When we talk about modern Indian art and sculpture, where do you start? “With the one and only Ramkinkar Baij.” That’s what KS Radhakrishnan, the well-known sculptor and now curator of Ramkinkar Baij - A retrospective, had to say about his senior.
He continued,“At 32, Baij, fresh from college, had done one of the most talked about works of the time. Hard to believe, but its true.”
Baij is a pioneering modern Indian sculptor. Most of the seven decades of his life were spent at Santiniketan. His work was inspired by human figures and general drama around the mundane. Ramkinkar lived outside the material world.
He went to Santiniketan at the age of 19, and did not leave. He spent most of his time on the grounds there, amongst people, many of whom inadvertently became subjects for his works.
“That is what this curated exhibition at IGNCA is all about; not just his works but it’s also about Ramkinkar, the artist. He would always take subjects from the peasant class and labourers. Then project them in a larger-than-life fashion, in pre-independent India.”
Radhakrishnan added, “This was kind of his own Swaraj movement. On one hand there were people painting and sculpting the Viceroys and Lords. And here was Ramkinkar, using the masses as subjects for his work.”
Radhakrishnan is extremely passionate when talking on the subject of his mentor.
Ramkinkar was apolitical. Yet he was influenced by the political and social scenario of the country. It would inadvertently sneak into his works.
The content would always be based on society around him. Ramkinkar Baij was also fascinated by labourers, and the working class. His works depicted the joy that could still be found in their lives.
KS Radhakrishnan added, “Ramkinkar would not just experience the feeling, but translate it, and then express it into his work.”
Belonging to a family of modest means, Ramkinkar was both innovative and modern in his art.
“The artist was a rebel, a trailblazer. If there was no canvas available he would paint on a bedsheet. “The lack of material never curbed his desire to express and make what he wanted. Nothing ever stopped him,” shared Radhakrishnan.
Explaining the need for the retrospective he has curated, Radhakrishnan said, “I had spent six years with Ramkinkar. The last six of his life and my initial years in the sculpting world. I wanted to properly document his life and achievements. It wasn’t done before.”
The retrospective is divided into various parts, that take different trajectories of the artist’s artworks. Some of them were scouted from private collections and galleries.
Others were acquired after gathering many digital prints of canvases owned by various people.
It has been a long journey for the curator. He recalled, “I met people who had photographs clicked with him. Someone whos father had interviewed Baij. The show is a collection of all those memories too.”
It is apparent that Ramkinkar and Radhakrishnan had shared a special bond. Ramkinkar even sat for him. But he is not showing that piece, because he feels, “it says more about me than about him.”
But he explained, “while I was doing the portrait, we shared meaningful silences. And at times he would break out of it to say excitedly that something needed to be done to the Yaksha-Yakshi structure at RBI building. I don’t know what.”
Radhakrishnan worked for four years on this curation. “My wife asked, Radha, what will you do after the opening? I said it is just an opening. I am sure there are new spaces waiting for me.”
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