Sculpting a tribute to art critic Keshav Malik

Sarika Sharma

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“Keshav Malik loved sculptures of European masters but wanted Indian sculptors to follow their intuition,” says art historian Uma Nair, curator of iSculpt, an exhibition of sculptures dedicated to the art critic and poet. Spanning 15 days, it is being held at the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi from December 7 to 21.

Among the biggest names in art criticism in India, Malik died in 2014. This exhibition commemorates his birth centenary, which falls next year. Malik’s unique observations about paintings kept unveiling his insight about art, but he was equally scholarly about sculptures. “He loved exploring Indian sculptors, who delved into the roots of our philosophy,” says Nair, recalling Malik’s research years spent in Italy and France during the 1950s.

Among the Indian artists, one of his favourites was Prodosh Das Gupta, curator of the National Gallery of Modern Art from 1957 to 1970. “We don’t have his work at the exhibition, but we have Amar Nath Sehgal and Biman Das,” says Nair, sharing how Malik’s wife Usha recommended Biman Das for a Fulbright scholarship. He remained there for a-year-and-a-half, lecturing on Indian art history and scholarship at American universities.

As many as 23 sculptors are showing their works. These include Satish Gupta and Himmat Shah, besides Delhi Art Society (DAS) president Neeraj Gupta, who has been instrumental in organising the exhibition. The two women artists whose works are being showcased are Sonia Sareen and the late Rini Dhumal. The mediums are varied: from wood, stone and metal to terracotta.

Others include G Reghu, Arun Pandit, Dhananjay Singh, Harsha Durugadda, SD Hariprasad, Parmod Mann, Rajesh Ram, Nimesh Pilla, Phaneendra Nath Chaturvedi, Muzaffar Ali, NS Rana, Ankon Mitra, Vipul Kumar, Satish Gujral, Ram Kumar Manna and Bhola Kumar, besides cameraman Manoj Arora with his select set of nine monochromes. “Malik was a huge fan of photography, especially monochromes,” Nair notes.

The exhibition is being organised by DAS in association with IIC. DAS was founded by Malik in 2005, following deliberations with his sister, the late Kapila Vatsayan. To Neeraj Gupta, one of India’s foremost sculptors, Malik was mentor. He says the idea behind iSculpt was also to cultivate future generations of artists with a potential to create meaningful sculptures in public places.

Malik migrated to Delhi from Miani village in Punjab province of undivided India. For decades, he contributed regularly to the art pages of leading newspapers and was the editor of literary weekly ‘Thought’. Simultaneously, he curated an array of art exhibitions within the country and abroad, while also serving as an adviser to the National Gallery of Modern Art and an executive member of Lalit Kala Akademi.

Nair says the exhibition was curated to honour Malik’s service to the arts, which “was distinctive and distinguished without greed for money”. Years ago, Malik was quoted as saying at an exhibition by Gupta: “Sculpting is the oldest form of expressing thoughts and imaginations, and it is necessary to revive the culture.” That makes this exhibition a perfect tribute.