"My life is a never-ending search"

ARPANA Caur in her own words is passing through "my golden period." She is rated as one of the top contemporary artists. Over a period of 28 years, her work has evolved. Structure and colour are the key to her art. She has appropriated the structures of Pahari miniatures — the rounded figures, the curved horizon, the division of the background into the sky, earth and water and the creation of many centres of activity in each work. In fact, she is carrying forward the tradition of art that has been the most successful in modern India — the marriage of folk and contemporary schools.

She works up her colours on the basis of the techniques of preparing layered pigments. She has broken away from the flat colouring of miniature paintings by using elements of the chiaroscuro effect in a framework that is based on colour and not on tone, reflecting an originality of approach to colour found in Indian murals.

Arpana’s work has broken free of the baggage of colonialism. She taps her real cultural roots in the modern context. This process of reconstruction has evolved its own laws of motion. One of the most powerful ploys Arpana uses is that of graffiti.

As a person, Arpana is simple, shorn of any pretensions much younger looking than her age.
She found time to meet twice, once at an artist’s sangam held at Suraj Kund where she waited the whole day for M.F. Husain, without nakhras or grumbling. The second time, the meeting was fixed in Khel Gaon Institutional Area where her mother runs an arts centre. On the top floor is her huge studio. The studio has minimal furniture, no trappings,and her canvases, frames and paints are scattered all around.

Arpana is a thinking person, who is not afraid to face the consequences of her thought. Totally unspoilt by success, a true Punjabi girl at heart, she says, "I have a soft spot for Punjab." With one of the most soothing voices one has heard, she spoke on varied aspects of the art world today in an exclusive interview with Belu Maheshwari.

Why is it that most people do not understand modern art?

Contemporary visual art is individualistic, unlike calendar art which has popular images. Further, it uses subtle language in its narrative — unlike journalism and photography. Art comes closest to poetry. It is the sum total of the artist’s experiences, sensibility and thinking. The creative process cannot be fully understood even by the artist. He knows the origin, the images in his mind but a part of it remains a mystery. Figurative work is not difficult to understand.

How can we popularise modern art?

I held my first exhibition at Shridharni Gallery, Delhi, in 1975. I have seen a swing of the pendulum. It is unimaginable. At that time there were only two galleries of art in Delhi and two collectors. For my exhibition, I used to get one person a day. My friends would joke and say, ‘when are you having your next one-person show’. Artists used to go with folded hands to sell their work. The galleries would dictate to them.

Now we have hundreds of galleries and hundreds of private collectors. The struggle that was there two decades ago is over for most artists. We have so many shows on themes like the girl child, environment etc. We are all exhibiting together and art and artists are being written about a lot. Indian artists are selling abroad. Where we were earning a thousand, we now earn a lakh plus. Artists have houses and cars. The image of the penniless, painter with a jhola slung over his shoulders is in the past.

Still, visual art is not as popular as performing arts. How can it be further popularised?

Yes, it is not a mass-based art, it is elitist. Even now, on an average 25-30 people come a day to see the individual artist’s exhibition. If you keep the show for a month you have roughly only 1000 people coming.

This question of promoting art used to bother me when I was younger — I guess now my energy has got dissipated and now my whole concentration is on my work. I feel spreading art is the work of galleries, museums and media. Our work is to paint and create good work.

Why do you call it your golden period, is it because of the money you command per canvas?

I have come a long way. I am really grateful, so much that I had not imagined has happened to me. I have a show in September in Germany, November in Amsterdam, January in India. Good collectors want my work, museums abroad (six of them) are displaying my work. This includes the Victoria Albert Museum, London.

In spite of the hype, Indian art is still not very popular abroad. To be commissioned as one of the five Asian artists by Japan, to paint on the 50th year of Hiroshima bombing for which I was paid Rs 6.8 lakh, along with western artists, is heartening. What else can one want?

As an artist how do you rate yourself?

The artist is his or her own best critic. All the work that comes out is not of the same calibre. For every work that is of a quality there is bound to be one that is of B or C quality also. When I was younger and some gallery wanted my work, I used to think the opportunity had now come to off-load my Bs and Cs and keep the As for a one-person show.

I find that some of my ‘Bs’ and ‘Cs’ have found their way to public or an auction. One such work was picked up by a Britisher, who gave it to Sotheby’s. From there it found its way to the Victoria Albert Museum.

It is only once in a lifetime a museum can normally afford an artist’s work. So you should always ensure that the best goes into the market. You should hold back the lesser work. When one is selling one should lessen one’s pace to keep up the quality. One should not give into the temptation of quickening the pace to make a fast buck. In Berlin, for my show, they wanted 10 canvases, I am sending only the five best. As a creative person, I am striving to reach my best, but I am still striving.

Why don’t you make hay while the sun shines and paint more?

