The solitary figures on his canvas from the ’50s, he says, are closest to who he is as a person. Like them, Ram Kumar, one of India’s foremost abstract painters, yearns to be surrounded by his art rather than by a crowd. The 89-year-old, whose work The Vagabond, fetched $1.16 million at a Christie’s auction in 2008, spends hours in his basement studio every day, where canvases lie stacked on shelves, and abstract landscapes, that have defined his oeuvre for years, are sheathed in plastic. At a solo show that will begin in Kolkata’s Aakriti Art Gallery on August 1, his early works will be on display — sketches from the ’60s with unseen gossamer-like line drawings made just before Kumar travelled to Varanasi for the first time. In this interview with Vandana Kalra, the artist talks about his abiding enchantment with Varanasi, the camaraderie that existed between contemporary artists and painting for himself. Excerpts:
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 17:14:29 +0000
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