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Charting journeys on canvas

Celebrated artists Sameer Aich and Babu Xavier agree that without nature there can be no art

THE BIGGEST ART? Sameer Aich and Babu Xavier

His baritone booms as he takes the ektara from the baul and starts matching swara for swara, and eventually his is the only voice that can be heard. The plaintively haunting song of Radha's love for Krishna fills the heart. The pain he depicts on his canvas gets crystallised in each swara as the song and the visual manifestation of it blur into a single note. It is indeed a magical moment.

Alka Raghuvanshi brings together Sameer Aich, the painter who stands on the threshold of the almost maudlin Bengal school with Babu Xavier, who is playfully perched on the other end of the colour spectrum with his luminescent and vibrant colours that echo the verdant nature of Kerala, where he is based. The wonderfully creative artists come together at an art camp in Santiniketan where colours do a peek-a-boo in an eternal dance of capturing silence.

Sameer: When people ask me whether I am inspired by nature, I am hard put to answer, for there is nature in nature. And whether we like it or not, we are nature at its best.

Babu: Exactly! Without nature there can be no art. Not that one can locate work in nature. Life forms can interact as lots of chaos, and conflicts are presented in a humorous if beautiful manner. On the other hand it can also get very clichéd and one can get struck in formats.

Sameer: Absolutely! Even to make ugly is a long journey. It is the context that is important. Beauty too is so relative.

Babu: My best may not be your best! Like people are always surprised when I refuse to sell some of my works. I want to be able to look back later and muse over my own journey.

Sameer: In my case the silence of music must come a full circle in the silence of my painting. That then takes the form of abstraction. And yet I am a greedy artist. I want all manifestations of art - for all art is influenced by all arts. I sing, I play music, I do drama sets.

Babu: Drama sets?

Sameer: Yes! It creates a drama that the actors can't create. I did a set where Ramakinkar Baij had to be shown walking in rural darkness - there is a difference you know - I put in hundreds of flickering key chains as fireflies! It really is fun!

Babu: Sounds exciting! But I feel that if one keeps on just painting, it can become monotonous. I am forever looking for a reason not to paint! But in the almost rural place that I have opted to live, it is difficult not be drawn to your paints! The nearest art centre is Chennai - even though the most happening artists are from Kerala! Most of the Kerala artists like Ravi Varma, Ramachandran painted outside Kerala. We are a consumerist state - we have only manpower!But things are slowly changing. People are opting to stay back.

Sameer: But then these days what with the Internet and other media it is impossible to really stay out of touch! Just like artists from my generation are not positioning themselves within our geographical boundaries alone. We are influenced by world art. IT really has changed all that.

Babu: Sure. We all know where we are positioned and the days of the bohemian artist are really over. I too am completely at ease in the IT age.

Sameer: After the 40s, the Bengal artists like Bikash Bhattacharya, Ganesh Pyne, Haloi, made such a huge break from the traditional. But still the art market in India is immature. I'm not comfortable with the idea that in a country of a billion people, we are talking of 25 artists! Prices need to stabilise. There are no serious buyers. Buyers need to be learned, or else it is unrealistic and meaningless.

Babu: Either interior decorators are buying art works or investors, who artificially try to keep the prices up to protect their investments.

Sameer: And in such a situation, it is easy to get confused and people end up buying names and not art.

Babu: And so many artists are getting sucked up in this vortex.

After all, what am I aiming for? Silence that emanates from the inner and unbridled desire to paint where one has to flow with the desire to harness it to your creative needs. In that sense new age spirituality moves me.

Sameer: Lyrical lines is where I am at. And yet, art without drawing is the biggest art.

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