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It's a one-way ticket to Paris

PARIS VISHVANADHAN talks of his childhood and early Cholamandalam days

SON OF THE SOIL Paris Vishvanadhan with his wife

Moving away from Kerala was like jumping into the emptiness for renowned artist Vishvanadhan V, strangely referred to as Paris Vishvanadhan for he made the art capital of the world his home. "My being called Paris Vishvanadhan is an editor's choice, something to distinguish me when I used to write in Malayalam, other wise I would have been Kadavoor Vishvam," explains the painter who left his village near Kollam in the early Sixties and made his way to Madras Art School, much to his father's dismay that his boy was lost.

And he did get lost. Not into the wilderness though, but into the art world that was to provide him, to start with, his bread and butter, an identity, a canvas for his creative expression and give him the success to face his father, to make him feel that all was not lost.

Cholamandalam

He fell into the company of K. C. S. Paniker at Madras Art School. "Paniker used to be worried that he would lose his boys to jobs because nobody could make a living out of art then. He said that if artists had a place for themselves then people could see their art and craft and perhaps buy that. That's how Cholamandalam came into being."

Once started, Cholamandalam began attracting artists and the arts. "I remember Girish Karnad performing `Waiting for Godot' in front of my cottage. Dakshinamurthy and all my friends said that yes, Cholamandalam was a paradise but don't fall in the heaven, you must travel. Lakshmi Krishnamurthy, a Kannada actor, said she would hold an exhibition of my paintings and held a show in her garden. I made enough money for a one-way ticket to Paris."

And it has been a one-way ticket for Paris Vishvanadhan who never came back to live in Kerala and does not intend to. "I don't regret going away. Nostalgia is a kind of sickness when you are inactive." And inactivity is something unknown to Vishavanadhan. Work and recognition came to him almost as soon as he arrived in Paris. "It is not for ethnic reasons that I am recognised. It is only for my work."

And Vishvanadhan's work is abstract. "I'm using glue made from curdled milk and lime. This glue is a good binder," says the painter who introduced knots and embroidery on to canvas. Post-modern concepts, he believes, relieves you from all kinds of barriers and so video art, figurative art, installations all come into its scope. Galleries play a pivotal role in promoting an artist. "If you say you are with a particular gallery it is because that gallery is known for the best presentation." And on the commercialisation of art he is sceptical. "India is the only country where the buyer of art believes that it is the best investment. Paris is not like that."

Vishvanadhan who can be as Parisian as it gets remains a true son of the soil. "I have crisscrossed India five times and made five films on the five elements: `Prithvi,' `Agni,' `Jal' `Vayu' and `Aakash.' These are my rediscovery, my self-knowing of India." Adoor Gopalakrishnan, his friend, was the cinematographer of his first three films. Said Vishvanadhan who says he is also very much a Malayali, "I speak, write and think in the language. When I come to Kerala the striking thing is we talk of a revolutionised society. But I see our mind structure is still very feudal. I try to distinguish between feudal aesthetic and free aesthetic. Well, that is my art also."

PRIYADARSSHINI SHARMA

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