Ram Kumar - Indian Abstract Art

 

Ram Kumar (1924 – 2018) was an Indian artist and writer who has been described as one of India's foremost abstract painters.He was associated with the Progressive artists' group along with greats like M.F. Hussain, Tyeb Mehta, S.H. Raza.He is said to be one of the first Indian artists to give up figurativism for abstract art. His art commands high prices in the domestic and international market. His work "The Vagabond" fetched $1.1 million at Christie's, setting another world record for the artist. He is also one of the few Indian Modernist masters accomplished in writing as well as painting. "At the onset of what is known as “phase of alienation” in Ram Kumar’s paintings, something was happening very quietly, almost imperceptibly. The figure, which played so important a role in the entire drama of his odyssey, was already being a retreat, slowly, hesitantly, receding into the margins, almost merging with the dark greys and browns of the horizons. And what till then only vaguely lurked in the background, occupy the central stage. It is significant that at this stage when Ram Kumar takes a decisive step into what is known as the non-figurative world of abstraction, he also bids farewell to the literary moorings and its expressionistic entourage. Without negating the writer in him, he begins to travel light as a painter. Poetry is still there, with all its lyrical ardour and dramatic intensity but now it acquires a kind of austere brilliance, a certain ascetic purity which can be vividly seen in his Varanasi paintings. But more than its technical innovations, the so-called abstract phase was an attempt to resolve a deeper problem which seemed to trouble Ram Kumar at his fateful juncture. At the later stage, nature came both as a release from his past and a return to it. Simla with all its mountains have called Ram Kumar many time which led to his return. It was in his stories that they made a strong presence, not merely as a setting for background but as an integral part of the fictional landscape. Also a nostalgic longing for a past gone for ever. They also symbolized peace and inner security, as if by returning to them, one can salvage a spark of happiness from the ruins of one’s adulthood."/ram-kumar.com/

Vasudeo Gaitonde - Abstract Painting

 

 Vasudeo Gaitonde (1924–2001) was regarded as one of India's foremost abstract painters. He received Padma Shri Award in 1971.
"Although he was considered an abstract painter, he preferred calling his work “non-objective”, and believed that “there is no such thing as abstract art.” Gaitonde’s paintings, evocative of subliminal depths, are known for their spiritual quality and characteristic silence that is as meditative as it is eternal and momentous. The plain, large surfaces of layered paint possess an inherent quality of light. The textural structure along with the interplay of colour is the main aspect of his works. His compositions, inspired by zen philosophy reveals his speech and emotes silence. Art, for Gaitonde, was a process complete in itself. In exploring his inner spaces and transient realities, it helped him move towards himself. His paintings bring out fact that the process is the result. He worked with various mediums, and used a roller and palette knives to create his own layered texture. Over the years, he evolved as a painter who was increasingly more meticulous. "(jnaf.org)

 

Nek Chand Saini - The Rock Garden

Nek Chand Saini (1924 – 2015) was a self-taught Indian artist, known for building the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, an eighteen-acre sculpture garden in the city of Chandigarh.
The Rock Garden is one of the most famous sites in India. Chand, its creator, died in 2015, but it is still visited by millions of people every year.
In his spare time, Chand began collecting materials from demolition sites around the city. He recycled these materials into his own vision of the divine kingdom of Sukrani, choosing a gorge in a forest near Sukhna Lake for his work. The gorge had been designated as a land conservancy, a forest buffer established in 1902 that nothing could be built on. Chand's work was illegal, but he was able to hide it for eighteen years before it was discovered by the authorities in 1975. By this time, it had grown into a 13-acre (5.3 ha) complex of interlinked courtyards, each filled with hundreds of pottery-covered concrete sculptures of dancers, musicians, and animals. Made from recycled materials, Chand built up the mass with a cement and sand mix before adding a final coating of smoothly burnished pure cement combined with waste materials such as broken glass, bangles, crockery, mosaic and iron-foundry slag.His work was in serious danger of being demolished, but he was able to get public opinion on his side, and in 1986 the park was inaugurated as a public space. Wikipedia

Hema Upadhyay - Sculptural Installations

Hema Upadhyay (1972 –2015) was an Indian artist based in Mumbai. She was known for photography and sculptural installations. She was active from 1998 until her death in 2015.

Hema Upadhyay was an Indian artist known for her photographs, intricate paintings, and mixed-media installations that reflected the cityscapes and identity of her native country. Drawing extensively from her own experience, Uphadhyay crafted narratives from found materials to explore themes of gender, migration, socioeconomics, and urban development. “So much chaos in my work actually came from the city,” she explained. “When I work in my studio in Mumbai, there are lots of elements, of decay, of life, of chaos. It’s a double-edged condition when you see development in the making—you see growth but decay.” Upadhyay draws on her own personal and family history of migration to express her concerns and this is expressed through the way she portrays herself in her works. The upturned slums reference the repercussions and socio-economic inequalities that emerge as a hidden consequence of the relentless tide of urban development in the city.