Sonorous Bliss

Ratan Saha’s bull is more of a new metaphor, and not the archetypal embodiment of rugged virility.

The bull as we see in real life is ‘real’ with his massive physicality, as if filled with aggressive energy waiting to ‘burst’. However, bull has also been highly regarded as a metaphor signifying the powers of both—creation and destruction. The bull has been found in many ‘avatars’, has been recreated, painted, carved, etched in multitudinous forms in Indian arts across ages. Bulls have also been worshiped. The bull as Nandi, the vahana of Shiva, has stood the testament of time, being sculpted in temples and monuments, where he sits as a guardian deity.

The bull can also be turned into an inward journey of bliss, deep and serene realizations; this appears to be the intent of the images created by Ratan Krishna Saha. Here we can see the bull as an emblem of energy, serenity, grace, sensitivity, bequeathed with certain moral and spiritual powers. The bulls are neither aggressive nor violent, rather evoke feelings of tranquility, calmness and balance, consolidating the real power of the bull. The sculptor thus created a new metaphor for the bull.

The images have a beauty of their own. In a work, the bull appears to be in a contemplative state, with a luminous body blossoming into innumerable flowers. Somewhere the head of the bull is held upward in fervent ecstasy, orbiting a bell with its entire sphere of the corporeal self. One of them has been built with metal bangles, and shows a top-hung pouch in the hump of the bull, bringing to mind the carved arch of a temple window. One has been sculpted with ghungroo brass bells; the inclusion of traditional elements like ornaments as materials gives every work a sonorous, rhythmic texture.

These images offer a blissful visual experience while taking us into a journey to our inner selves.  

Ratan Krishna Saha lives and works in Mumbai. He completed his BFA(sculpture) from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata in 1990 and MFA(sculpture) from M.S. University Baroda. He has had six solo shows, has participated in several group shows in India and abroad and has won prestigious awards including a Gold Medal and a National Academy Award