The charm of Satish Gujral's Burntwood series of sculptures can be witnessed through the flock of art connoisseurs who visited this year's India Art Fair, which was held on NSIC Exhibition Grounds, Okhla, from 28th April to 1st May 2022. Two years after the death of late artist Satish Gujral in March 2020, nine rare pieces from his Burntwood series of sculptures were on physical display at ‘In Memoriam’ space of the India Art Fair exhibition.
It was undeniably a wonderful homage to the artist who left an indelible imprint on the minds of many young artists and art lovers. His every art evokes emotion and probably that is the reason why his work of art seems so graceful. A well-known art critic and curator, Ms. Gayatri Sinha, threw a spotlight on the artist's iconic works and took SURFACES REPORTER (SR)'s editor-in-chief- Ms. Vertica Dvivedi, through some of the notable art, sculptures and architecture by the late artist. Aptly titled 'Art of Silence,' some of the materials used by Shri Gujral in the Burntwood series are wood, leather, glass, cowrie, and ceramic beads. Ms. Dvivedi met with his lovely daughter Raseel Gujral Ansal and many of his family members who came together to showcase his work for the first time after he had left the mortal world.
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The 13th edition of the coveted India Art Fair (IAF) welcomed art connoisseurs in the physical format on NSIC Exhibition Grounds in Okhla, Delhi. Although the event has been a fixture on the calendars of art enthusiasts, this time, it was more special as it was coming back following a two-year coronavirus-induced hiatus.
9 of Satish's notable burnt wood sculptures were showcased by Kiran Gujral Art Initiative under the Memoriam section of the ongoing edition of Indian Art Fair 2022. This is a part of the 'Memoriam' section, which pays homage to the distinguished artists who lost their souls recently.
Artworks Etching The Artist's Emotions
If there is one word that can describe Gujral's art, it is 'Emotion'. His canvasses always brim with emotion, resuscitating the pain and helplessness of one of the greatest catastrophes endured by humankind. He executed a large number of partition paintings that metaphor the violent separation of 1947.
Created between the late seventies and 1990, the artworks depict Gujral's state of mind. His opus boasts a rare and exceptional portrayal of the partition of India. But the art enthusiast saw a unique aspect of his artistic composition in the fair, hosted by Mrs. Kiran Gujral (wife) & Mrs. Raseel Gujral Ansal (daughter), designer & architect as a part of their Kiran Gujral Art Initiative, to commemorate his works in his memory. These were signature sculptures in burnt wood- a distinctive way used by the artist to demonstrate his anger and protest.
First displayed at the Dhoomimal Art Gallery in Delhi, the sculptures crafted initially somewhere in 70s look rigid in their appearance as they are capturing the artist's fury at the time. The charred carvings features only irregular specks of disturbing reds- formed by the burning of leather. However, after 10 years, these pieces emanates a unique stillness where the sculptural form emerging as a divine figure. Raseel recalls that these compositions were built by her father during the Emergency.
These sculptures articulate the suppressed feelings of confinement and rage, resembling angry deities. Shri Satish Gujral burnt the leather and wood, which he never did earlier in his life. The leather turns red, like blood, when it is burnt.
Ornamented with keys and ropes, these statuettes represent oppression. The anger of the imprisonment of his several friends can be perceptible through the arts created by the artist. Later on, these angry god-like figures became a divine expression where one figurine looks a lot like Shiva, while another appears like Ganesha.
Leonardo da Vinci of India
Shri Satish Gujral was a rare polymath who has left us with his amazing creations & collections for the connoisseurs of art to treasure forever. He excelled in many areas, including sculpting, mural painting, drawing, writing and designing buildings. He was also distinguished as one of the foundational figures of Indian Modernism. Despite his inability to hear, he made sure that his work spoke volumes. In fact, while paying tribute to him for his iconic works, The New York Times once called him as the ‘Leonardo da Vinci of India.’
Satish established himself in the post-Independence era, when the nation was seeking its identity. His prolific career across diverse genres reflects Independent India's initial phase and its trajectory. Undeniably the foremost virtuoso of the art, he was conferred the Padma Vibhushan, the second-highest civilian award, in 1999.
