Curator Prayag Shukla tells Chahak Mittal that even though artist Sachida Nagdev might not be present today, his works will stay alive for years to come
It all started when he was just a nine-year-old child looking at the world’s intricacies and replicating them on his canvas through harmonious colours. Artist Sachida Nagdev’s journey has only revolved around his abstract art.
Curated by Prayag Shukla, Rang Smriti-II: A tribute to Sachida Nagdev exhibits the artist’s signatory artworks that combine elements of abstraction with miniature art in one frame. It showcases over 100 artworks of Nagdev providing us a trajectory of his five-decade-long artistic journey.
Finding inspiration from his childhood days and glowing with vivid colours, oil paintings by the artist reflect a number of landscapes: narrow lanes of Malwa, old houses, ghats of the Kshipra river, sculptures and temples.
Shukla, who was friends with the late artist for a long time, believes that it is a tribute to the artist whose work deserved all the right to be recognised by people. He shares that the idea behind the presentation “was that even though he is no more his ideas and work will stay alive for many more years to come. He was a year older to me but a good friend of mine. We have shared a close relationship and I have always felt that he is a very important artist but his work hasn’t been featured or documented rightly.”
Nagdev was considered synonymous with abstract Indian art, especially with modern art of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
He believes that Nagdev did something really brilliant by using colours of the region he belonged to. “His greens, reds, and blues especially weave magic with their rhythmic patterns and sensitive textural quality.” He calls his works “truly evocative” that speak volumes about the creator and his art. The paintings also document people in their uniforms and traditional colours from Malwa, wearing blue and yellow clothes, bright green Mehendi colour, and red of vermillion.
His painting Kashmiri Woman showcases a woman wearing a black phiran with colourful floral motifs and elements. Another painting titled Niharika showcases a lone temple in the landscape, a woman, and a peacock in the foreground amidst a dark, cloudy and stormy sky painted with all shades of grey and blue.
“He began with being a shagird (disciple) in his early childhood, moving on to creating replicas of the Bharatmata with hand-made kohl and then working on large canvasses. Those canvasses boasted of the changing phenomenon of nature. Hence, his aptitude of using colours at the right places attracted me the most,” says Shukla.
His paintings were not just a replica of what he observed in his childhood, rather a derivation from his travels from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, and Europe to the Middle-East. There are also certain events in history that “shook him to the core” and he brought those feelings out through his paintings. One of the examples is his painting titled Gas Tragedy that brings back the horrors of the 1984 Bhopal Gas Tragedy.
While abstract art is something that brings out the artist’s soul, what does his art say? Shukla answers, “It is open to multiple interpretations and it isn’t about just one thing, rather a whole lot of work that is symbolic to the elements of his real life. Nagdev has been an inspiration and a revelation in itself.”
Nagdev played a key role in establishing the Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal getting the stalwarts of Madhya Pradesh, like SH Raza, back to their home towns and connect with the senior and young contemporaries.
Sharing his vision, Shukla adds, “Works from our generation of artists showcased a selective type of work except for him. His work was something that people could take note of. Also Dhoominal gallery has been collecting his work for a long time now. They always thought an artist who has got something worth must be considered. His family had also kept his work very carefully.”