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| Sunil Gawde |
I joined JJ School of Arts in 1975. Abstraction was the reigning style in those days. Prabhakar Kolte was a big influence. The language of abstraction attracted me considerably as it gave me a lot of freedom to experiment. I will say I was happy with the language of abstraction during my formative years. However, now I would not like to be called as an abstract artist. Most of the art critics have one problem. They want the artists to be working in one singular style so that they can handle them easily. I would rather call myself an artist and ask the critic, `what is your problem, man?’
Though I finished my studies in 1980, people started knowing me as an artist only in 1990, when I held my first solo show. These 10 years I practised painting and it was an effort to find my own language. I did not want to exhibit until I found my own language. You take some time to mature. In 1990, I thought I reached a point of maturity. But now I realise that maturity never comes as far as an artist is concerned. After 10 years, you feel that it was just a point in the process.
What one calls abstraction is the process. As far as the artist is concerned, the visual clarity generated out of this process is important. It is a kind of understanding of the process and result. The language of abstraction or figuration should be mature enough to express what I feel. Then only I am comfortable with that particular language. Otherwise, it will remain just a `language.’
I will say that you cannot just create a surface and call it abstraction. To be honest and humble, from the very beginning, I was very good at drawing. I could depict anything through drawing and painting. I believe in the strength of drawing. How can you express something which you cannot grab in physical terms, especially when you are incapable of expressing things that have proper physical forms? This is the challenge of an artist who delves in abstraction. Abstraction makes sense only when the things of your imagination happen on a pictorial surface. It is a very private affair for the artist.
In 1990, I thought I had got this power to make things happen on my pictorial surface. When I painted canvases, I felt like saying `that’s me.’ Then came my Glasgow trip in 1995-1996. This sojourn in Scotland was quite an eye opener. I felt I was going through an immature phase in India. Now I have arrived. You see, it is a continuous process. Now I think even in my Glasgow phase, I was immature. For me, it is a continuous departure and arrival, and vice versa.
One thing common from my starting to now is that I work with oil on canvas and also with sheet metal and rollers. Then what is the difference between then and now? I will say that there is a tremendous difference in clarity. I have achieved certain level of clarity in all these years. Now, when I am in front of a canvas, I am not in confusion. I do not like confusion. I approach my canvases with precision of thought and clarity of ideas. This attitude gets reflected in my works. The struggle for clarity also matters a lot. It is a part of the whole process and it gives me immense enjoyment. When I started painting in the 1980s, I wanted to paint everything. I fell in love with this and that. Maturity came in when I learned to know how to delete things from my process. Then `falling in love’ (with things) became quite selective.
Let me now tell you a bit about the philosophy of my painting. In fact, it is a very difficult thing to do. The moment you talk about it, its core is lost. When you know it, you need not speak about it. However, my paintings are about ideas and my feeling for them. I do not want to connect them with the concepts of meditation or Zen Buddhism. These days when you say Zen, the image comes to your mind is that of a Maruti Zen car. Zen has lost its value. A Zen car cannot be a standby for Zen thoughts. My paintings are about becoming so to say. As an artist you need to express. You can choose any medium that you can handle. You are like water. You get in any container and assume its shape. I am into what I am doing. I follow this thinking.
When you talk of abstraction, people tend to connect it with Tantra and tantricism. This is is absolute nonsense. My understanding about abstract works is entirely different. I feel the simple things are the most complex things to express while a complex thing can be expressed in many simple ways. When you look at my canvases, they are very simple. My whole energy goes into making them look very simple because they deal with the complexities of thoughts. If you ask me what is important, the process or the result, I will say both are equally important. The seed, flower and fruit are important. The only problem lies with the words. When you fall in love with words, you lose knowledge. This is the danger of defining things.
In 1997, I did an exhibition titled `Oblique’. In this show, I used readymade objects to express certain ideas about `meaning’. It was done in a very humorous fashion. Humour is a difficult thing to handle. People think that an artist should deal things in a very serious way. I wanted to challenge this notion. When I stand in front of my canvas, I become very `deep’. At the same time, I look at life through the lens of comedy. I am deep and humorous. Then why can’t I express my `humorous’ side of personality? `Oblique’ was an answer to this question.
People take time to digest art. It is like water soaking into the earth. It is a very slow process. When I did Oblique, people became insecure. They were insecure because they did not know how to react to those objects. Even those people who had grown comfortable with my paintings found it difficult to digest. But now they ask why am I not doing humorous works? Hence, I do not call myself an abstract artist. These object-based works are also a part of my personality. I believe that the most complicated things lie in the basic things of life. But basic things are not so simple.
When I did `Blind Bulb etc…’ again people asked me why I was not doing any more abstract paintings. It is not my problem. I am a person who wants to escape from the trappings of style but people want me to be in a cage. I did ‘1mm’ and ‘Eight Seconds Ahead of Time’ shows between ‘Oblique’ and `Blind Bulb etc…’. I continued my concepts of precision and clarity throughout these works using different mediums.