He received several accolades not only in India but abroad, and he won laurels not only for his murals or sculptures but also for his architectural projects.
The king of Belgium awarded him with the 'Order of the Crown' to design the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi, making him the first non-Belgian to be honored with this prestigious award.
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Portrait of the Artist
Born in Jhelum in undivided Punjab in 1925, Gujral spent his childhood years drawing and reading Urdu literature. His father was a respected judge, while Satish was an excellent swimmer. He lost his hearing in an accident when he was just 8 years old. One day while he was crossing an unsteady bridge in Kashmir, he lost his balance and fell into the rapids, which later caused his hearing impairment.
He decided not to tell anyone in the family owing to the fear of getting scolded. However, when he informed his mother about it, the lesion became septic, and he had to undergo several botched operations. And one morning, when he woke up, he realised that he had lost his hearing. However, this obstacle did not overshadow his talent, and he emerged as one of India's top artists.
That is why Raseel Gujral titled the show 'The Art of Silence'. According to Raseel- " He lived in silence and created in silence. And I don’t think he could have created such masterpieces if that silence hadn’t been there.”The artist regained his hearing after 62 years through a surgery performed in 1998.
Satish did not attend the institution for the deaf and dumb in Delhi and instead joined the Mayo School of Art in Lahore in 1939, after which he got admission to Sir J. J. School of Art in Mumbai, where he encountered members of the Progressive Artists Group such as S. H. Raza, M. F. Husain, and F. N. Souza.
He did not choose Western art subjects and techniques as inspiration but got highly inspired by India's traditional arts and crafts.
When he was studying at Sir J. J. School of Art, the Partition happened. During those years of his career, he created artworks to evoke, stir and inspire passion against injustice. His works depict the plight and suffering that ordinary men and women faced during the fight for independence.
He earned a scholarship to study at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City in 1952. There he did an apprenticeship under the pioneering muralists Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros. This paved the way for him to craft large fresco murals, many of which adorned the exteriors of significant buildings of Lutyens Delhi.
His most notable works are the textured paintings that he did on canvas. But he was deft in using burnt wood, granite and bronze to create masterpieces and ramping up his art in murals.
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Celebrating The Art of Silence
While Gujral's all works are famous and have been in the news for a good reason, the burnt wood series stands out for its solidity of substance and its echoes of spirituality and abstraction. The series was born after an Emergency imposed upon India in 1975.
Satish breathed last in March 2020, but instead of giving in to grief, his family decided to commemorate his life, full of creativity and unparalleled arts. This is why Kiran Gujral and Raseel Gujral Ansal have started an initiative to show an appreciation for the commendable achievements in arts, films, and sports.
Jaya Asokan, director of the India Art Fair says, "Satish Gujral was one of the most multidimensional and notable artists of the post-Independence generation. He gave shape to an Indian artistic language. It is important that we introduce his works to a younger generation of audiences, who deserve to know his greatness."
Raseel Gujral adds, "This is a Kiran Gujral Art Initiative in honour of my father and the very first kick-off is with India Art Fair 2022, a Memorial Display at the fair, and a talk with Gayatri Sinha. The Burnt Wood exhibit is the first of many and we are yet to unfold various such associations. I am supporting my mother in taking her vision for my father's legacy forward."
Apart from Satish Gujral's Burntwood series, the exhibition also displayed remarkable works of around 77 Indian and global artists. The event witnessed seven Indian galleries such as Vadehra Art Gallery, Nature Morte, Gallery Espace, Experimenter, Chatterjee & La, to name a few. Further, many artists made their debuts, including Mithila artist Santosh Kumar Das, APRE Art House from Mumbai, Art Incept, Gurugram/New Delhi, Terrain. Art and Vida Heydari Contemporary from Pune. Apart from this, the event also saw the return of four international galleries, including Aicon Art (New York, USA), Aicon Contemporary (New York, USA), Grosvenor Gallery (London, UK) and Galeria Karla Osorio (Sao Paolo, Brazil).
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