Vrishchik, Year 4. No.2

VRISHCHIK June, 1973 Year : 4

No.2.

Editors: Gulam Sheikh Bhupen Khakhar Address: B/2 ShiraH Apartments, Fatebgunj, Baroda 2. Gujarat-I NOlA. Cover:

"Naga l oka " Drawing by K. RAMANUJAM

A Correction : We frgret the omission of acknowledgement to Times weekly for rt'printing Nilima SheIkh's artlcle'The Exotic and the Ambiguous' in the March, 1973 issue of Vrishchik.

Space donations : Bharat Lindner Pvt. Ltd., Baroda.

Chika Ltd., Bombay.

Mercury Paints and Varnishes Ltd., Bombay.

India Tobacco Company Ltd., Calcutta.

The State Bank of Saurashtra, Bbavnagar.

Lakbia Brothers, Baroda.

We ackn owledge the generous donation of Comet Paints Pv t. Ltd. , Vallabhvidyanagar.

Sundaram.

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VRISHCHIK

rather tban art. However, tbe sbow had its brighter sides, the, majority of artists in tbe show who were active end

massive Protest by arti,(s (which incidontally has entered it. tbird year) bas calculatedly devised a scbeme to break tbe morale of protesting arlists (particularly aimed at the young, who have fewer opportunities to exhibit and sell tbeir works tban their establisbed counterparts) by raising tbe amount of award five time. its original and by offering to acquire all prize-winning exibibits for tbe Akademi>s collection. And, as a furtber strategy, to woo tbose artists wbo are in a double mind whetber or not to participate, the Akademi bas designated Mr. Bartholomew to personally

produced their best during various stages of their career, were

contact the protesting artists as a prestigious spokesman of

here represented by tbeir latest work, which in many

tbe Akademi's bonafide •. It is not clear whetber Mr. Bartholomew, who is overconfident of bis

The m'a in issue in the controversy over the

Wasbing~on

show of painting seems to have been sidestepped by most of the commentators in the daily press. It rrlates to the criterion adopted by the Commissioner for selection.

The fact that tho sbow organised on the occassion of the Twenty fiftb aniversary of India's [ndependance was neither representative of the art scene of the last twenty five .. year nor of today, was evident in the selection of artists

cases was neither their best nor even relevant in the contemporary context, having lost its

friendship with some artists as a sure means of persuasion,

we,aker contemporaries were unable to O1ake the mark, the

is truely a believer in tbe Akademi'. bonafides, though in a curious way be seems to fit into tbe Akademi's echelons by his studied ignorance of the PlOtest and its

disproportion expeotedly invited for tbe show hostile

evolutioD, most of which he ascribes to his absence from

comments from the American press as well as many an

India wben the Protest took pl ace. On bis recent visit to Baroda, when it was pointed out to him that tbe artists would have no objection to participate in an

original liveliness and historical significance. Tbe younger artists, outnumbered by their established counterparts and

younger artist at borne. The latter it seems, felt, that if the Commissiner of tbe above exbibition bad to cboose between a dexterous but Iif.less work of an established artist and a not-too-competent but vitally potential work of a young, he would choose tbe former, displaying his lack of vision <as well as courage) to understand (and promote) the vital changes tbat are taking place in the sensibility of the artist of the seventies. x

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Mr. Richard Bartbolomew, a new entrant to tbe heterogenous coterie of Lalit Kala Akademi's councils,

seems to believe tbat the Akademi bas taken a bold step by assigning a Commissioner-instead of a panel-the job of selecting and awarding prizes in the National exhibition of art. In a letter to Hmdustan Times earlier last month, he welcomed, what he considred to be the first ever choice of an 8rt critic (himself!) as a Commissioner instead of 'a pro¡

Ifessional or ranking artist' (Tbe statement is partially untrue because otber art critics like Mr. Nissim Ezekiel have served as members of the jury, though not as Commissioners.)

Wbat does this mean? Does it imply tbat art critics make better judges of art tban artists?

Tbe Akademi wbicb has neither shown any interest nor inclination to cbange its policies or structure inspite of the

exhibition organised by him for any institution other

tban tbe Lalit Kala Akademi, as for instance tbe Washington sbow he organised for the rCCR--he was confused, because he believed tbat by refusing to participate in the National exhibition, the artists were ruining the prospects of a 'premier art show of India'. Why is he so keen to make tbe National exbibition a premier show? The reasons are deeper than his naive idealism of making the

best of tbe responsibilities entrusted to him . In the presence of a fellow artist, he personally disclosed it to me that be was aspiring to become tbe next secretary of ihe Lalit Kala Akademi. Obviously, an ability to orgdnise 'a good show' is an additional qualification to ensure his choice over other

candidates, if any. The Akademi is happy to give him a free hand in organising the show, because in its opinion, Mr. Bartholomew will serve as a tool to impr ove it's-image

tarnished by tbe widespread criticism of its policies amongst artists, which was also endorsed by the Khosla Committee. Combined with this, Mr. Bartholomew's personal inter.sts, tbe alliance works out to be mutually benificial.

