Photos by Ratheesh Sundaram
When
the London-based art curator, Vanessa Branson, the sister of
billionaire businessman Richard Branson, enters the large hall, at
the Aspinwall House, at Fort Kochi, her eyes widen, followed by a
parting of her lips. “It is a remarkable work,” she says. “When
we look closer there are beautiful details that lets your imagination
float with the planets and the stars."
This
acrylic on canvas, at the Kochi Muziris Biennale, is
79 feet in length, and 12 feet in height. It is called 'Punarapi
Jananam, Punarapi Maranam' (Again Birth, Again Death). These lines
have been taken from the hymn, 'Bhaja Govindam', written by the great
religious philosopher Adi Sankara.
It is
a view of the cosmos in the form of an infinite loop. For
inspiration, the artist NS Harsha had researched many images from the
website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the
USA, as well as the Internet.
But
it was not an easy work to do. Since the scale was so large, Harsha
had to abandon the paint brush. Instead, he took an old bedsheet,
from his house, tore a part of it, folded it, and put stones in it.
Then he beat it on the ground to create a ragged edge.
Then Harsha dipped the brush, attached to a bamboo pole, into a large bucket of black paint. With the help of a few artist friends, he began putting the paint on the canvas.
Even as Harsha experienced joy while doing this, his mother got a shock to find that her cherished 40-year-old bedsheet had been ruined. A shocked Harsha told her, “I did not realise that it was so old and valuable.”
Eventually,
it took Harsha one-and-a-half months to complete the work. “This is
a painted reality of its own about space,” he says. “Yes, it is
true, I have been inspired by the cosmos for a long time.”
This
is confirmed by the Japanese curator, Mami Kataoka, of the Mori Art
Museum in Tokyo, who is working with Harsha to set up a solo
exhibition of his works. “There are many images of eternity in
Harsha's childhood drawings,” she says.
But
his obsession has increased lately. For the past one-and-a-half
years, all his paintings have an upward movement. “It is about the
human wish to have a relationship with space,” says Harsha.
As
for his relationship with art, it began when Harsha did his
bachelor's in painting from the Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts
at Mysore. This was followed by his Masters at the Faculty of Fine
Arts at MS University, Baroda.
“It was one of the most intense
periods of my life,” he says. “I was trying to figure out the
idea of art in my life. One of the key things Baroda taught me was
that ambition, success or failure has no place in art.”
Nevertheless,
Harsha is a successful artist, with an international reputation. He
has taken part in Biennales at Osaka, Moscow, Yogyakarta (Indonesia),
Sharjah, Singapore and Sao Paulo. His works have also been displayed
in Australia, China, Venice, Taipei, Belgium, Spain, and
several other European countries. Upcoming shows will be held in
London, Tokyo, Dallas and Mumbai.
Asked
about the rising intolerance in Indian society towards art and
culture, Harsha says, “These attacks – on thinkers, cultural
personalities and artistes – are nothing new. There are many
similar instances in history. I believe art reworks traditional
symbols. Hence, it infuriates people who use these symbols to uphold
power. So they resort to physical violence against the artiste. But
in the long run their actions are futile. Creative minds have always
been innovative and are able to find new forms and voices to
highlight the truth.”
(Sunday
Magazine, The New Indian Express, South India and Delhi)
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