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Looking through brooding colours

Noted artists Achuthan Kudallur and Amitava Das share their thoughts on the arts, their works and more

ON A COMMON GROUND Achuthan Kudallur and Amitava Das

The vibrantly painted luxury bus is licking the smooth black - or charcoal grey to be more specific - metalled road to swallow the distance between Kolkata and Shantiniketan. The precious human cargo of the bus consists of some of the top artistes from various parts of the country who are returning after a hugely successful art camp in Tagore's own Shantiniketan. On the bus are two of the most gentle and soft-spoken artists - Achuthan Kudallur from Chennai and Amitava Das from New Delhi. Interestingly, both their works are characterised by intense dark hues juxtaposed with jewel-like colours that reflect a light that seems to shine from some deep source - rather like opals from Down Under.

Alka Raghuvanshi engages the duo in conversation that spans nature, design and art and finds that they have more in common than their choice of colours.

Achuthan: Remember the camp at the banks of the Chenab - the cursed river - where we used to go for walks and collect different types of stones? Nature's healing power is well known but changing the landscape really does help the mind provided one takes it in the right spirit. It is not a conscious translation of nature on the canvas, but I realise that it finds its way in some or the other form.

Amitava: Absolutely. Not directly or immediately, but I think it lingers in its different forms in the various recesses of the mind. When I visited Shantiniketan for the first time, Tagore's spirit in his work wafted through my mind. But the present decadence of the place has shattered my own image of his work.

Amitava: The way in which we treat places is truly abominable. The negligence and the irresponsible way in which we corrode the sense of belonging between nature and humanity in the urban context is sad more than anything else. Just close to Shantiniketan is Sonarjauri, a tiny Santhal hamlet where the tribals make space even for migratory birds, indicating their ability to co-exist with nature seamlessly.

Achuthan: Talking of birds, people are so surprised when they see sparrows in my house in Chennai - even though sparrows can hardly be seen anywhere these days! In Chennai there is not so much interaction among artistes, nor are they eager to interact.

That is why I really like to attend camps. Giants give more headroom to ordinary mortals. Others create pygmies. Shantiniketan is a microcosm of Tagore's thought process.

He thought big and that is why his impact still lingers after so many years.

Amitava: Such spaces lead to the creation of other masterpieces. Then the ripple effect carries forward. Look at how the signboards have changed over the years from the mere basic to the more aesthetic. The change is phenomenal. In my opinion art brings out the subtle changes at the level of the sub-conscious and the thought. By the way, have you noticed that both of us have a palette of dark and brooding colours.

Achuthan: Yes... Dark and brooding - I find that I just pass through the colours. How about you?

Amitava: I find that these are indicative of the elements of time and life you experience - theories and isms are developed afterwards. But at the same time one should be a slave of these elements! Just as there is naturalness in children's art, which is not a slave of the cerebral.

Achuthan: We should redefine narration. Just by being it should narrate. When you can use words to narrate - why should you paint?

Amitava: Are you rejecting the Bengal School then?

Achuthan: No. But personally I don't go for the illustrative. In Tagore's work there is no narrative element. We have an idealised way of seeing in India, unlike the West where realism rules.

Just look at our traditional sculptures, be they from the Chalukya, Hoysala or Chola period - their sensuality is still so beautiful and because of the temple context, the exotic isn't associated with any negativity or vulgarity.

Amitava: By the way, you'll be surprised that in Bengal, paintings in the wash technique used to be actually washed like a dhobi! After all, technique is only the grammar of any idiom. Artists learn all kinds of techniques and then modify it according to their tastes. Technique is something you develop.

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