"The mangoes are a nostalgic reference to my childhood in India, the seeded fields to a desire for order and continuum, and the windows to the multiple iterations (repetition of a sequence) of humanity,” commented artist Kuzana Ogg (née Pandole) whose work has been frequently featured at exhibitions in US and Canada for the last over 15 years.
With her canvases exhibited, published and collected both nationally and internationally, in the first quarter of 2012 her work was featured at LaGrange Art Museum, Georgia, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, Florida, GVG Contemporary, New Mexico and Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, New York, as notes her website KuzanaOgg.com Last year her work was on view at several galleries in New York: Indo-American Arts Council, Queens Museum of Art, Charles B. Wang Center and Aicon Gallery.
An introduction to the artist mentions, "Kuzana was born in Bombay in the early ’70s. Her parents (Ketayun and Adi Pandole) brought her home on the back of their motorcycle. The first years of her life were divided between the ancestral home of her grandfather, surrounded by lush gardens and groves of coconut trees, and the exquisite Worli sea face home of her grandmother. Her earliest memories are of temperate weather, fragrant jasmine blossoms and layers upon layers of color.” Her paternal grandparents were Naju and Dara Pandole, and her maternal grandparents, Zarine and Rustom Khambatta.
Kuzana Ogg (top) and some of her exhibits (clockwise from center left) pohpuht, Asha (from Fravashi series) and Apollo Pier Road
Amongst the different paintings seen on her website is the series titled Fravashi "to honor the spirit that unites all humanity.” As Ogg further explains, "The work is titled with Zoroastrian women’s names and refers to the lives of these imaginary ancestors.” Elaborating on this series, Ogg conveyed in an e-mail to Parsiana, "This work in oil is inspired by memories of my grandmothers and grand aunt, dressing in saris. The mixing of colors and textures, the expert tucking and folding of fabric to create a three dimensional shape from two dimensions is a skill not readily found in today’s western couture. As there is nothing sewn in a sari, each time it is worn, it is a unique event. In Fravashi (if you click on the image on her website, it will open to another page with more paintings on it) you will find imagery of slopers. These are the basic pattern that other garments are fashioned from. As I have more familiarity with western clothing, I have chosen slopers to represent saris in these pieces. These paintings contain a visual history of the passage of time, e.g. darts being let out, waistbands being taken in…”
After her early years in India, Kuzana and her sister Fabiha joined their parents in England where the landscape changed from streets crammed with disorderly traffic and cows to cars neatly parked in rows. Crumbling palatial structures were replaced by tidy brick homes with frilly curtains. Plastic toys took over when those of tin and copper could not be found. Her education was at different boarding schools, Cornwall and Surrey in England, Kodaikanal in south India, and once the family migrated to New York, at Catholic and public schools. In 1995 she graduated from SUNY Purchase and within a short time got married to Wade Ogg and moved to South Korea. During the six years they lived in Kyung Ju, she taught English and learnt Korean before opting to return to US.
"Over the last three years, Kuzana’s oil paintings slowly experienced a transformation from organic images of mangoes to patterned shapes resembling silk saris to geometric urban shapes.” As conveys the artist, "The mysteries of plant life echo the workings of the human body. These processes offer a glimpse into the divine. The titles of these works reflect the enigma of language in general and those foreign to me in particular.”
"Not only does she deserve a prize for ‘best dressed artist during a reception,’ she should also receive the ‘most prolific artist on the planet award’ if there was such a thing,” humorously commented a critic. The recognition she has actually earned over the years is the Frances B. Hook merit scholarship for achievement in drawing in 1992 followed by the SUNY Purchase Feminist studio art award two years later. Having gained exposure at the Scoula Lorenzo di Medici in Florence, The Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies in Minnesota and the Theertha International Artists’ Collective Residency in Sri Lanka, in 2008 Ogg won the Rachel Allen Printmaking Fellowship in New Mexico.
Offering Parsiana readers a 10 percent discount on her paintings, Ogg mentions that she would be "thrilled to make some new Parsi friends” at one of her openings. Initiated as a Zoroastrian in Bombay, she regrets that New Mexico does not have any association for Zoroastrians with whom she can interact.