The Akademi's decision of investing in a Commissioner tbe triple authority to select, award and buy tbe exhibits is only defensible in terms of pinning down responsibility upon one person, which in the case of a panel becomes

difficult. But the fact that the disastrous consequences of not defining the qualifications of a Commissioner, having been over looked, speaks for the fore.ight and maturity of the Akademi's executive council! Mr. Bartholomew also disclosed a policy under consideration to make the National exhibition restricted to invitees in a three years time (60 % this year, 75 % the next and 100 % in the third). This policy, if effected, would not only encourage monopoly interests-mostly the 'chosen ones' of the Commissioner (whoever he may be)- but would definitely keep out the young and aspiring artists for whom the National exhibition has been a platform for open contest. And what is the significance of awards given to invitees when botb tbe responsibilities are assigned to the same individual? Moreover, isn't it constitutionally illegal to accept or invite works for exbibition and contest after the closing date of submitting exhibits, without giving a prior public notification?

Rather, wbat is needed is to split tbe National exhibition into two seperate shows or two sections of the same.

In such a case, the former show may be restricted to invitee. who may not contest and the latter may be left open for competition where awards may be given.

Would Mr. Bartholomew and his colleagues in the Akademi, wbo, granted tbat they bave noble intentions of making the Akademi a nucleus for generating and accelerating genuine art activity--inspite of their personal ambitions .. understand the reasons wby the Protest took place at all, instead of indUlging into subversive tactics of defecting tbe protesting artists from their earnest stand? In a country like ours where the patronage of art at commercial level i. centralised in a couple of metropolitan cities and monopolised by a f.w, the opportunities for young artists are horribly poor, making it evident that the price the young artists are payinl by losing yet another opportunity to exbibit, possibly â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ 11 and get award in the National exhibition, i. not small.

This very fact may open the eyes of those who may think that the protesting artists are trouble-shooters. The fight at tbe coat of losing opportunities and possible benefits, is

for a cause-a cause of making the Akademi function better.

If Mr. Bartholomew and his likes in the Akademi may wi.h to make the National exhibition a premier show worthy of its name, the only way is to give adequate representatioD to all the active and genuine, the established and the younl artists of India. Even in Mr. Bartholomew's own estimatioD it can not be a premier show because many of whom he chose to represent contemporary Indian art scene at WashiDltoD are not participating in the National exhioition. What ha. become necessary, which, hopefully both the Akademi aDd the protesting artists should realise is to open a dialogue over tbe is.ues under dispute, so that the long stalemate is resolved.

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Pablo Neruda is dead. The man and the poet who denuded the physical and fundamental human passions-which much of the Anglo-saxon poetry concealed under verious covers-has also laid bare the spirit of man smeared with blood. sweat and smoke.

In 'Toward an Impure Poetry he said: 'Let that be the poetry we search for: A poetry as impure as the clothinl we wear, or our bodies, loup-stained, sailed with our shameful behaviour, our wrinkles and vigil. and dream., observations and prophecies, declarations of 10athiDI aDd love, idyls and beasts, the shocks of encounter, political loyalties, denials and doubt., affirmations and taxes:

-G. S.

ARTISTS ON ART-I

Krishen Khanna

I am a little tired of wbat we call tbe " Aestbetic .. wbicb is anotber word for that wbich titi1ates tbe retina, as if that were tbe only function of painting.

Somewhere along tbe line tbere bas been a radical kind of operation which dislocated painting from its multiple sources and functions. I bave been througb tbi. amputating proc<dure myself, only to discover tbat I became a reduced human being doing my thing wbicb didn't always have anything to do witb otber people'. "tbing ". So I felt a breatb of fresh air reviving me when [ lurned to 'c literary" subjects and themes. Like everyone else in our predicament I too take an interest in what is going on in our society.

The great slogans which are brandished and witb wbicla people are converted, the political matches, tbe downfall of Princes and the establisbing of new rulinll elites, the rise of puny men, tbe corrosiveness of power and tbe declention of the flesb. Wbat exciting times to he living in! And I will not inflict myopia on myself by not looking, as a painter I mean, because tbere is more food bere tban I can possibly digest and each day brings up a fresh disb. Obviously in tbis witches cauldron new brews are stirred up every day even though the number of performers is few-just a bandful of inventive men who are" democratically elected" and deliberate on the destinies of millions. Ofcourse tbey made tbe Ground Rules too. " Democracy" tbe magic word meaning all tbings to all people and each one doing as be pleases. So powerful are tbese people and really so in.piring that in my facination I forget tbat " tbe true spirit of painting is abstract" - pardon me for being weak but I can't seem to prevent tbem from creeping on to ply canvas and making it impure.

