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Journalism of Courage
As a child, little did Mumbai-based artist Bharat Tripathi know that the bedtime stories on Indian epics that his grandmother and mother narrated would become a muse for his art. The tale of Sita’s father, King Janak, organising a swayamvar has been turned into a painting titled, Baal Kaand – Sita Svayamvar. A broken bow — a symbol of Ram’s prowess — stretches across the canvas. A dozen frames from the epic make up Tripathi’s latest exhibition, “Ramayana”, at Lalit Kala Akademi in Delhi.
The self-taught artist, who paints in figurative abstracts, had graduated from Harvard University in taxation and management and joining the Indian Revenue Services in 1988. He decided to pick up the brush 15 years ago after meeting SH Raza, who mentored him for a decade. Currently under the tutelage of Anjolie Ela Menon, the artist has a sizeable body of work on mythology, such as “Navdurga”, his first solo, to “Dashavatar”, “The Story of Shiva” and “Tirthankars” in Mumbai.
“The Ramayana is divided into chapters called Kaand. There is the Baal Kaand that spans from the birth of Lord Ram to his marriage with Sita while Ayodhya Kaand is related to the 14-year exile of Lord Ram; Aranya Kaand is the time spent by him, Sita and Lakshman in the forest and Kishkindha Kaand is when Ram and Lakshman reach Kishkindha in search of Sita. I have conveyed the entire Ramayana in a manner in which every Kaand is conveyed by one or two canvases,” says the 50-year-old artist.
In Ayodhya Kaand – Vanvaas, he places Ram’s throne and crown in one corner of the canvas and a paduka and kamandal at the opposite end to symbolise Ram’s exile. “In Baal Kaand – Ram Janam, a childlike face of an adolescent Ram traces his birth while the teer dhanush resting next to him is a proof of his Kshatriya lineage,” says the artist.
The show is on at the Lalit Kala Akademi till November 21 and at IGNCA from November 23-29.
