De and night

The artist will be holding his first solo exhibition in the city this week with around 25 drawings chiefly on Buddha,his latest work. Speaking on his fascination for charcoal De says, “I was inspired by the black and white Japanese works,their traditional paintings and lithographs and have been consistently working on charcoal since then. Although I started with oil on canvas,there was an urge to do something different. Recently I have also started using darts of colours such as red,blue and golden on the drawings,which is a very different style and took a long time to develop.”

Tremendously inspired by the rickshaw pullers as a subject,in Kolkata where he grew up,they were one of his initial works followed by several exhibitions across the world.

“My techniques are relatively difficult as I draw with fingers and palms and never use the brush. In this a mistake cannot be erased. Therefore I have the complete image in my mind before I start,” adds De,who also derives motivation from nature and social life.

Having done several series including those on Ganesha,Mother Teresa and women,on charcoal works,De feels very few people attempt taking up the medium as a mainstream one in India as well as abroad. “When I started,a lot of galleries discouraged since the medium doesn’t have colours and they had questions regarding its selling capacity. Even now very few people have adequate knowledge,some doubt if the charcoal will fade away. Nevertheless it invariably mesmerises me,” adds De.

(Ajay De will be exhibiting at the Tilting Art Gallery ,Ishanya between April 6 and 20)