A Second Life

Bohemian French painter Paul Gauguin began his life as a doctor,and French Post-Impressionist artist Henri Rousseau was a tax collector.

Written by Georgina Maddox

May 7, 2011 03:02 AM IST

4 min read

Professionals from various fields are making their mark in the art world. Without ever attending an art college,they exist alongside full-time artists

Bohemian French painter Paul Gauguin began his life as a doctor,and French Post-Impressionist artist Henri Rousseau was a tax collector. In India,Bhupen Khakhar,one of the countrys first openly-gay artists,began his professional life as an accountant,while Mumbai-based contemporary artist Sudhir Patwardhan,whose compelling solo show was recently put up at Lalit Kala Akademi,was a radiologist until he retired a year ago. Pursuing their passion alongside professional commitments,several prominent artists have,over the years,created an oeuvre which is different from the artwork of full-time artists like Atul Dodiya or Subodh Gupta.

Gauguin,Rousseau,Khakhar or Patwardhan never attended an art academy,and created their own styles through trial-and-error even as they strove to crack the glass ceiling of intellectual art. Some of them let their varied professions feed their art Patwardhans medical practice gave him an added empathy for the working class,some of whom were his patients,while Khakhars mundane life as an accountant marked his humorous portraits of working-class men involved in unlikely risque encounters.

Not everybody is convinced of the importance of this group that exists alongside full-time artists. There are many hobbyists who do decorative pictures; but that is not art that I would take seriously. For me,a painter must have a distinctive visual language. A person can excel in only one field,either their profession or their art. After retiring,however,he or she can concentrate more on art, says Renu Modi of Delhis Gallery Espace.

Last month,the director of Delhis National Gallery of Modern Art,Rajeev Lochan,inaugurated an exhibition of paintings by Indian diplomat Abhay Kumar at the Russian Centre of Science and Culture in Delhi. The exhibition was titled We Have Come Far,and addressed issues relating to the environment and spirituality. A few weeks earlier,Delhis chief minister Sheila Dixit did the honours for civil services officer Sudha Pillai who showed her paintings on the lawns of a friends bungalow.

Being a diplomat feeds into my artwork because I travel a lot and that makes me aware of global issues that get channeled into my works, says Kumar,whose paintings lean toward abstraction while trying to capture the cosmic beauty of the earth through geometric forms and colours. Im also a poet and a writer and I feel all these aspects of my life work together in a synergistic way, says Kumar,who has also displayed his works in Paris and St Petersburg.

In April,Gallery Art Motif in Delhi hosted an exhibition of tapestries and wall hangings by Sri Lankan architect Tilak Samarawickrema. Titled Contemporary Woven Art,the exhibition displayed Samarawickremas interpretation of traditional Sinhalese weaving work with the contemporary twist of the Bauhaus design flair. My work as an architect informs much of my design sensibility as an artist since Im more inclined toward geometry and symmetry, he says Samarawickrema.

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While visual arts like painting and sculpture require training and skill,new media projects are making it possible for many younger artists like Ahmedabad-based classical and contemporary dancer Revanta Sarabhai to indulge in experimental video art. His first project is a multimedia performance piece on long-distance relationships. I want to use the webcam as my tool to convey the challenges that couples face when separated by time,distance and life, says Sarabhai.

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atul dodiya Lalit Kala Akademi