Wbat can I say about tbe paintings? Do me tbe kindne .. of looking at tbem - no, no, you don't bave to buy tbem beside. I know tbat you would not be able to live with tbem.

Paintings are after all meant to make your room look nice, to give peace and pleasure to your soul ( you can cut out

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Peace because that belongs to the Province of the top fe~ who are always negotiating it with arsenals in thek,pocke.tS ) and as you so rightly say there is so much depression all .

I around that you really want somethwg more pleasant.--Ever tried whiskeY,--even the adulterated kind? But you could spend a rew minutes on something that has taken me quite long to do . For instance you too could be participating in the Game even though the real participants are busy and don't have any time for you. You could at least try and outstar. the hound who is tbere to keep you away. Or you m'igbt t~¥ and fix one of those tossed up heads on the juggler's body.

It does not matter to my juggler which head you fix on bim, he goes on juggling all the same-just lik.'in rea~ lire! May 'be, if you are lhe kind of person that I think yciu are, you might even develop a kindly fellow feeling tOIVards the persq,nae-you could see the predicament in which they ':le placed and have faitb in the socia l order which they are creating.

Once when these paintings were in a Gallery ( everything in a Gallery is Art and as we all know art is Okay) some Germans came in and said that the nationality of my personae was Russian-then some Frenchmen came and thought that I had painted Germans and the vast majority of Indians thought that I had painted Pakistanis and no doubt if the Pakistanis had seen these painting' (sorry, No Cultural \Agreement, no seeing of my paintings) they would have thought that I had painted brutal Indians. I suppo,e I must be a poor painter in not being more specific. Next time I

shall plant National flags like they do at International • conferences-just tokens to remind people that they must I}0t forget who they really are.

You thought I was going to reveal my paintings through these words-don't ask me to do the ridiculous. I would nOI have painted them if I could have written them.

In Quest of Identity: Art & IndigenlslTI in Post-colonial culture with special reference to contemporary Indian painting )

GEETA KAPUR

t

( This series of articles well be published in a book form when concluded.

It Will be available on an advance payment of RI. 10/-)

,

CHAPTER VII

BHUPEN KHAKHAR

( 1934-

Bhupen Khakhar belongs to a middl e class family of Gujarat who bave practiced small business in Bombay for several generations. Bhupen went to Bombay Universi ty and trained as a chartered accountant. He has continued to practice throughout-though recently on a par t- time ba.i., to support himself as a painter. In Bombay he a.sociated with the local writers and painters and painted .. an amateur himself. At the encouragemcnt of his artist friends he moved to Baroda in 1961 a nd join ed the Fino Art. Faculty of the University of Baroda.

It i. relevant to mention some feature. of the urban G\,jarati cuIture in which Bhupen Khakhar has grown up. Wostern India developed an indigenous mercantile class - and an urban middle class, earlier and by a different process tban other part. of India. In Western India, the new class was not the ex pre â&#x20AC;˘â&#x20AC;˘ product of western education; tbeir identity developed through a different mutation of factors compared to their counterparts in Bengal or Punjab who were .pecificially reared by the British as a bureaucratic Englisheducated middle class, to serve their colonial administration.

In Gujarat there was a greater carry-over of tradition to

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In Baroda where Bhupen has lived for more than a decade there is a region. I coherence typical of Gujarat. .As a provincial city it is always a liUI Ql ujJl1Q\:}he ~ s!iaQQ i') of cosmopolitan Bombay which is close by. But the provincialism is li ghtened in Baroda because of tbe presence

of a la rge university. If there is not the fluent exchange of informati on as in cosmopolitan cities there is the advantage of a certain intellectual concentration; ideas are avidly shared in the university milieu. There is a

considerable Gujarati literary tradition and the Baroda arti sts and writers have been collaborating to bring out little magazines for many years. If there i. some frustration for lack of recognition, there is the advantage that the artists escape being glamourised and assimilated into the big-city sophisticates- the bureaucrats, and executives, the foreign diplomats and the gallery-men who constitute the paltry audience in the cities.

