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You Shall Remain Hidden
The recent semi retrospective show of the noted artist Amitava Das at Gallery Espace, New Delhi invokes the feelings of a simulacrum in Surya Singh. Analyzing the works of Amitava from 1970s to till date, the author tries to capture the creative spirit that intoxicates the artist to indulge in his drawings.
“You shall remain hidden…” Amitave’s retrospective show since 1970 to 2007 at gallery Espace, New Delhi evokes deep feelings of visual imaginary with imaginative transformation of optical experience and apparent reality of his eternal world. Comprising approx hundred and twenty works on paper of scales varying between 3 inches and 3 feet with meticulous detailing and brilliant line drawings, the exhibition was declared as the departure of the new season by gallery Espace. Covering a long history of four decades, the exhibition needs a critical rather than historical analysis, as the artist himself would like to call him as a non-narrative artist. Albeit the earliest ‘Heads’ (pen and ink) in black and brown clolours show young Amitava’s highly descriptive and prove his alignment with the Progressives and the ‘Souza influence’ on the artist, he thrives on experimental possibilities of his medium to explore his own visual language. As years pass on his language becomes richer and he is well succeed in creating his own vocabulary. Divided in four sections according to decades, the exhibition is arranged in an introspective way to reach the artist’s perpetual conflict within.
During 1970s young Amitava, a fresh graduate from college, chose drawing as his intimate medium (due to limited space, money and unavailability of materials as artist mentions) to exploit his potential. More over, his literary references and involvement with coffee house circle indicates he might be spending more money on books than required art materials. His raw energy started getting refined through its own gestural form and developing organic characters with existential feelings. Longing to build an entirely different and individual rendering is the quintessential feature of his artistic journey. Pre-occupation with existentialism and nostalgia of childhood are the most prominent characteristic of his 70s drawings where figures assimilate with nature; trees, birds, cloud etc are very recurrent motives. Breeze is always highlighted by bending all the figures at one side. Novice Amitava’s affection for nature is predominant here with pleasant vegetable colours, and landscape casually drawn like that in children’s drawing books. Poetic impression and rhythmic movement of lines never let recurrent figures to go towards saturation. Each time they seem more intimate. However less, he was not totally unaffected by fear, insecurity and state sponsored terror during emergency. Some brooding and agonized figures confirms his mental state of that period in very undertone shades.
We do not have enough drawings from the early 80s . Whatever has been displayed is composed during late 80s. It is the period when the artist becomes more figurative and concentrates on single (often) human figures. It shows a steady development in his pictorial language. Now he does not thrive on nostalgia of childhood spent in Shimla rather becomes more individual and mature enough to stretch bold lines. Spontaneity and automatism become clearer. He has done some wash drawings also. His artistic journey has become more concentrated and lines have been bold enough to be identified by their directions. Works become more casual as if one has drawn it while listening to music or sitting on a window sill or in a lawn. Figures drawn in profile show existential predicament and the force of strokes decide empowered evolution of these works.
The last phase of 80s and early 90s show a rapid transition and transformation of Amitava’s artistic ideas. Those were the years of great historical change when we experienced an epochal shift in Indian art. The pace of society was unprecedented that multiplies itself every succeeding year. Almost incautious from all these upheavals (from artistic point of view) he was involved in his own eternal world, artistic life and traveling around. Here we see clear indication that he sustains a number of options by preparing material base for his action. He starts to build up space of visual field as structure so that spontaneous thoughts and movements could be explored. He starts to choose different materials, usually tickets that enable/ authorize one to get into a particular zone, to make collage and to develop relief feature on his works. This tactile effect was reached with torn tickets, stickers, and crumpled rice paper, glue, and pigments etc. Circles (not always perfect) become most recurrent motifs and happen almost in every drawing. In fact this indicates a pause, halt in thought process which starts with nothingness. Figures are totally fleshless and are drawn spontaneously.
Well trained in drawing and mastered in his style, it seems the artist starts drawing with nothing in mind, without any pre-conceived ideas. Once he starts he draws a line of few centimeters and take a pause but pen keep rotating there automatically until it departs from there. Availability of a vast range of materials and pens of different shades, tips, and colours and permanent markers make the artist more playful and experimental. The previous process of elimination now becomes assimilation. His colours of previous decades are pushed out by brighter and richer ones. Bold, confident lines, evocative colours and dynamic brushstrokes with rhythm show his elemental involvement and proficiency of his language.
With the advent of the new century, the artist seems to be involved in certain mental journeys; journey engages him more than anything and he seems collecting his memories and strange encounters like a solitary reaper. It is a time when the drawing acquires sharp edge and violent red and black become dominant colours. The works of this period displayed here are like a travelogue with all his inner conflict and isolation. Lines become more vertical than earlier phases. The black jungle of thick but soft lines moving around the sides in circular motion outlines his isolation and solitude. During his visit to Paris in 2002 he creates some pure abstract works. There are ample reasons that “you shall remain hidden…” in the age of virtual reality. As Jean Baudrillard observes what defines our society is the endless exchange and consumption of object signs. Amitava also encounters these object signs in the pages of some magazine and newspaper where every sign (product) argues with enough reason that buying “Anything else is a compromise.” These pictures and advertisements put Amitava in a terrible predicament. Simultaneously, they give Amitava fringe benefits to play with them. Having nothing in mind artist picks his markers and starts highlighting and underlining the pictures and texts vertically and horizontally and, thus, he produces some interesting works with a totally new visual ambience. His journeys to America, Dubai, and elsewhere help him to compose some good works. His attempt of boarding the limitless space by lines (different colours) beyond form, with a desire to have a form, creates different layers of thick and thin lines. Not always breathing, the undertone lines peep from the shades of dominant abstract lines and many times die under suffocation. The complex shapes made of lines create pure abstract forms. These broken dotted lines do not necessarily take birth but many times hide their body inside the womb of artist’s mind. |
