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MOA: Sachin, tell us about you new exhibition – Connexions.
Sachin Karne: Usually I work on projects…They are not very well decided when I start working. But in the course of my work it becomes a series or a project. And for this work I was contemplating an image of Buddha…Bamiyan Buddha. I was waiting for the things to happen. Then I happened to go for an artists' camp to Ladakh.
The barren landscape and the people made me sit and think. I also thought that this was a similar landscape, which flows into Afghanistan also. I was also contemplating to bring landscape into my works. I had a feeling that my works were becoming little flat. I wanted to bring this passive kind of space into paintings and that triggered the whole thing...And I started working on this series.
MOA: But the destruction of Bamiyan Buddha happened six years back. Were you planning to work on this series for a long time or was it there, just at the back of your mind?
SK: It was there in my mind. But soon after, in 2002, there were riots in Gujarat. Those images remained in me for sometime. It was painful. Then I thought, let me look at something positive. Bamiyan actually started with a negative note and ended with Buddha as a positive energy.
MOA: Have you ever visited these sites?
SK: No. But I was reading about this site in the newspapers. There were plans to reconstruct these statues. So I thought I will also put a little effort to reconstruct these episodes through my paintings.
MOA: You said you have brought landscape back into your paintings. But one also notices that you have used certain objects as icons repeatedly in your paintings.
SK: I try to portray multiple realities through my works. It seems that I am stuck with that. I just paint one image and say this is it. I want to paint or weave as many images into my painting and I feel that it helps me to take the viewer away from the story. That’s how the landscape and the oil drums and many elements come in to my painting.
I am talking about Buddha, the landscape… the stark landscape and unfortunately we are responsible for the starkness we see. That’s how the tree comes into my painting. The tree-guards are also icons you can see in my paintings. These tree-guards are made up of old oil barrels and the reason for them to be there is to protect the trees, but ironically they (trees) are not there.
The icons I use are like pieces of a puzzle I have created for myself. I get lost in this puzzle at times. The antlers…When I was drawing trees I thought some branches resembled antlers and that’s how the deer element crept in my paintings. I am generally talking about the sins people have committed…Buddha has been brought down; the trees have been brought down.
MOA: Are you trying to make any political statement here?
SK: No. I am just playing the role of an observer. I am just trying to reflect certain thoughts. I am not saying this is right or that is wrong. I want to put multiple realities in front of the viewers.
But at times when you want to express your opinion on a particular issue I have to take sides. I can’t help it. But I try to be as neutral as possible.
MOA: You have used only a limited palette for your paintings. Most of them look monochromatic.
SK: Earlier when I used to paint I was using lots of colours. But over the years I started discarding colours and I use paint like I use charcoal. I use one colour and work and then incorporate different hues of the colour or related colours into the work. But I have tried infusing many colours into some of the current works, which I am exhibiting.
MOA: Many of the images you have used are found images. How do you feel using these?
SK: Yes. I use found images. Found images or already existing images are only a starting point. They only give an outline of the event or incidence I want to paint. The images of Ladakh were shot by me and you can say that they are found images because they were shot by my camera and not drawn with pencil. But they are only a reference point to me.
MOA: You graduated from Pune and came to Baroda for your masters. Did you feel any change in atmosphere when you shifted to Baroda?
SK: My God! You have started a big, big debate! In Pune the teachers are very academically inclined. Their teaching is very different. It is very conventional. If you are sketching a man sitting, he should look like a man sitting, when you use watercolours you have to handle it like watercolour and when you use oil you have to use it like oil…There were set rules for everything.
When I came to Baroda, there was no teaching as such. Since I had come for my masters, there were only studio visits. Teachers would come to artists’ studios and talk about issue rather than talk about physical aspect of painting. So I had to unlearn whatever I had learnt. I was bit angry that I had wasted so much of time…Maybe I was immature then.
In Pune, they taught us how to paint. In Baroda, they taught me what to paint. It is almost twenty years after that. The circle is getting complete now. I suppose I had to undergo both the processes.
MOA: How do you feel this show has shaped up? Do you think that this is your strongest show?
SK: Well. My last show was based on Gujarat riots, which also had a strong narrative. I don’t get to see all my works together in my studio. There is limited space. Yes, seeing all the twelve works together in the gallery, I feel that this exhibition is an important one.
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