Balan Nambiar is an artist with several exceptions and firsts to his credit. As his creative works and research on ritual art celebrate his six decades of artistic life, thevNational Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru, will hold a month-long retrospective of this veteran painter turned enamellist and sculptor. Curated by Sadanand Menon, the unconventional inauguration of the retrospective would will take place on February 4, Sunday.
A few years ago, while honouring Balan Nambiar at a function in Bengaluru, the late U.R. Ananthamurthy commented, “while his research work is based in Kerala, the soil for his creative works is Karnataka.” That was a clear analysis of Balan Nambiar, whose base has been Bengaluru since 1971.
Why Bengaluru? “At some point of time during my Madras days and during the final year of the course at the Fine Arts College there, I had an inner call that I must move. There were emotional conflicts between my guru, the late KCS Paniker, and me and I thought I must leave the place, which, while looking back today, I think was the correct decision.”
BANGALORE, 19/09/2008: Balan Nambiar, Artist, Sculptor and Photographer at his residence in Jayamahal Extn., Bangalore. Photo: K. Gopinathan 19/09/08
When Nambiar landed in Bengaluru in 1971, he had nothing in his pocket to sustain a living. The Brothers’ Holy Cross provided free facilities to conduct art classes for adults on the condition that he had to teach to four of their inmates without fees. Since 1971, he has been conducting classes for drawings and painting to children without charging a fee; his lineage of artists has now crossed over 2,000.
“Fortunately in my entire artist career, right from my initial days, I was able to make a life through the sale of creative works. Indeed there were ups and downs, there were periods that I had to manage with minimum comfort but somehow sustenance was ensured,” adds Balan Nambiar whose first exhibition was in 1967 before joining the College of Fine Arts.
Curated by Sadanand Menon, the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru will hold a month-long retrospective of his creative work and research on ritual art to celebrate six decades of his artistic career from February 4 onwards marked by an unconventional inauguration.
Why ‘unconventional’? “My life is also unconventional in all sense. In general, art enthusiasts are little interested in such functions with speeches by VIPs. An ensemble of live Mizhavu, led by young maestro Kalamandalam Sajith Vijayan, followed by the lighting of altar wicks by students, who had attended my art classes since 1971, would be the main event of the inaugural function,” says Nambiar. Rm Palaniappan, well-known printmaker, who has been the Secretary of Regional Centre of the Lalit Kala Akademi, Chennai, is the designer of the catalogue and the exhibition, which will comprise the works done since 1957.
There will be sketches and drawings in Indian ink, charcoal, pastels and paintings in water colour and oil, apart from photographs of the ritual arts of the West Coast. About sixty jewellery enamel paintings on silver and copper, all done at the studio of Paolo De Poli, in Italy, might be significant in the Indian art context. Sculptures in bronze, mild steel and about fifty stainless steel sculptures both indoors and out-door will be on show. In addition, lectures, panel discussions, gallery walks for the visitors and musical programmes are planned during the month-long exhibition, which concludes on March 3.
Special gallery walks will be arranged for groups of students of architecture and the fine arts. Nambiar himself will be giving three lectures on topics such as Golden Ratio, Fibonacci sequences and Fractles in Mathematics, Nature and the Arts; Comparative study of Bhutas of South Canara and Teyyams of North Kerala; and On Children’s Art Education.
Balan Nambiar is the only Indian sculptor, who has conducted a solo exhibition of stainless steel sculptures and enamel paintings on silver and copper. He is also known for his outdoor sculptures. Till 1999 he was doing sculptures on iron (normal steel); from 2000 onwards, it is mainly on stainless steel. “It is durable and easy to maintain,” informs Nambiar. About 100 stainless steel sculptures have been done by him so far. The exhibition consists of 12 out-door sculptures in mild steel done before 1999 and five out-door sculptures in stainless steel done after 2000.
Earlier Nambiar had worked with clay, wood, fibreglass reinforced concrete (GRC), bronze, etc. as well. Indian Oil Corporation, New Delhi, had commissioned him to do a stainless steel sculpture which is nearly two metres in height. His tallest stainless steel sculpture, seven metre high, is the one he executed for Bank Note Printing Mill, Mysore, in 2015.
