 Anil Kumar
Born in 1980 in Kasargodu, Kerala, Anil Kumar obtained BFA in Painting from the Fine Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram (2005). He joined the Faculty of Fine Arts, M.S.University, Baroda in 2005 for doing MFA in Painting and currently he is a final year student there.
Anil Kumar has participated in several group shows in Kerala and Mumbai. His initial concerns were image making and exploring the space within the pictorial frame. He followed the narrative techniques developed by the doyens of Baroda quite closely in the beginning and later on shifted to a non-figurative style. His works are widely appreciated by art collectors in India.
When did he start working seriously?
“I joined Trivandrum Fine Arts College in 2001. Before that I was doing my graduate studies in Commerce. From childhood onwards I had developed an affinity for the visual language. I used to draw a lot. During the final year of my Commerce graduation, I decided to quit and join Fine Arts College.”
Who inspired him into art?
“My cousin brother Rajendran is an artist and is a graduate from the Trivandrum Fine Arts College. I have observed him working and he initiated me into serious art.”
What were Anil Kumar’s early paintings like?
“Trivandrum School and its expressionist narrative language influenced me considerably in the beginning. During the BFA years I experimented a lot with colours and space. Then I initiated myself into the typical Trivandrum School of Painting with its distortions and stylistic presentation.”
Who influenced him as a student?
“Trivandrum College has a wonderful library and I learned art history from this library. I went through the reproductions of several artists at that and keeping the pace with general practice of the school, I looked deep into the works of Vincent Vangogh, Pablo Picasso and the German Expressionists. But looking back, I feel that those were a student like pursuit. Now my works do not share anything with their language.”
Who were his ideals at that time?
“In the Indian contemporary art scene, I found Surendran Nair quite interesting. Also I followed the works of Gulam Mohammed Sheikh and Bhupen Khakkar. I liked the narrative language of these artists.”
How does Anil Kumar look at his transition from Trivandrum to Baroda?
“Baroda turned out to be a revelation for me. However, it was with a lot of confusion. On the one hand my preoccupation with the narrative language got into a head on collision with the language of mediatic realism practiced by artists like Shibu Natesan. I was totally confused in the beginning. And soon I found a way out of it. I consciously rejected both the narrative school as well as mediatic realism. I tried to experiment with a visual language, which is quite condensed in narration but devoid of human figures.”
Anil Kumar is successful in the market place. How does he look at it?
“My works were earlier identified and recognized by an art promoter based in Kerala and since then he has been promoting my works. I think some of the works have reached good art collections in India. But I do not think that my visual language is a fully developed one. I have so many concerns that I would like to bring in my works.”
How does he explain his recent works?
“As an artist coming from Kerala, I am quite aware of the socio-political problems in general. I would like to make my works a complex set of engagements within the pictorial format. I deal with the issues which are cynical and analytical at the same time. The landscapes that I do are organic and mechanical at the same time. A bunch of corn can suddenly reveal a complex circuit of optical fibers. There is a deliberate attempt from my side to make my works look challenging for the viewer. I am interested in the global politics of culture. My works attempt to capture the critical sense of this politics of culture.”
Which are his favorite mediums?
“At present I enjoy working with oil colours on canvas. Also I enjoy doing watercolours. But I think I would be doing certain projects that would break the pictorial frames and conventions. However, now I am engaged in painting and it would take me to the projects that I would like to do in future.”
Does he think that art can change the society?
“I do not think that art can change the society in a big way. But artists are the people who share certain concerns with the society. Sharing is very important for a better living condition.”
Where do we find Anil Kumar in coming two years?
“I will be working on a lot of canvases. My plan is to settle Delhi for a while and work towards newer projects.” |
