Stuck in the Mud

Art for him is an ability to see beyond the conventional. quot;A poet creates something beautiful out of a garbage of words when he see things others don8217;t,quot; he says. Kukde8217;s fascination for clay comes from itsmalleability and the fact that it is the oldest material used by man. quot;Ceramic is joy for life. When you put your hand in clay it is meditation, you forget everything else.quot; He reveals that he telephatically talks with clay and the clay talks back. Also, Kukde believes there is an intimate correlation between pottery and cooking every cook is a latent potter. quot;Anyone who loves ceramics loves cooking. If you can make a good roomali roti, you can make a fine porcelain artefact.quot;

Ceramics is an unique combination of art and science. quot;If the chemistry is not right, physics will fall apart and art will go for a toss.quot; But Kukde has dispensed with the traditional wheel. Of course, the hand-made finish isn8217;t equally consistent, the trick is ensure it quot;looksquot; consistent. quot;If you examine it with the critical eye of a machinist you will find 101 flaws8230; of which I am quite proud!quot; he adds. Kukde creates textures and grooves on the surface by pressing rags, ropes, mats, nets8230; quot;For this chakli effect, I have usedcoils,quot; he says, pointing at an object that defies description.

Once the artefact has been shaped, he keeps it in the sun for six days. Then he quot;biscuit-firesquot; it in a kiln at 90 0C to eliminate the impurities. Next, Kukde gives it finishing touches and fires it again at 1175 0C for the colours to set in. The big moment is when he opens the kiln. quot;You never know what to expect. You might find everything shattered or find green instead of red!quot; Often, artefacts have to be fired as many as six times to get the desired hues, and the whole process may take upto a month. Kukde avers that dabbling in ceramics teaches you the quot;art of reactingquot; and the art of patience, as it is the antithesis of assembly line production. quot;If the ad industry is the jet, then ceramics is the bullock cart.quot;

And being an adman, marketing comes easy to him. To sell, Kukde insists that you should either be on the love list or the hate list 8212; he prefers the latter. quot;If your work is good and you are on the hate list, you sell more.Shock combined with quality always works.quot; After all, Kukde tossed the ad-book away when he created the Pan Pasand and the Onida Devil series.

He has carried over the same quot;standing on the headquot; approach from advertising to ceramics. quot;I have brought the adventure and left behind the ulcers and the bitchiness,quot; he adds. And he quit the admad bazaar around the same time computers arrived. quot;So I belong to the Mohenjodaro philosophy of advertising!quot;

But his price-tags are rather modern. In fact, they seem to be catching up with inflation. Depending on the intricacy, artefacts may even cost upward of Rs 5,000. Says Kukde, quot;You don8217;t have to be rich to appreciate my work, but you have to be rich to buy it!quot;