Conversation with Atul Bhalla, pl follow the link...
Showing posts with label Artist Interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artist Interview. Show all posts
6 Jun 2011
And Quiet Flows the River
9 Nov 2006
Interview with artist SG Vasudev
I met Vasudev at a pre-preview of his exhibition of paintings titled ‘Past Forward’ where he revisits his earlier series. The show kick starts in Bangalore and then moves on to other Indian cities. We discussed his art, his passion for promoting art education in Karnataka and also the hype surrounding investments in contemporary Indian Art. Some excerpts...
Q. What made you decide on this series?
A. I have been planning a major retrospective of my works for some time now. About two years ago, I started collecting my paintings from art collectors, galleries and from my private collection. Looking at them, made me feel, it would be interesting to take a fresh look at them. And, to recreate them now. Remember these paintings are also from the 60s and the 70s. In the present series, I find the forms are more defined and the detailing has also increased.
Q. In general, what inspires you to paint?
A. What I did yesterday inspires me today. And, what I do today will inspire me tomorrow. I draw inspiration from different sources – what I read, books, art, happenings around me, they all influence me.
My earlier series have been inspired by poetry, where the Kalpavriksha became central to many of my paintings. Maithuna (Act of Love) was inspired from romantic poetry, Earthscape is about deforestation and the growing ecological imbalance – how people destroy themselves by destroying nature. Theatre of Life came about seeing villagers watching television through the day.
Q. What is the idea behind the mask like faces?
A. I feel all of us wear a mask before the world. To get to know the person, you need to go behind the mask. Whether it’s newsreaders who wear the same expression on every channel or you, we all present a mask to the rest of the world.
Q. You work with only oils…
A. My style of painting is such that oil suits my temperament. I like to finish a painting from start to finish in one go. And, I need to finish it before the paint dries. I work for about 8-12 hours a day when I start on a series.
Q. Do you plan or sketch your paintings beforehand.
A. No, I don’t sketch for a painting. My drawings are meant to be just that – minimal lines that give an idea about the skill and strength of an artist. My paintings evolve as I paint. I start off with an idea, but I don’t plan out the details. I build upon it as I go along. Sometimes accidental effects in one painting become intentional in the next one.
(More on art investment and education later. Watch out this space...)
Q. What made you decide on this series?
A. I have been planning a major retrospective of my works for some time now. About two years ago, I started collecting my paintings from art collectors, galleries and from my private collection. Looking at them, made me feel, it would be interesting to take a fresh look at them. And, to recreate them now. Remember these paintings are also from the 60s and the 70s. In the present series, I find the forms are more defined and the detailing has also increased.
Q. In general, what inspires you to paint?
A. What I did yesterday inspires me today. And, what I do today will inspire me tomorrow. I draw inspiration from different sources – what I read, books, art, happenings around me, they all influence me.
My earlier series have been inspired by poetry, where the Kalpavriksha became central to many of my paintings. Maithuna (Act of Love) was inspired from romantic poetry, Earthscape is about deforestation and the growing ecological imbalance – how people destroy themselves by destroying nature. Theatre of Life came about seeing villagers watching television through the day.
Q. What is the idea behind the mask like faces?
A. I feel all of us wear a mask before the world. To get to know the person, you need to go behind the mask. Whether it’s newsreaders who wear the same expression on every channel or you, we all present a mask to the rest of the world.
Q. You work with only oils…
A. My style of painting is such that oil suits my temperament. I like to finish a painting from start to finish in one go. And, I need to finish it before the paint dries. I work for about 8-12 hours a day when I start on a series.
Q. Do you plan or sketch your paintings beforehand.
A. No, I don’t sketch for a painting. My drawings are meant to be just that – minimal lines that give an idea about the skill and strength of an artist. My paintings evolve as I paint. I start off with an idea, but I don’t plan out the details. I build upon it as I go along. Sometimes accidental effects in one painting become intentional in the next one.
(More on art investment and education later. Watch out this space...)
2 Nov 2006
Artist Atul Dodiya narrates Sabari's tale
I met Atul Dodiya when he was in Bangalore for the opening of his exhibition. I wrote the following article for the Sunday Times of India, Bangalore. Since, Dodiya is doing well internationally I thought of sharing the write-up.