Until 1963 Bhupen's work wa. tentative, largely based on the styles of his Indian contemporaries. He started with variations of Expressionist imagery but there were already certain drawin gs, which anticipated his (naive?) linear

the urban ,euing and this combined in curious ways with stylisation of the followin g years. Then there was almost the new commercial seUing. ( For example, the objects a sudden break in 1963. This was the result of different of con.picuou. consumption of this prosperous middle influences, particularly the influence of a Briti.h painter cia .. were hybrid and gaudy, not imitative and sophisticated who brought the new 'Pop' sensibility to a small circle of after Western tastes and values). The life-style and artists in Baroda. It was through Western Pop Art that aspirations of Bhupen 's faml:lybwl:lleoci1_bgniltu:1I1ltt>~tfO! ni IIllJlajld8q,eglullbt>J l"o&iatJJtno v.i:ril1MJ ~ jJt<Tp~lar culture of - bourgeois as they were indigenou'~ - \frbal1! 51 10 In.m~8q .on m6ia.n. "', .Id"liava .d lIiW II

â&#x20AC;˘

There is an overwhelming manifestation of popular tastes in India; it is visible in the pictures of gods and goddesses, film stars, national leaders; in shop signs, theatres, temples and restaurants; in the manufacture of cheap industrial goods. There in an orgy of visual images that clamber upon each other and seduce their audience with a surreptitious eroticism. The culmination of all this is the Indian film industry which provides a clue to the taste and aspirations of the urban (and increasingly the rural) public.

Bhupen's response to this popular culture was based on certain opposing factors. The inner lanes of Bombay are gutted with its display and his own home environment had absorbed its products - cheap plastic-ware, synthetic textiles, as well as handy, mass-manufactured images of the Indian religious pantheon. But even though he grew up consuming all this, his later education and his milieu of artists would have taught him to deny it as vulgar. All Indians who have educated their aestbetic taste (on Indian or Western stimuli) ridicule the local popular culture or ignore it. Concessions to it arc:; made in terms of amusement or an accidental aestbetic appeal. It seems to me that Bhupen as an artist was persuaded to respond to popular culture only on the assurance of Western Pop Art. And that is the sense in which he is most close to Western Art. Once the prejudices of a cultivated taste were overcome, he responded with a thrilled imagination to what was around him and his subsequent development is surprisingly free of Western influences.

Tn 1963 he began by collecting pictures of gods and goddesses and he cut these up to collages. He linked the collage elements witb careful but eccentric drawing. When the cut-outs were used to make larger paintings, the images looked like effigies of religious villains.

The Rrst sustained pbase beginning in 1965 related to two main sources; the icon-images of wayside temples and

hand-painted shop ligns.

There is a long tradition in India of capturing an elusive

divinity or propitiating a spirit by the act of anointing.

A wall surface, a stone, a tree trunk, or an upturned pot are smeared with red paint to mark tbem as auspicious and an offering of food, flowers. and incen,e are placed before the spot.

This creates, as it were, an ' instant' temple.

At other places images of weil-known deitie, ( Hanuman, Ganesh, Kali) are' sculpted' on a wall su rface, painted and enclosed in wayside alcoves. Tbe hypnotic focusing point of the image are the glass eyes, stuck upon the splattered and vibrant colour-surface. They are the eyes of the 'oumen' that resides in that consecrated spot.

Both in subject-matter and idiom Bhupen'. work of tbis phase is very olose to this traditional source. Tbe iconimages were almost literally recreated,-tbough often made more bizarre.

Greater individual variations took place in those of hi' painting' that combined element, of collage with flourishes of paint in the manner of hand-painted shop signs in the

streets.

These latter paintings were incidentally reminiscent

with an ariel view.

The most consistant practice is to shift

of Rauschenberg although nowhere near as complex and

wbat is behind, to tbe plane above. the picture plane i. higbly

inventive as his.

schematised, laid out in bright, fiat, colour-areas; the

Bhupen evidently derived a good deal of sbeer sensuous plea.ure in re-creating these types of images . But once tbese works were shown in sophisticated galleries of Bombay and Delhi, a social comment began to operate, raising all manner of curious questions. And Bhupen has always been conscious about the indirect sociological aspects of his art; in fact he would like to question tbe sanctity of his .ources; he enjoys the iconoclasm and baits tbe passive taste. of the bourgeois audience with his vulgar paintings.

The second phase in Bhupen's work, beginning in about 1966 i. less directly derivative. Tbese paintings contain very little collage or relief, and laudscap., figures and objects are minutely painted. The images are conceived additively, that is, one figure suggests the other, and this induces the viewer to ' read the picture slowly and care路 fully. But there is no additive meaning. In fact the re is no carefully intended meaning; the intention i. merely to juxtapose the bizarre curiousities of our hybrid culture.

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In these pictures elaborate perspectives are used. With the pictorial aids of garden lay-outs, rows of buildings and courtyard., he makes these perspective displays impressive.