If you are slow by temperament and try to quicken your pace your quality will suffer. Husain is fast by temperament. Two years back, the director of the Singapore museum came looking for Indian paintings. He said,’ You are very naughty, you know you are in demand so you are acting pricey.’ I don’t like the crazy prices which are being charged. I find them very unreasonable. Every year the prices go up and individuals are selling for Rs 7 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. I feel uncomfortable. I have increased my price gradually. Folks at home blow me up. Even the Berlin gallery was shocked at the low price of my work. The only time I got an astronomical amount was for Hiroshima and the mayor was apologetic about giving so less.

Prices being quoted are not realistic. They are more of promotional prices that have been falsely hiked. Is it true?

It is true that paintings of masters are now being bought as investment. But it is also true that some create a false impression. It is better to be modest since people see through the game. Some collectors will come and tell you the real price. The cat is bound to be out of the bag.

There must be some yardstick to evaluate modern art, can you explain how a lay person should try and understand it?

How many people spend time in front of a painting studying it? People breeze through galleries. There is a difference in looking and seeing. One should study the painting and keep the title in mind. It will reveal part of its secret. Read the catalogue in individual shows. If the artist is around, ask him.

For long-term understanding, read books on art. We have not invested in our infrastructure. This densely populated country has only six or seven museums. Punjab is such a rich state, it does not have a single museum. Artists are willing to sell their work to museums at a low price — we are all conscious of history. The work will outlive us. School students should be taken to the museum, and the habit of understanding abstracts should be honed.

Does the Government encourage artists?

Encourage? In fact if you send your work abroad for an exhibition, you face a number of hassles. You have to get a RBI clearance. You are treated on a par with exporters and you have to fill the same GI form. You have to give it in writing that all the money will come back to the country in foreign exchange. The canvases which do not sell and come back to the country are held by the customs and duty is imposed on them.

You have paid for your ticket, lived on one meal a day abroad for want of money. As representatives of the culture of this country we are treated so shabbily. Because of these hassles most galleries abroad like to take Indian art for non-commercial exhibitions.

In New York people wanted my work but it could not be sold because of the non-commercial tag imposed by government.

We face a lot of harassment. The customs does not clear your papers until the RBI gives a nod. The RBIdoes not sign the G1 form, until you give a bank guarantee worth your work. If 10 works of art are going and you price them at Rs 50,000 each, you need to give a guarantee of Rs 5 lakh. Where does an artist get this money? An exporter can get the guarantee money, but not us.

When I had to send my Hiroshima painting, they held up my consignment in spite of the fact it was a honour for the country that an Indian painter had been commissioned. Officials in customs said, `How do we know it is not an antique’. I said, ‘I am alive, it is my work.’ I had nightmares because there was a deadline to meet. Then I managed to find a photograph in a newspaper with me standing in front of the painting at the preview to show it was my work. We have approached two Prime Ministers and they assured us but nothing worked out.

What do you like painting and how do you decide your subject?

I do not take commissions. I like to paint whatever catches my imagination or I feel strongly about. The rape of Maya Tyagi, anti-Sikh riots of 1984, torture and murder of a woman in a temple in Rajasthan or the tonsured widows of Vrindavan are some events that I feel strongly about.

In my paintings my ideas, dreams and fantasies all emerge. I like to paint the dualities of India. A thermal power station with cow-dung cakes drying on its walls — the two sources of energy. We exist in several times, different ages in India like a bullock cart carrying the upper body of a truck.

What is the essence of Indian contemporary art?

Our first generation of artists like M.F. Husain looked up to the West (Paris). Now we look inwards. For the last 20 years, Indian art has acquired its own identity. Very few countries have done so. Even Greece with such an old civilisation follows western modes of painting.

Tell us about yourself as a person.

I am a Delhi person, I studied English at Lady Shri Ram College. I have had no formal training in arts. From the age of seven, I learnt Gurmukhi and read a lot of Punjabi literature. I read the works of Sufi writers like Farid and Bulleh Shah. My mother has influenced me tremendously. She is the well-known Punjabi writer Ajeet Caur. Her latest book Pebbles in Tin Drum, has got rave reviews. One English novel has made her famous, while writing in a regional language for decades did not. She is a philanthropist. My husband is from Arts College, Chandigarh. He is a cartoonist with the Indian Express.

Basically Iam a shy person, I went to England to study art in 1979 as a foreign stamp was supposed to be essential. I came back because I was petrified alone. It was from 1980, when I sold every thing in Bombay, that I took off. I have exhibited the world all over and won the Triennele Award in 1986. The jury was totally international. I love collecting books, listening to old Hindi film music and going to the theatre.

What is the philosophy of your life?

My life is a search, a never-ending search. I get upset by economic disparity in this country. I have seen my mother and grandfather giving away a lot. I believe in sharing. Even today my mother pays stipend to 200 girls.