Creation, collaboration and evolution mark the narrative of SG Vasudev's long artistic sojourn. "Inner Resonance: A Return to Sama", a retrospective curated by Sadanand Menon. The exhibition traces this journey through te artist’s earliest and latest, known and unknown works, forging connections. The senior artist discusses elements from his oeuvre and the artistic urge to bridge the gap between visual arts and theatre, poetry, literature. Edited excerpts from the interview:
Artist S.G. Vasudev in Bangalore. Photo: K. Gopinathan 12-07-2004
Copper reliefs
I started working with copper in 1975 and since then I have done nearly every series in copper. For instance, this human being depicted as tree (pointing to a work) was intended to be a sculpture but ended up as a copper relief. I feel the medium complements my sketches. Earlier I was doing it in a traditional way but slowly I started doing my kind of work on it. I love the medium and am so much more confident about it now.
Drawings
Drawing is my strength. I feel so close to it. I love working on drawings. I don't just draw as a reference for my paintings.
A minimalistic series based on AK Ramanujan's poetry
I knew Ramanujan from the 60s. I had done a cover for his book. Sometime in 1992, he visited me and suggested a collaboration but he passed away in 1993. But I had done 30-35 drawings based on his poetry which was shown by Sakshi gallery in Bengaluru and then in Chennai, Delhi, London and Chicago. He was a visual poet and a contemporary poet. In any case, I feel visual art and poetry are very close.
Rarely seen realistic works from college days
I used to do this kind of work in my classrooms at the Government College of Arts in Madras in the 60s. The village scene and these portraits have hardly been seen but Sadanand Menon wanted them to be part of the exhibition so as to show my journey and the skill behind it.
The tree of life - a recurring motif in his work
It properly came into my work in 1975, before that I was doing it unconsciously. I read about the philosophy of Kalpavriksha. I also read DR Bendre's poem "Kalpa Vriksha Vrindavanam" which left a deep impression on my mind. I also realised that I could solve a lot of issues with it. I could do impressionistic work, I could symbolise it. That helped me a lot.
Rhapsody, Fantasy, Theatre of Life - Seminal series
One series led to another. The Fantasy series had landscapes with various elements like water, mountain, sun, moon, stars, and trees depicted on my canvas, whereas Rhapsody is my response to music with lots of layers and textures. The Theatre of life series is about life being played out all around us so you see frames, and curtains amongst other things.
In my works since 2013, you would be able to observe the dominance of whites. I first create different layers with white on my canvas but since I don't feel very confident about it, I add colours to it and then remove it. It is like Raagam, taalam and pallavi.
Tapestries
Travelling abroad, I would often see artistic tapestries and then one day I met MF Husain in Bengaluru, he used to work with a weaver. He introduced me to Subbarayulu and we have been collaborating for the last 22 years. I choose the painting and give it to him. He wants complicated works to be recreated on tapestries. So far, we have done 50 tapestries. Subbarayulu is coming every alternate day doing live demonstration of his work which displays his work. Such collaborations have been very important to my growth and evolution as an artist.
(Inner Resonance: A Return to Sama is on display at NGMA, Bengaluru, 49, Palace Road till September 30. On September 12, a multimedia presentation: Tribute to Ramanujan will be held at 6 pm, near the Mirror Pool, NGMA )