But every liberty is taken with the point of view, i.e., in any one picture may be a combination of the eye level view.

individual figures and objects are distributed in the overall design and although their relative sizes are arbitrary ( generally tiny ) compared to the vast 'landscapes', their placement is meticulous.

The manner of painting, although detailed. i. not refined.

People are painted stiffly, posed as in old photographs.

In fact tbey look like clumsy and amat<urish copies of old photographs. Other objects ( bus, aeroplane, house etc.) are conventionalized into simple pictorial signs in the manner of naive illustrations. All multiple units like bricks, steps, stars or raindropi, are as if counted and painted carefully. But they are painted in a deadpan way; there is no poetry in their repetition as there is for example in the Tndian miniatures. Only tbe leaves of trees and bushes are painted lovingly and with delicate care.

One is tempted to regard this work as naive on the basis of its conception, and maDDer of execution. But there is a double edge: Bhupen is constantly punning on certain types of indigenous naive painting and it i. difficult to define the extent of his own naivete as it sbades into and identifies with the naive sources. One must always remember that his paintings of tbi. phase are not so much about people, objects, and landscapes in India, as about how .11 of these are represented in popular pictorial

The

Gl m~-I

1971

Paintings by Krislien Khanna ( Det.il : Th9 Gam. - l )

The Game-ll

1971

( Detail: The Game-Ii )

Serenade ( 69 11 x 48~ II j June 1973

The Fall (67 " x 92 " ) June 1973

conventions.

And further, tbougb individual elements in

the painting are naive, the over-all 'aesthetic' is very

sopbisticated. The particular kinds of relationship between the source and the pun, between tbe manner of painting details and the complete configuration, makes it incorrect to call his work naive.

I will mention a few sources that have influenced tbis phase of his paintings. An important source is tbe miniatures from Raja.than and the Punjab hills. But he has always been especiallY drawn to tbe late and so-called decadent miniatures as e. g., of the Oudh Scbool and to paintings and illustrations done for the Britisb after the 18tb century wherein both the subject matter and tbe language were completely hybridized . In tbe pictorialisation, naturalistic elements-picked up from prints and sketcb books of the English-were introduced . Amongst newly learnt devices, perspective was the most impressive and it was assiduously displayed by tb. inclusion in the picture of great natural and architectural vistas. The results were sometimes very appealing, usually eccentric and comic.

In the paintings done for the British the su bjects in demand were picturesque representations of nature and life, done again in a semi-naturalistic manner, retaining however, certain aspects of the miniature convention.

Anotber set of important sources are the illustrative paintings of the bazaars ( which can also be traced back to the naturalistic influences of Western painting). There

are two aspects of tbese; the theatrical and what I call, 'iconic'. In every part of the country. mytbological dramas arc enacted out in th e open air, against backdrops of blind-painted 'scenery' suggesting grand illusions of vanishing city streets, buildings, gardens and distant horizons streaked with tbe setting sun. Villagers lIet tbeir photographs taken posing stiflly before such screens. It is the same language of illusion wbich is used witb some variations in newly built temples and in Iestaurant. and theatres. Tben there are the icon-images of gods and goddesses, national leaders and film stars that are oleographed on glossy paper and circulated in thousands. If portraits, they are distant versions of " photograph now gaudily coloured and set in an imaginary

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scenery'

( sometimes several wonders are pot together; 'Motber' India, the Buddha, Mr. Nehru, the Taj Mahal) ; theyare desire images frontal and seductive- and they are to be found on almost every wall space in the urban areas.

A third source he has used is the cheap illustrated maps of Indian holy cities. The map is a compeodium of all the city-sights including the more modern ones like a zoo or a court building, The maps bave little guide value because the spatial relationships in them are almost arbitrarybut the pilgrims take them as souvenirs. The illustiations are naive 10 their representations but cunning in their designs, making fanciful patterns of the roads, rivers, gardens and buildings within a schematised format.

\

Throughout this pbase Bhupen's paintings are deliberately eclectic but it would be correct to say tbat be docs not so much take from tbes. 'ources as he refers to them with a humour and an aesthetic that is entirely his own.

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beings in a strange loneliness. Bhupeo's environments have

a melancholic aspect and they can also have a slightly sordid aspect.

Thos. who are unfamiliar with the mood of the Indian landscape-with its stylisation in the pictorial tradition may tcnd to sec Bhupen's usc of space incorrectly; in terms

The paintings from 1969 begin to be different. There is a greater personalisation of his sources and the deliberately borrowed popular idiom begins to be infused with a strangely melancholic mood. Moreover, the subject

of surrealism, because several of them ( Magritte and De Chirico for example) used tbe device of relating figures to va,t illusionistic landscapes, thereby creating spatial mirages for tbeir fantasies. However any such influence on Bhupen

matter which may seem in the first instance nonsensical,

is peripheral and he is now concerned, in fact, with eliminating all elements of obvious mystification from his paintings.

has more elements of considered parody than before. His use of the indigenous language-still between the miniature and the bazaar styles, now yields both a mood and a content distinct from that wbich these styles serve in the pictorial traditions as luch.

