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Of thought and action
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Arpana Caur, a leading name in Indian contemporary art, strikes you with her simplicity
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Arpana Caur: `I am interested in representing the forces of nature and spirituality; both seem threatened in our present times.' — Photo: Murali Kumar K.
FOR DECADES, Arpana Caur has been a leading name in contemporary Indian art. Her paintings, awash with bright colours and multiple themes, have been hailed by critics in India and abroad. Writing in the catalogue for her upcoming show in Germany, Ernst W. Koelnsperger explains: "Arpana's visual narrations for several decades formed a block: the concrete versus the abstract. She has always insisted in telling about thoughts and actions in her paintings... Only few artists of the present Indian art scene have such an eminent influence and are present in all important art-centres of the world... Her positive, always active and social oriented oeuvre obtains energy from an immense pleasure in pictures and narrations bonded to time and space. Secular and spiritual aspects blend."
Arpana has held one-person shows not only in India but also in London, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam and New York. Her works have been featured in newspapers like The Guardian, The New York Times, and Berlin Morningpost while documentaries on her have been made by the BBC, Star TV, Doordarshan, Stockholm TV and CNN. In 1995, she was commissioned by the Hiroshima Museum to execute a large work for its permanent collection on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Holocaust.
Love for murals
Arpana was on a brief visit here to meet with a team of young artists who will collaborate with her for putting up five murals in the city.
"Bangalore will probably be the first city in the country to have five public murals," says a visibly excited Arpana. "I am particularly enthused at the opportunity afforded by the large dimension and scale." Expectedly, she has done her homework and as she opens her sketch pad, one gets a glimpse of a tall, stately Bahubali rendered in gold with spiralling creepers, a meditating Buddha with flowers floating all around and a re-invented Roerich landscape. "I am interested in representing the forces of nature and spirituality; both seem threatened in our present times."
Minutes before leaving with the team on a location-hunting trip for the murals, Arpana spoke to MetroPlus. "I did murals even in the early '80s. I remember doing two murals for the Himachal Pradesh and Goa pavilions at the India International Trade Fair. The work was elaborate and got me Rs. 35,000, a princely sum those days. With that, I was able to help my mother pay an instalment on the flat she was purchasing... I have been doing murals since then. About five years ago, I did a huge mural 35 ft. by 15 ft. for Lady Erwin School in Delhi, without taking a single rupee. That was to show my appreciation for the school, which to this day charges a fee of only Re.1 per student, but provides quality education. Another easy recall is a collaborative 50 ft. by 50 ft. mural with a German artist in Hamburg (2001) where we incorporated both the Western concept of time (linear) with the Eastern notion of time being eternal. With meticulous planning, the entire project was executed in just six days."
Self-taught
For all her achievements, the self-taught artist strikes with her absolute gentleness, simplicity, honesty and humility. Speak of the delicate balance she achieves in her works, she says: "That is the magic of painting, isn't it? You could call me a colourist; I think and dream of colours."
Her eyes twinkle when you tell her that viewers in Bangalore are quite familiar with her works in group shows. But the city is yet to see a solo show of hers. "You see, I just do one painting a month. Even in Delhi, my solos are held once in five years. But, yes, I should exhibit more often in Bangalore."
ATHREYA
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