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Etched in black in white
RANA SIDDIQUI
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Anupam Sud finally comes out with a retrospective exhibition and a book spanning four decades.
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GROUND BREAKING “The Howl” (1997) one of Anupam Sud’s impressive etchings.
In her childhood, she was made to wear boyish clothes. “Maybe to make up for the lack of a brother among three sisters,” as she puts it. And the art she learnt, in London, was also from the male domain — printmaking. She and her s
isters would act as ‘weights’ for their athlete father. The conversation at home was usually on topics like how to get a well-sculpted physique! Meet Anupam Sud. Quite contrary to her delicate, short stature and her reticent nature, her works are bold statements in feminism and a sharp comment on an unfriendly social milieu. Even the process of making such art (etching, printmaking) is tough, for it requires a lot of physical labour.
Sud, an artist of eminence who has always shied away from the camera and interviews and lives quietly on the outskirts of Delhi. Instead of spending her evenings in the “party circle” she chooses to spend time with her students and share their vision of art.
Sud excels in etching the contours of the human body, both male and female, in black and white. She combines its mystery with the social dilemmas and dialogues, pains and pleasures that she observes around her. Her remarkable works done over a period of four decades were mounted at Lalit Kala Gallery this week. The inaugural day also saw the unveiling of a book on her titled “Transgression in Print” that documents her personal and artistic life till date. The book is published by Palette Art Gallery.
The hurdles
Recalls the artist, “I faced a lot of rejections while making nudes and portraying the way I thought was right. I had to bring my work to a point where it was ‘acceptable’. But those who loved my art always said that my nudes never looked naked. They were intense and thought-provoking. I never drew my figures to represent them as sexual beings but as symbols of steely determination, or fragile and prone to societal pressures. I never cared for criticism though.” Sud had a tough time proving herself as an able teacher of printmaking while applying to the Delhi College of Art after she obtained this qualification from London in 1973.
“I applied three times and was not even short-listed for an interview. I had to show my drawing skills to prove my worth the fourth time. In the college too, lack of infrastructure for printmaking was another hurdle. I made my own ground cakes, chemicals, iron blocks, coats and paints. I got only an aqua-tint box. But it was a great learning experience for me too.”
Introducing and then establishing printmaking as an art form was one more hindrance before Sud. Till today, she says, printmaking cannot compete with painting.
“I never took to art to sell. Those days art was more for appreciation than sale. Today people talk of my nude figures but those days no one did. They looked at it as an art form. No one questioned why I was painting nudes. In fact, I got wholehearted support from family and friends,” says Sud.
Today, Sud has her own studio at her home where she spends up to 12 hours every day.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
