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Journalism of Courage
The green room of a theatre is where transformations take place, where rehearsals come to an end, where planning terminates, where privacy submits itself to performance and the harsh public gaze. It is not only in the hidden rooms behind the theatre that the green room exists; for the green room8212;the place to calm the thumping heart, the hiatus before honed skills are finally put to test, is not unique to the performing artist.
The painter and the sculptor have their own 8216;green room8217; but for them it is somewhat different, even though their 8216;green room8217; also constitutes preparation, planning, training and lots of hard work. Their green room acquires meaning in the nature of their private lives, where they live and work, the state of their health, their economic status and the capacity to buy the materials they seek, or the availability of such materials.
Akbar Padamsee enjoyed long wide sweeps of his brush when he painted but both a neck and a heart problem made him reduce the size of his paintings. The format of a painting is never inconsequential, since application of paint, structure and proportion of things on the canvas, relationship of colours, in short, the entire image, is dependant on the size of a canvas.
Even technique can influence health. Shanti Dave, who was a successful painter in the 8217;60s, used a particular warm wax and varnish technique that required a lot of energy. But a serious heart attack forced him to abandon this method and look for alternatives, which were never as successful as the original and Dave8217;s fate changed.
Technique can be dependent on lifestyle as well. Anjolie Ela Menon8217;s very itinerant life for many long years left her struggling to find stretchers and canvas. Today, her work is identified with the smoothly primed hardboard on which she paints, the result, initially, not of desire but of necessity.
During the early years of contemporary Indian art, many of today8217;s important artists struggled to find materials to paint with, materials they could ill afford. Like many other painters, Prabhakar Barwe could not afford oil paints and found a substitute in enamel paints, which are actually house paints and the result of a mixture of kerosene oil, varnish and pigment. He explored this rough medium and understood how to use it, making the final effect appear as oil paint or as watercolour, dependent on what he required. Similarly, Jogen Chowdhury8217;s 8217;60s works are made with ink on paper because he could not afford canvas and oil paint. He grew to love ink on paper and evolved his own style.
Amit Ambalal could afford oil paints but temperamentally could never adjust to them. They never permitted him the spontaneity that watercolour and pastels give him and which he constantly uses.
Constraints, health, personality and financial considerations, geographic location all have a bearing on an artist8217;s creative expression, all affect the green room of their lives. As we stand in front of a painting, we accept it for what it is, unaware of the tumult and limitations that created it.
