Unrestrained images

The Chandigarh Lalit Kala Akademi is organising a talk and audio-visual presentation by renowned artist and photographer Rameshwar Broota on September 21 at the auditorium of the Government Museum and Art Gallery, Sector-10, Chandigarh

‘‘I only paint when I have something to say…” That’s the basic premise of Rameshwar Broota’s work, both as a painter and photographer, a truth that hasn’t changed for more than four decades now. When Broota faces a blank canvas, he needs to feel an urge to paint; no external pressures can force him to get the brush to the canvas. 

Born in 1941 in Delhi, Rameshwar Broota graduated in Fine Arts from the Delhi College of Art in 1963. Soon after his graduation, he joined the institution as a visiting lecturer. Since 1967, Broota has served as Head of Department at Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi. Recipient of many awards, including the National Lalit Kala Akademi Award in 1980, ’81 and ’84, Broota’s works are housed in leading collections in India and abroad, including the National Gallery of Modern Art in New Delhi, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, several Lalit Kala Akademi collections across India and a number of educational and other institutions, as well as the Josip Broz Tito Museum in Yugoslavia and the Kunst Museum in Dusseldrof. 

The artist is known for his paintings of male bodies, both muscular and emaciated, testament to the passage of time. Over the years, Broota has perfected his unique technique in which he first applies layers of different coloured paints on the surface and then meticulously scrapes away the upper layers of the painting with a sharp knife, to literally unearth his luminous images.

Doing photography seriously for more than five years now, there is a balance between photography and painting in Broota’s life. For him, crossing the limits of camera makes photography more creative, challenging, and mysterious and he feels that what he achieve on canvas, he must also achieve in photography. Content and strength, believes Broota, must be present in both, but each medium’s challenges are different and so are its results. For him, photography and painting are distinct forms, each having their own possibilities and limitations. “Both are complete in themselves and I enjoy working in both mediums,” says the artist. —TNS 

At Government Museum and Art Gallery, 5.30 pm onwards