Anil Kumar Janardhanan

No artist gets his fame or fortune overnight. Like Rome, this comes after years of experience and experiment. An exception to this rule, however, is Anil Kumar Janardhanan. An artist armed only with a primary education in artistic techniques at the local art school led by V.S.Valyathan, he found himself in the limelight following a solo show in 2005 at the Kashi Art Gallery in Kochi and a group show with the Mirchandani Gallery in Mumbai. And he has stayed there ever since.

Renderings of Pakistani qawaali singers fill the air of Anil Kumar Janardhanan’s studio at the May Flower Apartments in Borivali West, Mumbai. Brushes of different sizes dabbed with various hues of violet, blue, red and crimson expectantly wait in front of the large canvas that he is currently working on. “I am not an overnight success story, the one that talks about the guy who transformed himself from rags to riches,” says Anil with a smile in his eyes. “Years of experiments and anonymity paid off finally,” he adds in retrospection.

Anil Kumar Janardhanan’s story is perhaps a unique one in the contemporary Indian art scenario. Born in Varkala, a small village in Kerala, Anil left his home driven by a sense of wanderlust. In mid 1980s as a teenager, Anil came in contact with many artist students in Kerala. He learned a lot from them. But he learned even more from nature. He then went on Bharat Bhavan and then to the Kanoria Art Centre in Ahmedabad. For some time, he tried to live his life in the Cholamandal Artists Village. But, each time something from inside told him that he should move. He travelled so many places in India, all the time painting.

When Anil speaks about his years of development and about his works, he turns philosophical. “I do not know when and where it started, but I think I have always been painting,” he says while internalising the rhythm of the music playing his studio. “I drew inspiration from so many artists and so many unknown people. When I say unknown people, I talk about those who are known to me but are unknown to you. I can draw inspiration even from you. It is a continuous learning process.”

“In 1988, when I reached Bharat Bhavan, I took to learning graphic arts like lithography, etching, etc. I was drawing a lot those days. But in Kanoraia, in the early nineties, I was painting a lot of figurative works with a muscular male as the centre imagery. They were quite violent pictures.” Except for some friends and the ‘unknown’ people, nobody else saw those works. In 1993, Anil returned to Kerala, only to find the wanderlust beckoning him once again. Perhaps, it was providence then that took him to Kodaikanal, the sylvan hill station in Tamil Nadu and Kodai (the mist) covered him with a sense of mystery, which asked him to make it his home.

Untitled ( Landscape), Oil on Canvas

“I and my Italian wife, Simona, had initially decided to live somewhere in Idukki, a high range district in Kerala. Upon reaching there, however, I instinctively developed a total aversion for the place. Next morning, we boarded the first bus and headed for Kodaikanal. I had five canvases with me and the basic idea was to stay and paint in Kodaikanal for a week. Then the magic happened. I fell in love with the place. I made my studio and house there. And I stayed there for 11 long years.”

Anil was completely away from the art scene during this time. He painted the landscapes around him. With their varying beauties, the trees and thickets transformed into mother goddesses in his canvases. He rarely visited friends. Not once did he think of shifting to Mumbai or Delhi. Painting was his only aim, and he never thought of exhibiting them either. “I painted a lot of landscapes. At times, I painted some parts of the earth around me. I was trying to create something out of this nature. Nature was the only point of reference for me. Hence, you see a lot of earth in my early paintings. In Kodaikanal too, I continued this.”

Grassland,Oil on Canvas

Enamoured by nature, Anil was one serious devotee. However, a keen look at the ouvre of Anil’s work will reveal that he has painted a lot of architectural forms too. “That was an interesting phase in my life. I had spent several occasions in Benaras. The architecture of that holy city became an everlasting presence in my imagination. Then I experimented with the Kerala architecture, especially the traditional temple architecture. I did a lot of paintings based on that. I do not feel that I have finished with the architectural paintings. I feel sooner or later I will again bring in architectural imageries in my works.”

This phase in Kodaikanal, says Anil, brought out the artist in him. “I was only working and had little interest in exhibiting my works. I am an artist, nothing more, nothing less,” asserts Anil. “While I genuinely felt at times that nobody is going to see my works, I always my studio to be live to me. I painted everyday. Maybe, I am a slow painter. If I do not like a painting, I redo the whole thing. In one of my journeys, 30 of my works got damaged in rain. But I did not feel bad about it. It had taken its own course, I felt.”

Anil’s recent paintings are filled with the imageries of vegetation. One can see wood and tree in simultaneity. The trees and plants have an animated look, seemingly having created a pantheon of their own. “When we decided to live in Kodai(kanal), we started growing a lot of vegetation around the home and the studio. They became a sublime part of our existence. I painted from them. I did not show my works to anyone and slowly I gained a language that enabled me to communicate effectively with the others.”

Mythology and folklore come surreptitiously together in Anil’s works and give them a link with tradition. Anil feels that he is ‘that’, the one who is the link with nature. Religious symbolism, at times evident in his works, comes out as a part of his existential connectivity. “My religion was decided before my birth and I become part of its continuum with no choice of my own. There is a beauty to this kind of belonging. Religion in India is quite important and its presence strong. I love my religion.”

Untitled ( Landscape), Oil on Canvas

When asked who brought him out from Kodaikanal’s mist, Anil has a ready answer. “I found myself out of Kodaikanal. Initially, I was living in Italy and painting landscapes. Then one day I decided to come to India as if I received an unknown order from somewhere. Once I returned, I found that I could bridge the chasm that had developed between me and the art scene over the last 10-15 years. I later landed up in Mumbai where I attended the opening of an exhibition. There, where I met all those friends whom I had not seen for a decade or more! Then I went to Kochi and the Kashi show happened in October 2005.”

Anil firmly believes that it is not the art boom that has beckoned him or made him stay in India and work. “I have my studios in Kodai and in Italy. Mumbai is a part of my sojourn. I do not think any place is a base for me. Everything can change, anytime. That’s my life. I came to Mumbai for a group show and was planning to go back to Italy. Then friends asked me to come here. I literally threw away my return ticket when I decided to stay here for a while. Today, I am a part of all that is happening around me. Art is only a part of all that. I am a part of you also. I am a rolling stone that does not want to gather any moss.”

(As told to JohnyML)