Is art beautiful? Not always. Sometimes, when the artist sets out with the aim of self-expression, he may toss aside the beauty bit. “Do you think I cannot make the woman's face pretty? I can, but that's not the objective of my art. For me, my self-expression is the key. I have to be happy with my creation. I have to be in control of what I am doing,” says artist Chippa Sudhakar. His studio has the air of a village house, with okra, tomatoes, pumpkin, ash gourd, spinach and other vegetables being grown on a small patch of land. Sitting under a massive banyan tree beside a rock, he talks about his work.
Early in his career, Sudhakar decided that printmaking was his forte. Inside his studio is a green hand roller under which prints etched out in zinc or copper sheets are reproduced. Strewn about are tools for woodworking, drills, wires, pungent liquids and other equipment that leave you confused about whether the man is an artist or a craftsman. Sudhakar shows some of his earlier litho prints that he created while pursuing a course in Baroda. A black and white print shows the curvy diffuse line that Sudhakar has not forsaken even when he has adapted to mixed media and uses acrylics and lacquers to embellish his ideas. Then he shows one of his current mixed-media works, a wooden board with a layer of aluminium foil chipped away to reveal a pattern with brilliant acrylic colours.
It was a chance encounter with his English teacher Pran Rao in Class VIII in Malakpet that set Sudhakar on the path of art. “He was the one who realised that I was a little better than others when it came to drawing when I helped him with a paper. One day, we both cycled to Vaikuntam's place in Himayatnagar from Malakpet. I met Vaikuntam, who was then living in a one-room home and studio, he said, ‘ Yendukaya ee field lo ki vostavu .' He didn't want me to struggle the way he was doing at that point of time. Next day we both cycled and met Kavita Deuskar who explained the nitty-gritty of pursuing a course in arts at the JNTU,” says Sudhakar. The artist is still in touch with Pran Rao (who has scripted Rangula Kala and Ma Bhoomi) and helps him with illustrations of his poems and stories.
Sudhakar was born in Gurramguda on the fringes of Hyderabad to a prosperous land-owning family. His tryst with art was initially marked by frustration and angst. “I could learn only so much from the teachers here.” He eventually went to Ahmedabad and met Ravinder Reddy, director of the Kanoria Art Gallery. “He guided me and I got a seat in Baroda. It was then that I was exposed to serious art and I became serious and started focussing on discovering my identity as an artist,” says Sudhakar. “But I had to cut short my quest when my father, who was not very close to me, passed away. A man cannot always get what he wants,” he says with an air of finality. Ultimately, he feels that the scholarship programme in Boston's Zee Mays Open Studio had the most lasting impact on his own growth as an artist.
Sitting on a plastic chair, daubing a bit of red acrylic within a small square, Sudhakar says, “I feel refreshed and rejuvenated whenever I work here. Once my children grow up and are on their own I will come here and stay put.
I want to run a camp for artists where they can come and practise their craft. I want to share my knowledge with students.” Sudhakar has taught before, at JNTU between 1992 and 2005. He left off after realising that he was not being creative or helping students as much as he wanted to. “But I have not given up. I can play host to some students and work with them,” he says. “We don't have a culture of art appreciation in our schools. Some of the schools don't even have an arts teacher and that is the reason why our art scene has not attained a real high.
The appreciative circle is limited to artists and a few connoisseurs,” says Sudhakar “We have a tradition of not sharing ideas or mentoring. That's what I don't like about Hyderabad. I am willing to share whatever I have with others because I will be able to learn new things in the process,” he says.
“This mixed media gives me a lot of satisfaction as it requires me to be constantly alert to ideas and modifications. People think it is difficult but I see it as a world of possibilities. One chip more and the whole object changes,” says Sudhakar.
