A knight arrives
RANA SIDDIQUI
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Naresh Kapuria has recently been named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters, France's highest honour for artists.
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PHOTO: ANU PUSHKARNA
ENTERING A WORLD OF HONOUR Naresh Kapuria in New Delhi.
He never restricted himself to a single art form. He painted, did installations and puppet shows, made sculptures, designed theatre sets, directed plays and what not. In the early 1980s when he blended art, theatre, dance and music, people in the art fraternity mocked at him. "They said that since I didn't know art, I was fooling around with different media. Now, such a blend is the in thing. So they say, `I was way ahead of the times'," laughs the versatile Naresh Kapuria, who received France's biggest award for art, the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) earlier this month.
"The award has given me more of a sense of responsibility. There is a lot we can do, for we are still in infancy as far as experimentation in art is concerned," says Kapuria, who has designed the stage for the ongoing Osian's Cinefan Festival in Delhi.
He also has to his credit the "world's longest painting" of 210 feet called Sindhu Darshan, which he unveiled in Ladakh at the Sindhu Darshan festival in 2002. This painting is now installed at the Ashok Hotel in New Delhi. He designed the Festival of India in Turkmenistan in 1991 and the Festival of India in Bangladesh in 1996. He designed the Surajkund Mela for 10 years but gave it up since he "couldn't bootlick bureaucracy".
In its first three years, the Qutub Festival was also designed by him. He claims to be the first one to do a page three photo-exhibition four years ago and to bring installation art to India long back. "Seeing my installation art, people started calling me an `environment artist'. An artist should know all the mediums. It helps him widen his horizon and understand the art better," feels this veteran, famous for his `windows' in mixed media. Recounts he, "My windows in mixed media were the first instance of `box work' art in India that I gave to the National Gallery of Modern Art. I did it in 1979 when no one had even heard of it. Artists have started doing it just recently."
This admirer of Alkazi and Raj Kapoor who regards Sharen Lowen as his guide, has seen rough days in his prime. "I wanted to become a scientist, but for lack of finances, I couldn't. So I took up art and decided to excel in that. I would experiment with all kinds of media. It would not only help me understand the medium but also fetch money to earn a living as there no buyers for paintings."
A humiliating experience at the hands of a close friend 30 years ago instilled in him an urge to "become a big name".
This friend asked Kapuria to paint a brick on the wall of his house. He used to cycle to his house 10 kilometres away from his place. After round-the-clock work for several days, he paid him only Rs.80, instead of its worth of Rs.200. That day he told him he would come back to him after becoming a big artist. Till date, Kapuria hasn't spent those 80 rupees. "It keeps afresh the pain and exploitation that I went through, courtesy this close friend".
The memory encourages him to help those in need. He works with children in the Ramleela, teaches them art for free, helps art students, works with NGOs without money and so on.
And now he is ready with his Windows of Love, a painting on windows. "This time all its windows are open so that love could enter in it without hindrance," he explains. An art film and a street show of art, dance, theatre and music are two of his forthcoming projects.
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