Simply marble-ous

Rana Siddiqui Zaman

There was a time he would walk for miles to save 25 paise just so that he could fill air in his bicycle tyres. Today, he sells one sculpture for Rs25 lakh. This time has, however, come 40 years after he started devoting his life to sculptures. An onlooker won’t be able to make out this pioneer of modern marble sculptures till pointed out. He remains humble to the core, dresses up simply and eats at a refugee colony in Delhi whenever he makes it the venue of his show.

Gyan Singh, often known as the pioneer in modern marble sculpture, is a man surrounded by anecdotes. It is said that sculptor Satish Gujral left his own show mid way to see his works; veteran Amarnath Sehgal declared he should receive a Padma Shri; and passionate painter and late Prime Minister VP Singh made a replica of his mushroom sculpture as a return gift when Gyan presented him his marble mushroom.

A chat with Singh leads to endless such anecdotes. A resident of Udaipur, hub of raw marble, Singh has just concluded his show at New Delhi’s Triveni Kala Sangam. His marvels in marble at the show included his signature work, melting ice, said to be among the most difficult shapes to get — ice slowly slipping from the mountains, gathering momentum at a place, forming layers, then moving on to turn into water. There was a Ganesha in numerous shapes and style, as lotus petal, to even one seemingly wearing a skull cap, leaf compositions, mushrooms, Shiva, several unusual forms, heads with long, strange headgears akin to African Mongoloids and much more.

One wonders at the amazingly unique shapes Singh creates. He reveals, “As a young sculptor, I would wonder what shapes should Imake. So my guru gave me a mantra, ‘Think of just 1 to 10 elements and play with them.’ Till date, there are some five to six elements that I work around.”

Singh’s life story is quite filmy, a rags to riches story. Hailing from Udaipur, he comes from a family of underprivileged farmers. Brilliant academically, his father dreamt of him taking up a government job. However, Singh had, as a child, seen his paternal uncle paint the canvas with his volley of colours and taken a fancy to it. He stealthily started painting randomly. Noticing his interest, his uncle gifted him some dry colours and papers. Singh would make unusual drawings and paint them. Once, by sheer chance, he happened to see a wooden sculpture created by the then famous sculptor Akhilesh Rai in his school.

“I was astonished at how creatively it was cut into an image. Rai saw me scrutinising his work and asked him why was he coming daily. “Instead of answering his question, I counter questioned, ‘Can I also cut wood like this and make a sculpture?’ And he told me:‘Why not? But before reaching this stage, you will have to learn quite a number of techniques.’” Rai took Singh under his tutelage while Singh didn’t even know that he was a master people used to revere.

His journey into art had begun. Gyan Singh began with wood, but slowly took to stones and then marble. He realised that wood, with time, is more prone to damages than marble. Watching him carve and chisel stones with iron tools, someone complained to his father, ‘Your son has turned into an iron smith’(Tumhara beta luhargiri kar raha hai).’

“My father got very upset. But when my first sculpture was sold to Lalit Kala Akademi for Rs2500 (in the late ’70s), my father was shocked. In those days, a pair of ox would cost Rs1500 to Rs2000, which used to be a huge amount. Seeing me sell just one sculpture for Rs2500, my father told me: ‘Do whatever you want.’ After that, he never objected to my craft.”

Singh’s first solo show was held at the prestigious Jahangir Gallery in 1983. “In this show, one of my sculptures sold for Rs4lakh. It sent shockwaves among my contemporaries. By the time I reached my third year of graduation in art, I was earning more than my professors. And before becoming a teacher, I was a National Award winner,” he says with a glint of pride.

So far Singh has cut “35 trucks of marble”, he says matter of factly, adding that he has never used synthetic marble for his images. A victim of child marriage (he got married in class 5), and poor financial background, Singh managed his life by earning scholarships and working hard. Today he has countless shows to his name and clients across the globe. His brother, Lallan Singh, wife and son have also learnt the art to take the legacy forward.

Looking at his own works fondly, the 60-year-old concludes with moist eyes: “My doctor says I should not work anymore as I have exhausted my body. But I want to die while carving a marble.”