110065.
India
Tel : (91) (11) 2683 1325, 2682 2284
www.imagene.com

3. Paintings...
dedicated to Hema,
my 'partner' for
the last four decades.
Thank you
for this journey

4. Dad by Sidd - 2009

5. Such a wild journey
Such a Wild Journey
Slide rules and Poisson curved
Late nights of yarns and dyes and endless weaves
Then only etch of hard black lead on
Fine white card: colourless was all
Neil Diamond sang and Johnny Cash served
Floyd’s animals and Simon’s leaves
That young man wonders his head is still on
With leaps from Bowreah’s cotton to Garware’s wall
Well, it was fun digging into numbers that talk
About money going for cheese and chalk
Now with seven kings, palm islands flower
And my icy dry rasps scour tiles and tower
But I didn’t know then, my mind couldn’t see
My eyes are open now, my heart easy
I had no words, there was no sound
Now language seems my firmest ground
Now my love and pain I relate to well
Each dawn I wake with more to say
I don’t know where this account will close
And it doesn’t matter, as long as I know
There’s no shortage of flavours, no lack of smell
No thought too small, no magic too fey
I guess I’ll keep on following my nose
My footprints tell me where to go
Prodeep
by
Vickram Crishna

6. Cellist
2008, Oil on canvas
67 x 99 cm
Caress, stroke,
Music like smoke,
Hangs in the air,
The perfect note
Resonates, rhymes,
Reverberates, chimes,
Yours and mine,
For a moment in time

7. “.…never heard of the artist, but the painting looks good....”
Neville Tuli, Chairman, Osian's
Piano Player
2008, Oil on canvas
71 x 99 cm

8. On the Edge
2008, Oil on canvas
99 x 149 cm

9. Dawn
2008, Oil on canvas
107 x 138 cm

10. Kali, the Dark Mother
2007, Acrylic and Oil on Paper
36 x 44 cm

11. Night Shift
2008, Oil on canvas
98 x 149 cm

12. Artefact
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
36 x 44 cm

13. Building Blocks
2007, Oil on canvas
46 x 60 cm

14. Mumbai 26/11
2009, Oil on canvas
99 x 148 cm
I saw you, oh my, with your little gun
I saw you, oh yes, and you were having fun
Did it have to be this way?
Lives shattered, blood spilt, night turned to day
Floodlights bright, voices high, all in good faith, you say
One for all, but in the end, we saw, all for none

15. ...."Little prince"....loneliness.......very good work....
Majak, Photographer, Poland
Our Only Home
2009, Oil on canvas
101 x 152 cm

16. Looking Inward
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm
Without looking out of my mind
I know in whose heart I’m real
I don’t need further to look to find
My love, my life - my world

17. The Third Eye
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
47 x 60 cm

18. One spirit, two souls
2008, Oil on canvas
98 x 148 cm

19. Meltdown
2008, Oil on canvas
97 x 145 cm
“ Fantastic ! “
Sula, Artist, England

20. Half of a Yellow Sun
2007, Acrylic and oil on paper
34 x 44 cm

21. Gautam's Crossover
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

22. Yes, I heard you say it, it was so clear
A wish that our hearts would ever be near
You smiled, such bliss, for an eternity like this
Close we stand, life’s weary journey seen here
Bowed but in body, our spirits cannot fear,
You turn for a kiss, I hold you like this
Our sepulchre of steadfast commitment burns sere
The Promise
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
46 x 60 cm

23. Miles to go
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
45 x 58 cm

24. Reaching for Faith
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
47 x 60 cm

25. On the Road
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
35 x 46 cm
O say, did you see
Her, in dawn’s early light?
She fills my soul
And I still taste her salt

26. Toilette
2007, Oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

27. Red Light
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
35 x 45 cm
Off guard
Dark bright
Soft hard
Wrong right

28. Journey’s End
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
47 x 59 cm
I came, I saw, I thought I could be
All that you ever wanted for me
And now I must say
The key to the way
Was always in my mind, really

29. I must admit, it’s perfectly clear
Once you put it to me this way, my dear
Everything you say makes complete sense
I’m Humpty, I’m Dumpty, and I’m off the fence
The Face of Reason
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

30. The Long Thaw
2007, Acrylic and Oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm
O faithless few, who trod through salt
You know the journey’s too long to halt
Why do you trouble me, with questions that pry
For things you already saw in my eye?The winter’s
gone, now gather your skirt
And take to your heels, I’ve gone too far to flirt

31. In search of my muse
2007
Oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

32. While the music played
The world had seemed so far away
But now the vault of heaven grows near
In awesome majesty, the celestial sphere
We Are Stardust 1
2007, Acrylic on canvas
35 x 45 cm

