Comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell concurred that human beings are not so much looking for the meaning of life, but for the experience of being alive. Can we measure the touch of breeze or describe the scent of a rose? Abstract art is about relying on our senses, not approaching art by logical interpretations. It’s about undoing all that we know, leaving aside pre-conceptions and coming to view a painting. The process of painting is about the deepest connection the painter can find without manipulation. Painting, here, is an experience. Here are conversations with five abstract artists about the philosophy being their painting. Their works are on view at ‘The Romance of Abstract’ at Vinnyasa Art Gallery till August 30
Sheetal Gattani
What is your process?
You see these bits of bright red? That’s where I scratched the canvas. It is my relationship with the canvas. I am obsessed with squares and multiples of squares and these are 18” x 36” canvases. I start with one colour and it becomes another by layering. The process decides the work. A bright blue becomes a burnt brown. I may crease the canvas at times. Sometimes I need a line to hold on. As the light changes in my studio, the subtle textures of light and shadow inferences in my painting.
Do you translate architectural forms to your painting?
This is not about forms, buildings, trees and people. This is a non-memory zone. It is about the present moment and oneness with that.
Your result does not come from any specific intention?
It is not possible to pre-conceive a work like this. I do not make it happen, you see, that’s not what it’s all about. The painting happens. It will take care of itself.
Achuthan Kudallur
Can you talk about your approach to abstract art?
Mine is a gradual entry to abstraction. I was a figurative painter earlier. There are still elements of nature and other forms in my painting. Now I do not need a reason to make a painting. I don’t make sketches or studies. It’s like learning music for many years and then singing. The colour leads me. If you try to control it, the space becomes dead.
How do you begin?
I spread one colour all over the canvas. In that, I slowly introduce other shades. Those shades look after themselves. If you force anything, then nothing can come of it. Sometimes, I put lines in a band. Two adjoining colours make a drawing. My forms are not geometrical. They are organic.
Do people try and identify forms in your painting?
They do something wrong. They start locating small shapes. They may find something — a tree, a human figure. Don’t look for these things, I tell them. Make all these disappear! Sense of order is not decided by rigid geometry. It is the total image.
Harsha Vardhana
You said you Could explain abstract painting in one line?
Rather than seeking meaning one should put meaning into it. There can be a hundred meanings. The beholder can never have the same experience as the artist. Both experiences are mutually exclusive.
What is your painting process? Triangles appear consistently in your work.
I cover the entire paper with colour first. Then I build it up with layers. It may start as a red painting and end as a green one. The triangle is a form. I was always attracted to the triangle. When I was young, my father, artist J. Swaminathan exposed me to Paul Klee’s work. I liked the way he used triangles.
Is there any connection with your work as a bio-scientist?
Not consciously. When I examined a drop of blood under the microscope, it looked like a Jackson Pollock!
Does the meaning of the painting go on shifting as the context changes?
What is the meaning of an object? What are those lotuses in the urali ? First thing, lend your eye. Don’t be afraid of approaching a painting. It is simply the experience.
Akhilesh
So far, all of you have said you do not intend any specific form. Does your art have a connection with the tribal art forms?
We make these distinctions. If people in a jungle make art, we call it tribal art. But actually, there is no such thing.
How does your painting start?
I put some colour on the whole canvas. The moment I put another colour, it talks to me. The painting talks to me and it grows. It is a dialogue where it is difficult to differentiate between the painting and myself.
How did your work in abstract painting start?
I worked only with black for 10 years. Over time, images form. It was a long journey with black. And then when I came back to colour, a whole range was open to me. Now, that’s an experience. And when you have an experience, it remains with you for the rest of your life.
Manish Pushkale
Can you talk about your painting?
It’s about the process. I’ve been working for 20 years. There is a certain clarity that comes from experience. Yet, I don’t want to impose my experience on the canvas. I worked with geology and remote sensing from satellite. In geology, you find erosion, deposition. My painting is of de-application. About removing. It allows me to think on what it could be. It is about searching if it exists, where it does.
That is how we search in daily life as well.
How do people see your paintings?
They find my paintings meditative. Why is it serene? How can you feel that without knowing the image? In the day we see known forms, in the night we dream — we are seeing always. With all other senses, we use rejection. But we rarely reject with our eyes. I want to show: this is what you have forgotten to see.
How can I relate to your painting?
In other art forms, the grammar is already there. A dancer will not dance without that vocabulary. In painting, you create your own grammar and language. The foundation is very open. That’s why the intrusion is there. And that’s why painting becomes challenging.
