Artist Brijinder Kaushal talks to Team Viva about how age is no barrier to pursuing your passion
The four-feet portrait of Prince Agha Khan took artist Brijinder Kaushal a good two months to complete. “The size of the portrait was itself a challenge because normally I like to work in tighter frames to maintain uniformity of the most delicate lines and expressions. It took me two attempts to finally pull this one off. I would work on different facial parts in different weeks as the oil took its time to dry,” shares the 60-year-old artist, who will be debuting on Delhi’s art fraternity by exhibiting 35 portraits that he has done over the last two years at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra.
Aks literally means “reflection” and the prime objective of a portrait is to depict a subject exactly as he would come across in flesh and blood while ensuring it is imbued with his essence and personality. Kaushal, who grew up in an artistically-inclined family in Shimla, came to Delhi at age 24 with the predictable rush to earn a living. “As a 24-year-old in Delhi, without any help or support from family and surviving on just Rs 500, the artist in me took a backseat. I had a
mundane job and a humdrum existence but it was my passion for music and painting that made me sail through.”
The 60-year-old artist will exhibit the portraits of iconic personalities like Ustad Ghulam Ali, Vyjayanthimala, Nutan and Prince Aga Khan. Talking about his inspiration, he says, “When I started painting two years ago after my active career was over, it was pure indulgence of my creative spirit and a hobby. One can say that all my portraits initially were for my personal satisfaction as I picked up faces from everyday life. I soon started getting a very positive response from people around me but the biggest challenge was how would a third person get to know that I had successfully matched the features or accomplished my task with perfectionIJ” It was to overcome this doubt that he chose public figures so that anyone could relate to them easily and judge his capability. “Simply explained, a portrait has two pre-dominant essentials. One is the prime focus on the face of the subject and direct eye-eye contact. Combined together, these attributes go a long way in capturing the personality, mood and emotions of a subject and that exactly is the intention of the artist,” he adds.
Kaushal also believes in creating everything from scratch. “I have used heavy body acrylic (water-based) paint on back-stapled, standard stretched canvas. However, I make sure that I do not rely on computer software at any stage. I just use photos provided by clients for reference. Good quality photos will result in the best paintings as I can capture more detail. All portrait paintings are done in the order I receive them. After the clients suggest their desired medium, I start pencilling the subject. Reasonable alterations can be requested for the painting until you are 100 per cent satisfied. The turnaround time depends on how many portraits I am currently working on, but I can typically complete a painting in 20 to 25 days. Colour palette depends on the client choice and the reference picture.”
Over the years, he has painted numerous portraits but it is still his father’s portrait in oil which was his first attempt and his most cherished. “The photograph that I selected as a reference for this portrait was very close to his personality. Therefore, it helped me lay the foundation with a great deal of accuracy. You can notice that the portrait captures even minute details contained in the photograph, like wrinkles and the bifocal lenses.”
He chose to paint his father first because of a sense of guilt that he didn’t spend enough time with him or couldn’t say the final goodbye. “So one day, I decided to pick up a canvas, some oil colours and started his portrait. I wanted to relive my memories with him, his wrinkles, his smile and his eyes. I was scared of forgetting all of this and soon my father’s oil portrait was ready. I realised this was the window of opportunity to delve into something more creative and challenging. You would appreciate that making portraits requires tremendous skill, patience and acumen.”
Kaushal’s obsession with portrait-painting in a world of digital excesses is to preserve memory through emotion and felt experiences rather than keeping a timeline of photo files. Kaushal believes that all five forms of fine arts are very closely knit. If one understands any one form — be it dance, music, poetry, architecture and sculpture — one is bound to appreciate and understand the other four forms.