Nambiar’s method of sculpting is through a variety of processes such as making the sketches, drawings in various angles, computer generated designs, laser cutting, water jet cutting, TIG-welding, grinding, polishing and assembling. Inspired by the concept of Kannadibimbam — mirror idol — which is a strong ethos of Indian culture, especially in Kerala, he made several arresting mirror forms in stainless steel. Traditionally, the prabhavali (the outer frame like an aura) comes with intricate artistic designs and is removable.
The prabhavali magnifies the Kannadibimbam found in the shrine of mother Goddess (Bhagavathy) and treated at par with idol. “The Mother Goddess concept in the Shinto religion of Japan is also symbolically represented by metal mirror,” says Nambiar, whose research papers on Kannatibimbam, Viralippattu (the auspicious cloth specially woven), Valampiri Shankha (the conch shell with its edge on the right side), etc., are considered as authentic studies. ‘Monument to the Assassinated’ (1995) is another significant sculpture. Moulded with steel, granite and Kota stone, it was executed in Delhi as a part of an international artists workshop sponsored by the Japan Foundation, Goethe Institut (Max Mueller Bhavan) and central Lalit Kala Akademi.
Balan Nambiar pioneered the intricate jewellery enamel paintings on silver and copper in modern India, even though enamelling as an art form was prevalent in the country since the Mughal period, probably through the European goldsmiths associated with them. Enamel colours are not produced in India and those used by the artisans such as goldsmiths were limited in range. A few of the Indian artists who tried jewellery enamel paintings have used limited colours and techniques. Further, the works are highly restricted in size. The enamel colours are made out of silicon sand, sodium carbonate, potassium carbonate and lead mixed with metallic oxides and is of four types — namely, opaque, translucent, opalescent and transparent.
Paolo De Poli, considered the father of modern jewellery enamel paintings, was Nambiar’s father-in-law. When he understood that Nambiar’s creations were different in technique, colour and concepts, he extended all facilities of his studio to Balan in appreciation and asked him to work more with enamel.
Hailing from Kannapuram in Kannur district, Balan Nambiar started his career as a drawing teacher in a High School in Kunissery, Palakkad. Soon he quit joined Southern Railway in Chennai as a draughtsman. A meeting with veeran Paniker changed the course for the young aspirant. “During my visit to an exhibition, I met Akkitham Narayanan, who told that Paniker would be happy to meet me as he had heard from the catalogue of the Dusssara Exhibition about my winning prizes,” recalls Nambiar.
While Akkitham and I were leaving the exhibition hall, Paniker was entering. “Akkitham introduced me to him. On Paniker’s suggestion, the next Sunday, I went to his residence at the campus of the College of Fine Arts with several drawings and water colour paintings. Paniker was sorry for my wasting time with the railways and not taking up art as my profession. It was Paniker who advised Nambiar him to join The Madras Art Club which was functioning at the college. Paniker was fond of him and encouraged him to read more and watch more exhibitions. Keen on becoming a full time student at the College of Fine Arts under Paniker, Nambiar resigned from the Railways and joined the college. he resigned from the railways, foregoing his regular income earning job, to facilitate this.
During his Chennai days, Balan Nambiar devoted most of the evenings to watch performances across the city — both music and dance. It was Nambiar, who plotted the land at Cholamandal and made the layout drawings using his technical background as a draughtsman.
“Paniker was a great mentor. His greatness lay in the fact that he was exceptional in spotting talent,” observes Nambiar. “He was like the super powerful grand uncle under the feudal system. In due course there were professional issues between his son Nandagopal and me which strained our relationship. On the day I finished the final examination I left Madras for Ooty and then to Bangalore where I eventually settled.” It is another story that years later, on invitation from Panikar, Balan went to his retrospective in Chennai and the two shared some poignant moments.
