Veteran artist Amitava Das’ retrospective show at Delhi Art Gallery highlights his early sketches, landscapes and later prominent works. He chats with D Kaushik on how his drawings reflected the social scenario and his inspirations
For a long time, Delhi Art Gallery was in the process of collecting the best of his works and was preparing for a huge show that after a wait is finally open for the art connoisseurs. One of India’s most significant modern artist, Amitava Das’, prominent works that define the phases in the artist’s life are a part of the show. “I revisited my past through this show,” said the artist, who was born in 1947 and studied art at College of Art in Delhi. “The show features works that I did during my college days and it covers a wide range in terms of medium, technique that I have been working on,” added Amitava.
The show is titled Amitava: The Complete Works and features the early sketches, which Amitava prefers to call “drawings”, and further highlights his most important works. Roobina Karode, an art educator, critic and curator pointed out that, “Amitava explored a simple but profound language in his drawings, using a vocabulary of dots, dashes and scribbles and through bare formulations. The evocative power of the visual image appealed to him more than perfecting its form. What we encounter is the pen threading the maze of intersecting lines and blank spaces, and his aimless meandering, jottings and annotations with the drift of a fountain pen or pencil develop a gripping presence.”
The artist commented on his drawings, “These are my early works completed in the late 60s and early 70s. As a student of College of Art I sketched what was required for the curriculum and also practiced on my own. Most of it was paper work as I didn’t have the luxury of a big studio to experiment. I was exposed to the world of art since my school days and most of my works were inspired from my early observations. In those days art reflected the national scenario and was hugely inspired by political movements. There was a lot of extremism and nationalism and there was a lot of violence. So you will find out that those reflections are there in my woks too. It can be referred to as the dark age and you will find lots of black and white. In the mid 70s you will see that I started doing a lot of landscapes. I spent a considerable time of my childhood in Shimla and the images of the mountains and the other scenery was ingrained in my memory. So, I painted the clouds, the rains, winds and other natural elements. I was also influenced by Western and Indian classical music and also poetry and that too showed in my works that followed from the mid 70s.”
In 1975, Amitava briefly took up teaching at the fine arts department in Jamia Milia Islamia University.
The artist who earned acclaim internationally feels it is unfair to divide art into boundaries. “A good work of art should be appreciated irrespective of the place or the person who is doing it,” commented Amitava, who likes the works of some contemporary artists and appreciated the way artists like Anish Kapoor have introduced a new language to art. “There are innovations and experiments happening and revolution has happened in terms of communication and technology. Artists are coming up with good works but I feel that art is permutation and combination of old works. The galleries are opening but most of them are business-oriented and are not opening to promote arts. I feel there should be more platforms to promote art genuinely,” shared Amitava, who still likes to paint everyday, without keeping in mind any particular subject or theme. “I am inspired not only by the surroundings but by the positivity of life. For an artist, his work can never be a complete work, he would always feel like adding something or the other. I intend that viewers should have a direct dialogue with the works. Over time, like everything else, even my work and style has changed- nothing is static but I cannot define my works, they have to be felt,” he concluded.
atch iIJnk 8IJlives. I don’t resent the Internet but I do despair when I find myself enslaved to it. The installation is a manifestation of a digital addiction that I have always wanted to control but never managed to. Being addicted to the Internet is easy because it gives you everything you want, when you want it and you allow it in places so private that soon you don't have any places of solitude. There now exist waterproof phones because a study indicated that women like texting in the shower!”
The exhibition continues at Alliance Francaise till September 4 and will continue at the Shrine Gallery from September 9 till October 5.