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The.e painting. do suggest rererence to Henri Rousseau .

As in Rousseau there is a touChlOg eagerness in

In tbese paintings one of the major concerns of Bhupen is with pictorial space. He moves away from a two-

his cbaracters ; they are posed rrontally and theyare c1um.y, slightly comic. Like Rousseau there is a remoteness about tbem, emphasized by tbe way tbey are set with

dimensional, diagrammatic space and towards a 'landscape

magical fixity in vaSl and curious landscapes.

space'. But this is by no means naturalistic-the landscape is schematlsed and ornamented. This tendency suggests two indigenous references : tbe actual landscaping of provincial parks ( and the way these are represented by naive artists in pictures and illustrations) and secondly, tbe treatment of Indian landscape in certain schools of miniature painting (especially Kisbangarb and Kangra )

handling of images may also be compared; for example, tbe figures and objects tend to be crudely painted wbile all foliage is painted with precious concern. More importantly the resemblance with Rousseau is in the way technical

where tbe vast aod romantic landscapes capture human

The actual

inexpertness is turned into artistic cunning and felults in

astonishingly beautirul pictures. It must however be remembered that Rousseau was always attempting to paint sophisticatedly, to be envied and admired by the virtuouso

Masters.

Bhupen explo res-and exploits-what he certainly knows to be crude and often' vulgar'. Between parody and naivete, Bhupen's work is obviously self conscious and sometimes contrived ; Rousseau is always magnificently original in his fantastic al vision .

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sustained his indigenous roots, it hal stalled his commercial success. It seems perverse to regard this as a positive factor but one is aware of the ways in which popular demand can force up a spurious originality, and particularl, in his kind of work, which is likely to become fashionably popular.

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Another consequence of Bh upen's being in Baroda is that there .has eme(ged an 1ndigenist pre-:-oCcupation -in T the ~ tudents of, the art college.- This is of,·.course DoL , his- influence alone ;( several of his colleagues· there, have J . influenced this t urn' and IBhupen/ hal'-' been nurtured on ., I t.tl'e se lideas1as well as ; ~eddthem 'l 1.; I' ' . . ' ., ( !.~.

SEQUEL:

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This ",ew pha,e begins by his considering a new place and perspective for the human figure in his paintings. From a position of remoteness in the vast picturesque landscapes

they have become sizable, staring at us from the foreground.

The landscapes are painted with the same concern but have receded to the background.

But it is the attitude toward the figure that makes the difference: Bhupen has increasingly become interested in their type, class and psychological content. He has always parodied the petty-bourgeois culture, but in the earlier paintings one was too conscious of the whim of the artist in the choice and presentation of 'scenes'. We are now made aware of the characters and their life situation;

we are made, uncomfortably familiar with the slightly seedy and pathetic, and yet entirely mundane aspects of their lives. There is still humour, there is also satire, but these are overridden by an amused and intimate sympathy for the style and aSI?iration of the chosen characters, and for their solemn illusions.

These paintings are painted in a manner that is now characteristically Bhupen's own, a convention he has made out of the crudities of his subjects, his own taste, his rather dubious technical skill ( particularly for painting human figures) and his amazing pictorial sense. He is not always successful in carrying off this convention to hi. advantage -then the pictures are much less appealing than his earlier works and distasteful or clumsy to no purpose. (At such times one is remindeol of his stories that deal deliberately but not quite purposefully, nor in literary terms quite successfully, with the sordid and the absurd exploits of petty bourgeois householders). But when he is successful the paintings are both touching and startling for starting from this crude naturalism he arrives at a peculiar combination af wit and pathos. If they make 'one a: little embarrassed of one's sophisticated tastes-just generally embarrassed- that is entirely a part of the intention. It is now that his paintings have acquired a disturbing relevance in .ocial terms-within the pseudomodern culture of urban India.

Kamal Kapur

POEMS "

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tbe sweet pear you gavp . ,to me and said Buck upon the juice witb eyes Ihut suck the very essence of tbil taste the very earth suck you said and J Ibut my eyes and sucked > and found it . . .... sweet

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ressurection of the caducoul in the arbo real your hair on the soap you washed our dream away with this morning: shall i keep it ? i hear you answer

like some leer of some blinding vision not for all you said and I obeyed and sucked with eyes closed

in my flesh and see you smiling in my bones i hold you and in my arms you change to lion serpent eagle water fire and .... ..

you said forevermore

a tree

of life suck in darkness alone you see all you said this sweetness you will see

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in darkness evermore

luck and see the light d",1

love you said a• and shut my eyel and took me to the very earth you took me . .

