Fifty billion shades of grey

Amarjot Kaur

If it were not for the circumstantial invasion of “darkness” in Antonio Puri’s life, with an “abusive” father and a mother who suffered from “battered woman’s syndrome”, he would have landed up in Harvard University and lead his life as Karan Puri.

“Darkness plays a huge part in my life and my art because it allows the light to shine,” the 49-year-old artist says at The Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector 10, where he is exhibiting his artworks in acrylic and mix media on canvas.

Born in Chandigarh, Antonio spent most of his childhood in boarding schools, including The Lawrence School (Sanawar), St. Paul’s School (Darjeeling), and Woodstock School (Mussoorie) before he moved to the USA and changed his name to Antonio. “It was actually at St. Paul’s that I met a father (padri), who convinced me to change my name but I was too young back then. In my 20s, however, I changed my name, thereby replacing my parents,” he shares.

For Antonio, his art replaces religion and he harbours a strong aversion to labels, yet dons one, and that of a ‘narcissist’, when it comes to defining his personality and his art, which is in fact, an extension of his personal expression. His obsession for the colour grey borders on the excessive and that, he believes, is a colour he acquired from Corbusier’s architecture. “Everything in the States in black and white (referring to the black people and the white ones). Browns are essentially aliens. So, for them especially after 9/11, it’s black, white, or a terrorist. I am fifty billion shades of grey,” he explains. Also, he justifies the narcissist bit as he adds, “So, when Buddha sees himself in everything, is he not a narcissist? It’s this perceived assumption behind the term that often gets to me.”

Not only did Antonio survive a bad childhood, he also took in his stride the criticism he faced when he first exhibited his art after studying the subject at the Coe College in Iowa. Later, he would study law and own an art gallery, only to take premature retirement as a lawyer, to become a full-time artist, whose works are exhibited in famous galleries, including Museum of Art in Romania, Essl Museum in Austria and Planet Art Museum in South Africa, “I was disheartened after they laughed at my art when I put up my first exhibition in Chicago, I took up law because I thought that would probably be more respectful, but I hated it. Only after I won a legal case did I decide that I wanted to pursue art. The money I had sustained my 18-year-old son and me for over a year, but then things came crashing down until I sold a painting. I didn’t want my son to compromise on his dreams, so I led by example,” he shares.

Antonio paints Corbusier’s architecture on heavily layered and textured base, on which he paints henna-tattoo patterns and concentric circles with thumbprints. “I use strings to create the textures, so basically the paintings are a dance of attachment and detachment,” he says. Apart from paintings, Antonio also exhibits his installation of antique books by Colombian poets. Though most of his artworks blend in with Corbusier’s architecture, he doesn’t. In fact, he stands out and spills the secret of his strength, “I guess I was born when God experienced fear.”

On till October 16.

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