33. Yes, the truth is
It was a lie
The tears I so hopelessly cried
While all along, a stranger inside
We Are Stardust 2
2007, Acrylic on canvas
35 x 45 cm

34. Back to the Beginning
2008, Oil on canvas
97 x 145 cm

35. Not quite the end of things
Nor yet a beginning
Nor even halfway there
You could be someone I once knew
Or wish I did
Why must life be so unreal?
A kind of September
2008, Oil on canvas
99 cm x 149 cm
“A kind of September” remains one of my favorites. I resonate with the
painting where I’m in it... looking through the eyes of my soul so to speak..
Like somehow you have captured my mind, not the mind of the person in the
picture.”
Dr Vijay Kajla, FRCS, Worcester, MA

36. After Us 1
2007, Acrylic on canvas
27 x 38 cm
A new heaven and a new earth
For now the first are gone
Of the terrible freeze yet a dearth
Soon the day will be done

37. After Us 2
2007, Acrylic on canvas
27 x 38 cm
Lies hope six fathoms deep
And still as evermore
Livid virulence above will steep
Exhaust’d miasma sunk well below

38. We are Dancers
2008, Oil on canvas
108 cm x 138 cm

39. An Uncertain Homecoming
2008, Oil on canvas
98 x 149 cm

40. The Kiss
2008, Oil on canvas
98 x 148 cm

41. Mother and Child
2008, Oil on canvas
108 x 138 cm

42. Empty Canvas
2007, Oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm
“ Great feel-moody! “
David Hales, Artist, New York

43. I know who I am, and so do you
It’s in my name, and my soul, and my heart
If ever I return, then don’t ask who
Or when, or why, did I depart
For it’s in you, and in you, and in you that I’m rooted
You’ve always stood firm, in sheerest crystal you’re fluted
I’m nonce by myself, but my heart and my name
And my soul, of course, and there lies the blame
Three Pillars
2007, Oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

44. Freedom Hour
2008, Oil on canvas
108 x 138 cm

45. One for the Road
2008, Oil on canvas
99 x 149 cm

46. Inside, looking out
2008, Oil on canvas
100 x 120 cm

47. The reins of time pull tight
Deep in the shadows of the night
So many memories, missed chances, such pain
Those dear sweet angels I’ll ne’er see again
See them go, watch them leave, turn away
This burden of darkness fills each day
Forgotten Faces
2007, Oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

48. The Selfish Gene
2009, Oil on canvas
99 x 149 cm

49. Inanna
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
48 x 59 cm

50. Neverland
2008,Oil on canvas
78 x 118 cm

51. The Promised Land
2008, Oil on canvas
98 x 148 cm

52. Mira, revisited
2008, Oil on canvas
99 x 149 cm

53. Weather report
2008, Oil on canvas
99 x 119 cm

54. Summer Heat
2009,Oil on canvas
98 x 148 cm

55. Gently veiled, hid once and for all
The lies of old time slowly fade and pall
The winds of reason my thirst do slake
An open eye and lips that take
My senses to heaven, while here on earth
My visions on flat planes come to birth
Metamorphosis
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

56. The First Day of the Rest of her Life
2009, Oil on canvas
78 x 118 cm

57. Soothsayer
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
59 x 74 cm

58. Two Gates
2008,Oil on canvas
108 x 138 cm

59. Now it’s time for me
To settle down and take it easy
You’ll always be too young, that’s the fault
And I’ll never be happy with what you’ve got
Father and Son
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
34 x 45 cm

60. The nightangale’s song, part verse, part prayer,
Trilled of the best, I could ever hope or dare
Filling my ears like a summertime gnat
With little secrets, about this and about that
Bird talk
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

61. Old Friends
2008, Oil on canvas
46 x 59 cm

62. Sanctuary
2007, Acrylic and oil on canvas
35 x 45 cm
Your passionate soul singes my heart
Though you’re far away, we’re never apart
I know your heat, your love, your charm
I know I’ll burn forever without harm

63. Lou Andreas-Salome
2007, Oil on canvas
47 x 59 cm

64. Different Shades
2008, Oil on canvas
98 x 149 cm

65. Partnership
2008, Oil on canvas
99 x 119 cm

66. A Familiar Sadness
2009,Oil on canvas,
70 cm x 100 cm

67. Yearning
2009,Oil on canvas,
70 cm x 100 cm

68. Forbidden Fruit
2009, Oil on canvas,
101 x 152 cm

69. Free of Thought
2009,Oil on canvas
70 x 100 cm
I am here, here I am
I am me, who I am
I am lost
Found I am
Falling into myself

70. ‘Other than Picasso & Souza,
I do not recall seeing an artist
who does not repeat himself.’
Name Witheld
Art Collector