Nambiar’s association with metal sculptures started at this point. Shankar Hegde, whom he knew during his Madras days and who owned a factory in Kanakapura Road, suggested Nambiar make a metal sculpture. After the first sculpture, Hegde asked him to do more work by offering the facilities, while the raw materials were procured by Nambiar. Hard work led to a solo exhibition of 24 garden sculptures, first in India, in the lawn of Hotel Ashoka in 1975. Nambiar began selling his works around this time.
Did he not meet Paniker after moving to Bangalore?
“I did, but not under happy circumstances,” recalls Nambiar. In 1976, he came to know from a journalist friend that Paniker was fighting cancer. Like a rare coincidence, when he reached home, he saw an invitation for Paniker’s retrospective exhibition being held in Madras. There was a small note inside, written by someone, saying, “Paniker would be happy if you visit the exhibition.”
Nambiar decided to rush to Madras by the next train. His photographer friend K.G. Somasekharan went along with him. “Paniker was moved by my visit; seeing him in such condition I had tears in my eyes. Mrs. Paniker too was moved. Paniker said, ‘I heard that you are doing well in Bangalore.’ When I showed him some photographs of my garden sculptures, he appreciated my works. The pictures shot by Somasekharan during that meeting are considered as the best of both Paniker and his wife. I did send prints of all those pictures, 10 of him and six of his wife, and I came to know that he was very happy about it.”
The late M. Govindan was another source of inspiration for Balan Nambiar and under his guidance Nambiar initiated the first Karnataka Malayala Sangama in Bangalore in 1974.
Visit to Europe
What would he call the crucial breakthrough in his career?
“From my college days to 1977, almost every year I used to conduct a solo exhibition and paintings and sculptures were sold regularly. In 1974 I had an exhibition in Mumbai. Air India bought two of my paintings and in exchange I was offered a ticket to go to anywhere in Europe. I used the offer in 1977. With the help of the Malayalam novelist M. Mukundan, who was working at the French Embassy, I got an invitation from France for a 21-day visit. I was invited also to visit Germany by the German government. Combining these trips I visited almost all the significant museums.”
Nambiar discovered a new medium in the process. At the South Asian Institute at Heidelberg, where he presented his works, a person from the audience asked him whether he could do a sculpture with a new medium. The suggestion was GRC. After a visit to the R&D of Portland Cement, Nambiar I accepted the offer. He made a sculpture with GRC within four weeks and it was exhibited at the Constructa-78, Hannover.
Nambiar’s stay was extended for four months during which he made five more sculptures. With the money, he stayed on for eleven months in Europe visiting nine countries and every important museum. “It opened a window to to me a panoramic view of European and African art,” describes Nambiar.
Back in Bangalore, where he returned, challenges waited. The building in which he was living at Brothers’ Holy Cross had been demolished and his belongings were scattered; some of the books were lost.”
Nambiar made a new beginning by resuming his art classes for children. On an invitation (1980) from Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, he presented an illustrated lecture at India International Centre, Delhi which was another break. The lecture was repeated at the NCPA, Mumbai, and the text of the lecture was published in MARG under the guest editorship of V.K. Narayana Menon.
Next summer he was invited to visit Kashmir. In Srinagar, Dr Karan Singh, who was present at his lecture at IIC, advised him to apply for Nehru Fellowship. That was in 1981 and he got it.
“After that till date I have not signed an application for any fellowship or grant or award, but many came in search of me,” says Nambiar.
Nambiar thinks it is high time India had a few Institutes of Fine Arts of world class.
As appendix E to the report (see box) Nambiar submitted a paper on the necessity of a law in India to protect works of art in public spaces because works are stolen or lost forever.
In 2004, one of his commissioned works installed at Lavelle Road in Bangalore was removed by the police using bulldozers and not even a piece of steel used for it could be retrieved. A photograph of the sculpture will find a prominent place in the retrospective.
What are his the recurring motifs in his creative works? A series of stainless steel sculptures of cactus stands as his signature. Cactus asserts its right to exist in the odd, uncongenial, hostile environment. Often Nambiar felt his life was like a cactus. Another motif found in his creative works is cosmic spiral and the mathematic principles associated with it.
