Gond art is counted among one of the most popular tribal painting art or folk art in which subjects are derived from raw nature. These artists belongs Gond tribe which is dominant in Madhya Pradesh state. These paintings are of Pradhan Gonds and popularly done in Gond dominant regions in south-eastern part of state in which most of the popular tiger reserves are located. As they spend their life in forests areas thus the nature, wild animals, trees, birds etc are the main subjects of these painting art. During tour of Madhya Pradesh, we can easily find Gond art painting works are many hotels, resorts, museums, cultural centers etc. During visit of tiger safari destinations like Kanha national park, Bandhavgarh national park, Pench national park etc. such paintings are widely displayed in resort front-office area, rooms, lobby, restaurants, souvenir shops etc. Due to its popularity and tourists sympathy towards these artists, now a days it is also a profitable business for many people. They buy these paintins from Gond artists, add there service charge and sell it through souvenir shops, online websites etc. at very high rate, generating healthy profits. Due to this business, it has gained more popularity in our society. Any many luxury wildlife resorts, artists are specially invited to give live painting show to tourists thus they can also experience of such masterpieces by master artists and can appreciate there art. At state government level, this art is well show-cased at museums, exhibition halls, phamplets, booklets.
Gond painting is a part of Gond art. Current paintings are derived from Digna and Bhittichitra. Digna was a traditions geometric pattern dran on floors and walls of tradition houses, often seen during social events like wedding, post harvest festivals etc. Bhittichitra is mostly painted on wals of houses whose main subjects are animals, trees, plants. Gond painting suddenly becomes more popular and even promoted in society since the inception of social media websites. Till 1990, Gond painting was not so popular in our society. As Gonds were tribal people thus they were living slightly away from main stream society, close to forest areas thus they were more close to nature and there natural observations are reflected in painting art. Earlier Pradhan gond use to do sing traditional prayers in social events like during Diwali, Dussehra festival and use to cover many villages of nearby areas. They use string instrument call Bana. There traditional prayer contains a stories and dieties. If we get chance to meet any gond artist and talk about his/her painting, we will notice that each painting contains a story or we can say a traditional story is reflected in the form of painting work. In these paintings, we can notice that some colors are frequently used like red, green, blue, yellow, white etc. Apart from nature, these artists also pick themes from Hindu epics like Puranas, lord Krishna's life moments, village life, music artists, aquatic life etc.
Gond artists are from Gond tribe. Pradhan Gonds are basically a brance of Gond tribe in which their primary duty was to sing floklores to call there gods or presuade them to wake up, during festivals and social events. Slowly these Pradhan Gonds induldge in to painting part and started doing it in there house walls, wedding houses, community halls etc. This is how art is transformed. Earlier paintings art was limited to there villages, houses etc. Outer world was unaware of it and not recognized it as an art by an artists. In year 1980, Mr. J Swaminathan was the director of Bharat Bhavan Museum at Bhopal city of Madhya Pradesh. He conceptualized a plan to exhibit urban art and tribal art in museum which will reflect the true culture of state thus they were in search of tribal artists. This search took them to Dindore district which as hub of tribal culture in which Gond and Baiga tribes were in prominence. Here they found exceptionally good gond artist Mr. Jangrah Singh Shyam called Pradhan Gond artist. Till that time, gond artists were doing paintings on walls and floors but here they get chance to exhibit there art on canvas and paper. This introduced there art to popular urban society and media. From here the gond painting was on path of popularity. This name and fame attracted the existing and new generation to carry forward it as a profession. This popularity derived handsome earning to artists and it becomes a motivations factor to encourage more people into this art. Now a days, if we visit Patangarh village at Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh, we will notice that art is flourishing at every home and new generation is busy with refining there artistic skills. Some other popular artists are like Bhajju Shyam, Nankusia Shyam, Sukhnandi Vyam, Gangaram Vyam, Bharti Shyam, Ram Singh Urveti, Durgesh Maravi, Ajay Kumar Urveti etc. Patangarh village can be reached easily while driving from Jabalpur to Amarkantak. One can take short break and get best exposure to this art and artists.
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