The image and idea of King Kong almost always evokes the thought of a wild,pre-historic beast enraged and growling,pining for a creature of another species. However,the image that stands in front of us,at the booth of Paul Kasmin Gallery at the India Art Fair (IAF) exhibition ground,is a blown up,almost realistic,face of the gorilla,with tears welling-up in his steely eyes. American artist Walton Ford,who is known for his large-scale naturalist water paintings of animals and birds from across the world,sees a little more than that in his King Kong project,two of which are on display. For Ford,this is his own memoir of the mythical creature that enraptured him since he saw the original 1933 film King Kong in his childhood. Its an inter-species love affair,yet its also a very brutal one. Hes like Humbert Humbert in Valadimir Nabokovs Lolita. He overpowers Ann,the actress and its like a rape,but he wouldnt get the hint because he loves her in his own sick way. And hes doomed for that reason. I wanted to explore his grief that comes out of it and have him weep instead of just rage, says the Massachusetts-based artist. Fords work,for many at IAF,appropriates the 19th century naturalist illustrations by artists like John James Audubon,Karl Bodmer and George Catlin,who created such works to document the flora and fauna of other civilizations at the time of European colonialism. When they were doing this,there was conflict between cultures and stories would come out of it. This has resulted in the creation of violent wild narrative that I create. It fuels my work, he explains. Stepping away from its basic conservatism,Fords works are more of an anatomy of animals in their primeval stages and an operatic picture of violence,sexual activity and emotions in their raw forms. A child of the American suburbs,Fords inspiration grew from American Museum of Natural History. He merged it all with his fascination for folklore involving animals,of various countries,and now,articulates them on gigantic canvases. He talks about India and its folklore,an idea which was fuelled by his visit to Delhi and Varanasi in the 90s and,after much cultural confusion,he created a series,aptly called Pancha Tantra. I got interested in cultural misapprehensions. I call it Pancha Tantra as this is one of the first collection of animal fables the world knows and a great inspiration, he says. However,for now,with no India-inspired works at the fair,Ford reassures,I love making paintings about this country because theres so much to tell. Hopefully,for the next India Art Fair,there will be an Indian subject. Both of Fords works have been priced at $ 250,000 each.
