For artist Shaji Appukuttan the act of creating art is itself fraught with conflict. The all-consuming dilemma is ‘how to paint?’ Painting a picture is easy, but contextualising it – “like for instance there is Van Gogh’s ‘A Pair of Shoes’. The shoes communicate so much more, they connect with the entire history of humanity – the human condition so to speak. To me a work has to resonate like that. How to express aesthetically is, therefore, my biggest concern,” he says.
Therein lies the conflict. The manner of any form of artistic expression is inherently personal but the very nature of art, in the exhibition context, is public. For, an artist is literally putting a piece of herself/himself out there.
After a gap of almost 20 years, he made a ‘comeback’ last year at Durbar Hall. This year he exhibits again at White Walls, The Art Gallery in Kochi.
The break was deliberate. He wanted to hone his skills and create a relevant body of work before he ventured back. In the sense of ‘putting oneself out there’, ‘Karuna – A Painter’s Query’ is personal and intimate; it offers a look into the artist’s mind and his beliefs. “Spirituality is a conflicted and confused term. It is often mistaken for religiosity – it is not,” he says. It is something that connects the entire creation. Imagery has to be such that it connects entire human history, he believes.
Mere photographic representation and passing that off as painting/art, which can be easily wrought, will not do, nor will conveyor-belt production. With thought and contemplation, communication too is imperative. So fascinated is he by aesthetic interpretation that he praises Antony Gormley’s works, especially the ‘Quantum Cloud’. He is taken up by Gormley’s use of material and expression. It is a magnificent sight to behold, he says.
We are looking at some works from his brick kiln series. He confesses he painted many of these, but the challenge has been, each time, how to create – again the elementary “how to express aesthetically” question.
“As an artist that is my primary concern, but I am a social being too and I want to set my works within certain socio-political contexts,” giving birth to the ‘how to convey’ conundrum. He negotiates it well in ‘Sahodaran Ayyappan Bhavanam’ – a painting is like a meditation. The social reformer’s ancestral home is fore-grounded with a cluster of mangroves – “the mangrove is my aesthetic expression, my input as artist.” There is a contemplative calm with his other paintings, such as those of Remana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Sree Narayana Guru.
The ‘higher’ spiritual beings meditate at relatively common spaces – Remana Maharshi meditates in an open space in the company of a cow and her calf – for he saw all creatures as equal, Paramahamsa, ethereally, at a brick kiln or simply, as the Guru in a meditative pose looking straight, it appears, into your soul. The imagery is minimal, but powerful. Each image has its place within the context of the works. For instance there is a painting of Lakshmi, a cow, said to be an important part of Maharshi lore. It is packed with images and symbolism, a magnet even for the casual eye.
He, literally, roots his spirituality in Earth – as a source of birth and renewal, as a source of energy. And by virtue of the fact everything born out of it and soil is spiritual. Shaji acknowledges Remana Maharshi’s influence on his work and thoughts.
A product of the Government College of Fine Arts, Shaji is a recipient of Kerala Lalitakala Akademi’s State Award in 1992. He went to Shantiniketan for his masters but left it because it wasn’t his idea of studies.
The break has been only in the context of exhibitions; he has been working on commissioned works. “Spending time to grow, working on growing as an artist.” This year, for this show, he says he felt prepared. But not without persuasion by the curator Radha Gomaty, “I felt that I didn’t have a considerable body of work ready to be confident enough for a solo show. A solo show is a responsibility.”
He is scheduled to show at Dyu Art Cafe in Bengaluru.
His technique, how he expresses is a big part of what he creates – water colours, acrylic colours, dry pastels, tea wash, water colour and graphite. There is a series of sorts in water colours, 30 cm x 30 cm, “done when I am on a break from the larger works.” The craft that has gone into these is as deft and intense as the larger works, the painter’s query seeking answers.
The show concludes on July 31.