Titled ‘The wet sleeves of my paper robe (Sabari in her youth: after Nandalal Bose)’, the mixed media works with paper pulp, and print are the outcome of a workshop held in Singapore recently. Inspired by a series that artist Nandalal Bose did on Sabari in the year 1941, Dodiya re-narrates Sabari’s tale. Guided by American artist and paper-maker Richard Hungerford and Japanese master print-maker Eitaro Ogawa, Dodiya came up with the present series. Drawn from the epic Ramayana, the protagonist is Sabari the tribal woman who offered berries to Lord Rama after tasting them. His Sabari is presented in the contemporary context where scatted bones and red-stained shirts describe the epic war as much as they comment on the violence in recent times.
White cotton shirts, synthetic hair and paper-cast flowers are embedded in pulp while some flowers are also covered by gold leaf. Cultural theorist and curator Ranjit Hoskote writes, “ Sabari is given her freedom in this imaginative re-rendering. The archetype of a life premised on anticipation, a figure lost at the edges of the triumphal march of the Lord, she becomes the epicenter of Dodiya’s seismic recasting of the epic. In Dodiya’s account, she talks to the red birds of the forest that is both in her mind and around her; she grows more heads than the one filled with beatific visions of the Divine. She shakes a rain of fruits from a tree as austere as Mondrian; she dances across a river of bones, visits the battlefields of the future where skeletons have formed into large subterranean assemblies.”
Dodiya began his artistic career painting in a photo-realistic manner, however with time his paintings became more contemporary in nature. He feels an artist’s work should provoke and not aim to please. He enjoys working with different cultural contexts and presenting local subjects in a global style.
He firmly believes that every artist has a social responsibility. One cannot paint in an ivory tower. While twenty years ago there was more freedom and viewers were more positive and acceptance was greater. While now, often political parties and ideology plays a role.
How easy it is for a common man to understand art? “Even artists cannot understand modern art at times, let alone the common man. However, those related to art for instance, regular visitors to art exhibitions will find it easier,” explains Dodiya. “But everyone irrespective of their art initiation will have a response – a strong like or dislike!”
Titled ‘The wet sleeves of my paper robe (Sabari in her youth: after Nandalal Bose)’, the mixed media works with paper pulp, and print are the outcome of a workshop held in Singapore recently. Inspired by a series that artist Nandalal Bose did on Sabari in the year 1941, Dodiya re-narrates Sabari’s tale. Guided by American artist and paper-maker Richard Hungerford and Japanese master print-maker Eitaro Ogawa, Dodiya came up with the present series. Drawn from the epic Ramayana, the protagonist is Sabari the tribal woman who offered berries to Lord Rama after tasting them. His Sabari is presented in the contemporary context where scatted bones and red-stained shirts describe the epic war as much as they comment on the violence in recent times.White cotton shirts, synthetic hair and paper-cast flowers are embedded in pulp while some flowers are also covered by gold leaf. Cultural theorist and curator Ranjit Hoskote writes, “ Sabari is given her freedom in this imaginative re-rendering. The archetype of a life premised on anticipation, a figure lost at the edges of the triumphal march of the Lord, she becomes the epicenter of Dodiya’s seismic recasting of the epic. In Dodiya’s account, she talks to the red birds of the forest that is both in her mind and around her; she grows more heads than the one filled with beatific visions of the Divine. She shakes a rain of fruits from a tree as austere as Mondrian; she dances across a river of bones, visits the battlefields of the future where skeletons have formed into large subterranean assemblies.”
Dodiya began his artistic career painting in a photo-realistic manner, however with time his paintings became more contemporary in nature. He feels an artist’s work should provoke and not aim to please. He enjoys working with different cultural contexts and presenting local subjects in a global style.
He firmly believes that every artist has a social responsibility. One cannot paint in an ivory tower. While twenty years ago there was more freedom and viewers were more positive and acceptance was greater. While now, often political parties and ideology plays a role.
How easy it is for a common man to understand art? “Even artists cannot understand modern art at times, let alone the common man. However, those related to art for instance, regular visitors to art exhibitions will find it easier,” explains Dodiya. “But everyone irrespective of their art initiation will have a response – a strong like or dislike!”
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