Anupam Sud retrospective: Men, women and a canvas of light and darkness

Nonika Singh

There is no way you can pigeonhole her. Easy titles — be it feminist or socially committed artist — annoy her no end. Delhi-based Anupam Sud, India’s leading printmaker, is not the one to simplify things or prettify her art. Euphemisms like ‘devoted to her art’ leave her stone cold. But, make no mistake, a fire dwells within her gentle, almost frail frame, which illuminates her work and ignites each time she finds a query or a notion presumptuous.

Reticent about her sterling achievements, she is not a woman of few words. Rather, as she steps back and takes us along her artistic odyssey spanning five decades, stories tumble by the dozen. Right from how she, a trained painter, was put on the path of printmaking by her mentor Jagmohan Chopra, a renowned printmaker, to what all she imbibed during her course at Slade School of Fine Art, London. If talking of Chopra, who taught her how to be a giver and a good teacher, makes her emotional, her choice of figurative style is explained with a strong riposte: “Why do artists choose a particular genre? It’s like asking a Sufi singer why he sings Sufi. Perhaps because it takes him closer to God. Maybe, for me, human form is the greatest creation of God.”

By and large, she refuses to clothe human form and chooses to depict it as God made it. The less discerning might even find titillation in her nudes but her reasons are purely sublime. “Clothes lend human form an identity that is culture-specific. Skin is the ultimate cloth that God created. I would rather my figures be universal, sans any cultural or religious context.” Not that she is dismissive of religion or is unenthused by its multi-layered complexity. Growing up in a Punjabi Hindu household, her mother would often regale her with mythological tales. Thus, much before ‘Andha Yug’ was published, she knew the real reasons behind Gandhari leading her life blindfolded. As Anupam reinterprets mythology in some of her works, taking inspiration from Draupadi, Shakti and more, she avers, “The best quality of Hinduism is it gives you freedom to think and draw your own inference.”

Though she does not approach religious fables with overt shraddha bhaav, she feels the divinity within often manifests of its own accord. She tells how the figure of Shiva emerged when she once simply put colour on paper. Though primarily a printmaker, she who specialised in painting from College of Art, Delhi, can paint with equal gusto and skill. Drawing remains her forte and is the blueprint for her riveting compositions, many of which are right now on display at an exhibition in Kiran Nadar Museum of Art. The beauty of her remarkable prints lies as much in fine detailing as her treatment of chiaroscuro, the play of light and shadow, in textural gradation and equally in their thematic compositions.

Full-bodied figures of men and women tell stories that are at once complex and allegorical. A stance, a hunch, an embrace, a touch are as evocative as the mobile faces brimming with a gamut of emotions. Dynamics of relationship, interpersonal dialogue between men and women, women and women and men and men are the fulcrum of her creative insight into the world around her. “All artists reflect what they experience and I am no exception. My themes come from society as I am part of society and do get carried away by what is happening around.” In the etching ‘Between Vows and Words’, she brings to fore the dichotomy that lies between sacred marriage vows and the stinging reality when vows become perfunctory.

Her latest exhibition is summed up by art curator Roobina Karode as ‘enigmatic and sinister’. The contrasting interplay of varying forces permeates her compositions in which the drama of life meets the flight of imagination. If female figures remain central to her oeuvre, she does not negate male power. The inspiration for drawing virile male form possibly stems subconsciously from her father’s bodybuilder physique. As for the recurring female form, isn’t the motivation rather obvious? “After all, I possess a woman’s body.”

While she often questions the skewed gender dynamics, she is no bra-burning feminist or one of those holding a placard for social causes. “Yes, women have a right to make choices and men can’t dictate their decisions. But my concern for women’s deprivation or other social issues does not mean I am a social activist. Were it so, I would forsake everything and dedicate myself to social welfare.” Instead, she is steadfast in her dedication to art. “I have to draw each day, even if it’s just a line.”

A fulfilling career dotted with milestones, Anupam is rather pensive as she looks back: “Whoever is completely happy?” While many of her figures wear masks, she wears none and lives her life with honesty, a refreshing candour. Grateful to Almighty for the innate gift God has bestowed her with, she echoes the thoughts of Leo Buscaglia — “Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God” — and prays for strength to continue with her ibaadat.

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