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and lit a candle, love and .aw my face and I the worms in the heart of the smell and taste of this very earth in

i took your hair and planted it in the earth

three more dream rushes th.o you never came tbe bed beside me still warm tbe imprint of • dream cooling faintly in the day

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when you come in

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only what is dead can be possessed

Ilam the door

the sweet pears you still ,give to me and say .... suck

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do not tiptoe into my dream that i may remind myself you are not there

• • if you bare with me a while the flesh will forget a little madness in the head

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the land thomas roams

beyond

melancholic i stand beside the river • that flows in"shades of red 1 the old man with sterile rivulets upon his face and hands grown gaunt with stretching sits boneath the evergreen tree snapping twigs

far beyond the hills wbere thunder grumble. hi. complaints I'll walk beyond tbe worl4 and men I have loved with a scarlet passion seeing only the flesh denying the air blind men cannot see

from a perfect orifice in his chest a sanguinary .tream flow. into the verdure or the grass while the youth lie. upon tho ground hecoming the artist he never was before the lean bespeckled padre beat. the whore he paid for talking of jesus till tbere remains frozen on her visage a five-fingered russet testimony of her nonconformity the spinster with longings entwined like weeds around a rock beneath tbe sea c. • continues to bleed regularly profusely painting tbe land thomas roam.

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far beyond the hills where the breeze feel. feels the breeze feels without sight yet seeing more I'll walk with eyes clo.ed walk beyond necessity walk beyond myself tbere beyond I'll be beyond my breasts tbat feed all reed desire and fire that witbin them burn. the flesh the fire or flesh beyond tbe fire I'll walk to meet eyeless thunder bodiless ~ be and me grumble tum ble on tbe grass flesble •• see the air blind men cannot see be only love beyond nece.sity be

a footnote we sball alway. love fo~ we love the things we are in we sball always be for tbe things we are in never die

K. Ramanujam, in bis sbort career as an artist, displayed an acute sensibility to respond to an environment close to bim.

His vision, largely uncorrupt of the cliches contemporary Indian art, was clear and singular. In hil late.t drawings bis love for minute details of sculptural embelisbmenls of Soutbern temples (reminiscent of Kanchipuram, Madura etc.,) and their further extensions into South-ea.t Asia with their vast courtyards was manifest. But far from being architectural iIIuSlrations, they were cbarged with a defiant, almost an ungodly wisb to liberate tbe monuments from their earthly moorings, which gave these drawings a qualitative intensity of tempestuous dreams. The temple. swarming with numerous, am all and gigantic figures with outspread wings literally-yet effectivelY-luggested mythical lIights of temple-cbariots in a moment of taking off. We reprint bere tributes to his work by Sbri K.C.S. Panikar and his artisti~ peno n by the Art Reviewer of Indian Express (Madras edition) from it. June 9, issue.

-G.S.

- - - - --Not to be able to do more than one thing 路well can sometimes be an advantage in creative work. It can invell it with an edge, intensity and dimension.

A painter witb this awesomely constricted mental spectrum tends to be a lonely soul, for the world has a trick of beina brusque and impatient with bim, drtving bim deep into bi, own inner self seeking refuge. Ramanujam was cruelly handicapped in many ways. It a,touod, one to think how he bore his cross for 33 years. Like Maugham's Strickland, he clutched his solitary gift of painting like a drowning man a straw. His work already seems to assume a Dew dimension after his deatb, for it is pointed in message and guileless.

K. C. S. PANIKER

K. RAMANUJAM

10 Fear and Fantasy

K. RAMANUJAM, painter, aged 33, died on Monday, June 4. He took ill suddenly in the early hours, he was rushed to the bospital, but in a few hours, he was no more. He was cremated at tbe Triplicane burning gbat tbe next day in Ihe afternoon.

He has not completed two canveses he was working on; in one of tbem he bad sketched a fantastic elepbant tbat raises its trunk in salutation. Tbe last picture be completed was a drawing clouded ominously witb soft black formations, peopled witb strange creatures, and bimself moving strangely in it with tbe body of a dog.

Ramanujam was born, a retarded cbild into tbe fairly ortbodox Iyengar family in Triplicane, Madras. His speech was never distinct and his comprehension unusually tender, vivid, but fearfuBy at odds with tbat of those around him.

He could not cope with school, Bnd had to give in to himself after middle school. Adolescence and manhood . took hold of him, and be turned a puzzle. Of light build, sboulders drooping, be sloucbed along, absorbed all the while in the fantastic working of hi. own mind. Because he had sbown an in terest in drawing, his parents brought bim to tbe Icbool of Arts and Crafts as Egmore, and K.C.S. Paniker, who was the principal at that time, took hiro as a student.

