Interview

• 
• 
• 
• 

The Abstraction of the Mountains

The 1939-born Laxman Shreshtha's art is based on the relationship between an idealised topography of buoyant forms, and a real landscape of mountain and river valley. The panorama of his thoughts is wider than the canvas. Echoing with the wish of surpass, they risk their argument to personify a contemporary sublime. Shubhalakshmi Shukla talks to Shreshtha about his perception of contemporary art.

Shubhalakshmi Shukla: ‘Geologies of the mind’, the title of the show, would you like to talk about the present suite of works? 

Laxman Shreshtha: The title is taken from the catalogue write-up by Ranjit Hoskote. As you know this is an inaugural show for the new space Hirji Jehangir Gallery. Earlier this space was known as Chemould Art Gallery. In 1963, when this gallery was opening, I was also invited and had participated. For this show, I decided to have paintings with historical values, so I have selected works from 1980-2008. There are paintings from 1980, ‘85-‘86, ‘90-‘91, ‘98, 2000-‘02 and so on. All the canvases are collected from private collections. On one wall there are watercolors and charcoal drawings from 2007-8. These are the recent works.  

S.S: Would you consider these as landscapes with actual objects like trees, houses, hills, planes and such elements?
L.S: I think your observation is very correct. I always had the tendency of believing in abstract kind of thinking and painting. When I was in the school, I was not allowed to do those; I had to do figurative work. But when I went back to the hostel, I restore the figures and made them unrecognizable.

When I started truly as an abstract painter, I could not take away my experiences and childhood memories of mountains because I grew up on high mountains. So, I felt why not begin with the form of mountains, through which I could bring about equally abstract elements. Because I was not painting the mountains, I was only trying to explore the emotions through the forms which could be looking like mountains. Slowly these went into the background, and now you really cannot see them easily.

But I strongly believe in Nature, which will never go away from my painting. Nature complies of everything in simplified abstract forms along with human beings and human emotions. It can be a way to express in a painting. I find it very challenging and rewarding.

S.S: Would you like to recollect the days when this idiom was getting shaped in your hands? What was the scene within the institute, or at Ecole de Beaux Art where you went for further studies?   

L.S: Abstract painting was started by Kandinsky. He was a German and came to France as it had the atmosphere to receive different kind of expressions and thinking in art and various other disciplines. I feel there are two distinct ways in the art world; one is of figuration, of theory. They call it social awareness, and another category is that which does not give you a direct visual experience of the world around. Even though they are from the same society, but it reflects temperaments of two kinds of human beings. One who depends upon the theory and develop the theory, their paintings depend on the theory, that means I can make a drawing and paint on it. Another kind of temperament is that one starts the journey and it gets into a spiritual pattern. In this process one eliminates a lot of recognizable things. Forms change, even one plays with forms which have no recognition. One finds much more meaning in going through this pattern of eliminating. Paul Klee finds music and at the same time the undiscoverable philosophy of spiritual bliss in this process.       

Back in school at the J.J. Institute we were encouraged to copy paintings of historical significance like Michelangelo’s, Leonardo do Vinci. We had to draw the from the huge sculpture pieces. Abstraction was not very much in place neither here nor in Paris. That made us very strong. It was good for us.

S.S: Why this element of ‘elimination’ becomes so important when the representational art is prominent within the institute?

L.S: This world is full of all kinds of things- things of the highest order, as well as lowest thoughts. As one develops intellectually and spiritually, one realizes the value in certain things and eliminates others. If one is going towards certain order the chaos gets eliminated by itself. Finally when one reaches a stage of complete order and peace, it is a point when one find meaning about life itself.    

S.S: It can make an interesting observation about the present time when the desire for more of ‘new’ materials and methods has made the contemporary art spectacular and monumental, if I can say so?

L. S:  I do not agree with the term monumental here. It tells about the size. That is the beauty of abstraction that you can make a painting of any scale and you could still call it monumental, because what you see in it is enormous. It is eternal. It shows the eternity, I would consider that as monumental.

Today’s contemporary art has its own history. It stated in New York about 50 years ago. Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg had come into the scene and New York had become the centre to establish the modernist expressions in Painting. When these young men moved in, they completely changed the ways of looking and producing art. People’s life did not remained the same which was few years earlier. Mechanically produced day to day consumable products like coco-cola came across as art. It became a new found material. This was also a revolt against established norms of appreciating art. American abstract expressionism was a revolt. Movement took a serious shape with the involvement for Andy Warhol. Many years later these kinds of expressions came to India.

Now much more information is available even in a village in India. It is difficult to say that the work is done in New York and not in Bihar village. But there is a new energy. The new approach of showing what I want to do. I appreciate that very much. I admire the younger artists. Many of them are my very good friends, from the beginning of their career. Many of them are very good draughtsman, very good artists. They are well read, and well informed. That’s how they are coming up on international art scene.

S.S: Would you like to mention the two most important phases from the world art history which one can look up to now?

L.S: First is the Cubism. George Braque and Pablo Picasso started it. They were the first to break the illusion of figure in painting. It changed figuration. George Braque said that a face looks different from different perspective and why not put all of them together? They said what the eye sees is not the ‘truth’. Why must one not paint the truth? I still find these works very inspiring.

Second is when Jasper Johns came to the scene in 1940s and placed ‘found-objects’ as art.