ART
A bridge not too far
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Bangalore-based sculptor C.V. Ramesh's work has been shaped by the paths of his own life, says PRASANNA CHANDRASHEKHARAN.
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C.V. Ramesh works mainly in copper, brass and wood.
THE dialogue between art and craft is an old one; sometimes the line between the two is drawn thin to the point of invisibility, but sometimes it is so broad that one may use it as a bridge to another place, another kind of significance.
Bangalore-based sculptor C.V. Ramesh — whose work has a unique ease of form arising out of a certain old world straightforwardness in the way the sculptor addresses his medium — has never been afraid to let art and craft mingle and hold discourse in his works when occasion arose.
Ramesh has also always been a firm believer in the craft of art, as it were, "If one knows one's craft, one knows the mechanics which may then inspire one to fly. I have been taught to begin with learning the craft of my art — the feel and substance of the metals that I work with, how they heat and how they cool, how they weld together and how they may be separated. And this, which I have had to learn and be taught is what so many thousands of craftsmen all over the country have in their blood, passed on through the collective memories and imaginations of generations. How can I consider myself superior to one who senses the nature of his material in such an instinctive kind of way?" One is thus not surprised, when visiting Ramesh's most recent show on at Saundaryalahari in Bangalore, to see art and craft intermingling — for here you saw what we might refuse to label anything but "art" works. There were the most intriguing craftworks and then there were some that blended the two so well one couldn't tell which to call what!
The craft works included copper and brass flower holders in the shape of bags, fish shaped fruit bowls, the most exciting wood and brass cocktail trays, copper and brass bags resembling traditional toddy tapper bags, complete with talisman and all, candle stands and more! Apart from the bags and the woven copper and brass mats, which were replicated, each of the other things was one-of-a-kind, and, really, a small piece of art. This was true of the furniture on display as well — pooja tables and a coffee table set, both in wood and metal.
Through the years, Ramesh says he has been making craft as well as art.
Early days in Goa saw him doing pendants and printed t-shirts for the flea market and after coming to Bangalore, he has continued to do interesting craft work — buttons, pendants, brooches, bracelets, book covers, ash trays and so on.
Ramesh works mainly in copper, brass and wood though he does, when required, also use fibre, acrylic, stone and glass. Among the artworks on show at Saundaryalahari there was both relief and sculpture — on the walls there were a variety of forms: Ganesha, Jesus, Disciple, Yogi, while on the floor there stood Mother and Matriarch. While some of these, for instance Jesus and Disciple, were simple to the point of starkness, with almost undefined bodies but very distinct faces, others were very intricate, detailed with many layers of features.
SAUNDARYALAHARI
It's the faces, however that drew your attention — these were "real" faces, faces that have known what it means to live, faces shaped as much by the alchemy of suffering as by the "magicking" of love and happiness, as much by lonely questioning as by shared discoveries. These were human faces, which turned you to your own many faces and to walk among them was to tarry awhile with the text, to feel the meaning with heart and head before annotation, before interpretation.
Ramesh's work has been shaped by the meandering paths of his own life, shaped also by the places that he lived in and the people that he learnt from. As he explains, "At 17, I went in search of a place where I could be at home first, and second where the questions that did not seem to find words could be sorted out and third, to be able to learn to work with the artistic urge that was inside. I was fortunate to find the Amrutha Bindu Ashram in Vythiri and to be taken in by the head of the ashram and his wife, and further, to be guided by him." Thus, the questions that Ramesh's work seems to ask are questions about the human need for spiritual homing, about the relationship between work and spirituality and about how the familiar is ground for inspiration. "Look at those faces, can't you see my wife's very Dravidian nose in all of them?" asks Ramesh with a chuckle.
At Amrutha Bindu, a branch of the Narayana Gurukula founded by Nataraja Guru, with the guidance of Jean Letschert Ascharyacharya, Ramesh spent six to seven years working at sculpture as well as living out his own questions. For Ramesh, those experiences and the teachings of Narayana Guru have become both base and support not only in life but for work as well. "It marked the way I viewed art; I understood that art is work, hard work and then, an occupation as much as a vocation. I am like so many thousands of artists who are like so many millions of other human beings, and where I stand out is not in being different but in belonging to this flow. It's a very humbling thought and also a very practical one! And this is why perhaps I don't worry about whether my art is `pure' or break my head over whether I `compromise' my artistry by doing craft. I do, however, worry about whether what I am making is efficient. And beautiful."
This dialogue between art and craft is an old one — perhaps as old as human desire for self-expression, and as lasting as human endeavour — did not the same people who painted on the walls of our oldest caves also leave their mark on their tools, hunting implements and utensils?
Ramesh's work is on permanent display at Saundaryalahari, No.375, 100 Feet Road, H.A.L 2nd Stage, Indiranagar, Bangalore.
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