He quickly absorbed the craft of drawing and painting, and began to put out pictures, one after tbe other, in almost continuous stream: each picture a meticulous record of of the "dream" that gently carried him along. Tbey were filled with strange presences, in the form of penguine-like birds, fat snakes, horned head of a bull, and eVery now and then, a clock showing time. He knew wbat these meant because be drew them witb an absolutely certain line, coloured tbem, as in bis early oil paintings, with bold fresh colour. In his execution, right down the minutest detail, tbere never was any doubt or indecision. Such assurance could sometimes overpower. as the last stretch of his black and white drawings show.

At the Arts Scbool, relieved of his domestic circumstances, Ramanujam made efforts, quaintly, to find himself among otber people. He changed his manner of dress-from dhoti to payjama, tasted meat, and could be found .ometimes in the adjacent compound of St. Andrews Church. all alone, teaching himself to smoke.

He began to appear in his pictures-making peace between warring penguins, passing througb clouds on some winged creature, resting in tbe palm of buge anonymou. band.

Always smartly turned out. with a cigarette stuck in bis moutb. In a series of remarkable wash drawings at this time.

Ramanujam spoke of tbe utmost tenderness, tbo wholly unguarded love af a child, in fear and fantasy. He confided in K.C.S. Paniker, wbo leaded bim and stayed close to him.

"The army of muses came in search of me and from this shadow of the tree of sbell I looked on tbem in sadness," "I rested in tbe palm of a band and the creepers gave me shelter," Bod "Their memories beaped on me tier

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yet sweet tbe beloved burden."

Tbes. ideas Ramanujam expressed in bis Tamil to Paniker, who translated them to make titles for his pictures.

He would very often not go home tbose days from tbe Arts Scbool. He would be found sleeping on tb. pavement on several occassions without baving bad anything to eat. He would at times sell his pictures to a fellow student for five rupeel or So: tbe fellow student would paint it over witb plaltic emulsion to do bis own painting.

But Ramanujam's work was getting to be known. Visitors to tbe Arts School would be taken aback by his pictures .

George Bucher, the critic of tbe Arts Council of Great Britain, wben he visited the Art. Scbool, was struck by Ramanujam's work, and picked tbem up immediately to be shown at the Commonwealth Art. Fastival. Wbile yet a student, Ramanujan was awarded national scholarship by the Ministry of Education. He began to .ell and earn.

In 1964 he was finished with the Arts School. But be rejoined bis fellow artists at tbe drtists village in Cbolamandal, and carried on painting. His pictures were shown at the National Exhibition in Delhi, and international exhibitions in Copenhagen, Olso, Vienna aod Eastren European countries. His pictures were acquired by the

State Lalit Kala Akademi, and by a very large number of collectors, botb in India and abroad. He received commissions. One of them, almost a wall-sized mural, the largest be ever did, can be seen at the CODocmara Hotet in

Madras. He was bailed in otber centres of art, like Baroda and Delhi.

But mucb of all tbis be could not make out, bis pictures kept on telling of tbe fearful loneliness.

Ramanujam could hardly be influenced. But for a regard he expressed now and then for Cbagall, it w.s as if tbe other painters were not there. He read almost anything be could get at in Tamil, and drew from sucb SOurces as mytbology, "Chanda marna" stories, palmistry, the sets of Tamil films, and things tbat he would pick up, like sbells, tbe maze of veins of a dead leaf, [0 cast his "dream'", These he used during tbe last two years, to realise "dream" of the mo.t uncommon Iplendour: tbe palace deep under tbe sea lit entirely by the rays of the jewels worn in tbe hair of lbe queens who lived there, luxuriant foliage hanging from the wall. of tbe palace that stood up on long wbite pillars that grew wings and slightly swayed, and otbers.

In these pictures that Ramanujam began to do, tbere began to appear a force that was tbreatening to take bold of him. Tbi s was tbe power of his own craft, his own ability as a pai nter. His skill turned increa.ingly ruthle ... It become harrowing and he was estranged.

Rarnanujam sough t tben to feel life. He spoke off and on about finding a bride. He wisbed there would be someone wbo would help him to. He wanted to cbange completely.

The last drawing tbat he did was a struggle. It had come on suddenly, hopelessly and he did not last.

Pub lished by Gulam Sheikh from B/2 ShiraH Apartments, Fatehgunj, Baroda-2, and printed by A. N. Joglckar 3 - A - Associates, 8- A, laxmi Estate 8ahucbaraji Road. Baroda . â&#x20AC;˘

R. N. 15189/69

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