Come Out and Play

K S Radhakrishnan on open air as a medium and the need for sculptures in public spaces.

What comes first? The medium or the idea? asks sculptor K S Radhakrishnan. At the Ojas Art gallery,surrounded by his Musui bronze figures in the garden,he says,Its tough to answer that because you create the idea with the possibility of the medium,and because of the idea,the material shapes itself. And sometimes,the medium becomes the message. It sets you free. The medium in this case is the venue. The 58-year-old has chosen 30 of his works spanning seven years for a show called In the Open,in which he plays with his favourite element apart from bronze the open air.

Its rare to see a venue play accomplice to an artist. Here,Radhakrishnans trademark organic,acrobatic figures do just that. This collaboration excites the artist,who started his 30-year career with open air sculptures. Made with concrete,his first break was a commissioned work in Bikaner,Rajasthan,in 1985. They (sculptures) were voluptuous with a lot of ground contact. But that gave me the opportunity to do something bigger in scale. It was a good beginning, he says.

Radhakrishnan has often spoken about the need for public sculptures in the country. Having exhibited extensively across the country and abroad,the National Award-winning artist reinstates that purpose with a renewed fervour here. Its not like we dont have space for public sculptures. We have statues of Gandhi and Sardar Patel; but not sculptures. Public sculptures should be seen where it can be really understood,felt and evoke emotions, he says.

The exhibition is a microcosm of Radhakrishnans oeuvre,yet not extensive enough to label it a retrospective. Showing exclusively at this gallery,besides new works created about a year ago,there are some that have been shown in a gallery before but are now brought into the open.

The Musui figures are an inevitable presence. It was originally a Santhal boy the artist had met during his student days in Shantiniketan. Radhakrishnan held on to this form and breathed a conditioned myth-like life into it,often calling it an alter ego. Since then,Musui has appeared and reappeared in many forms. His female counterpart is Maiya. Many people ask,why always Musui. I say,why do I have to keep changing? I connect so strongly with him; we are inseparable,he says.

Talking about his career also brings about his relationship with the pioneer in his field,Ramkinker Baij,whose retrospective Radhakrishnan had curated last year. The exhibition travelled across the country. It was a rare chance to pay tribute to the great master. Ramkinker made the first open air sculptor in 1938 at a very young age. Incidentally,I left painting for sculpting because of him, he says.

The exhibition will also coincide with the launch of a book on his art by critic Johny ML,titled In the Open that covers 50 of his open air sculptures created across the country.

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In the Open is on at Ojas Art,1AQ,Qutub roundabout,till December 12. Contact: 26644145

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