When footprints become landmarks

Watching a retrospective of senior artists is like walking part of the journey with them, meandering through their special l moments, their milestones, their influences and influencers, their raison de etre, the phases that made them what they are, some steps taken might not have footprints that lead anywhere, some footprints are so indelible that they have become landmarks. Some phases one may have seen other were either before your time or one missed for some reason.

These thoughts came unbidden as I looked at artist Krishan Ahuja’s retrospective that concluded earlier last week. Krishan has been a popular teacher for years and has many students whom he has mentored. They are well-known artists themselves now so it is even more interesting to see how many students must have been influenced by his work. and he, by them for I believe that influence is always a two-way street. 

The one aspect that clearly stands out in his work is his attitude of a people’s person. There are any number of works that are of people hugging, embracing, entwining in tight embraces that almost seem melded together warmly. These figures are not gender specific but could be either male to male or male-female or female to female. “I am a person who is essentially a romantic at heart. I believe in relationships across genders and my work tends to reflect it,” says Krishan. The artist’s treatment of the human figure renders it gender non-specific but there is also interesting embracing of the same figure enveloping and embracing itself too. The key point is the embrace with or by others is immaterial.

There is something about some of the figures that can be reminiscent of Tyeb Mehta too. “Yes, some people have given me this feedback but it must be sub-conscious and not active at all. But having said that, how can anyone remain unaffected by other arts and artists? If you see even music of an era, there are similarities so visual impact is even greater. How can one remain untouched?” he asks. A number of the impactful works that he has chosen to exhibit are from this phase.  

Krishan has traversed many media including painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, installations — even before the word became fashionable! I loved two installations of the Safaiwallah: Caring for Environment and The Chair. The Safaiwallah installation is a wheel barrow with photographs pasted on it of the metaphoric kachhra it is used to lift. The artist dressed up the wheel burrow with fairy lights to make the statement of how often what is essentially kachhra is dressed up prettily!

The Chair is a take on the semi urban-semi rural nai or roadside barber as he attempts to impart a semblance of dignity and even luxury to the proceedings by parking his clients on a wooden chair complete with a makeshift neck and head rest that is adjustable but in a very elementary and completely manual sort of way. A mirror opposite the barber’s chair completes the picture and herein lies the catch – what the mirror reflects is all important. In this case, Krishan decided to show an image of the barber busy with his business. There is something fascinating about the nai and I remember we used to get enthralled by the sheer act of shaving and the soap suds! These manifestations of traditional professions are eternally mesmerising but are fast disappearing remnants of the paradigm shift of a lifestyle. 

The other big component of Krishan’s retrospective was his journey in printmaking, which, of course, is related deeply to his expertise in drawing. He is from that generation of artists who still carry a drawg book and advise their students to do the same and I must say to great impact for this very sound advice. This quest for perfection shows up in his water colours too, where his treatment is almost a precursor to his subsequent journey into the human figures. Here his genre is akin to the Santiniketan style of painting landscapes.

Photography as a medium has found many followers in this digital era but earlier when people clicked photos, every exposure was precious. His images of Delhi and its life are captured with great affection for the place and its people.  With the typical precision of a teacher, Krishan has lovingly kept safe his photos of various phases that reflect his voyage and relationships with other artists of his times that he has brought out in a beautifully published catalogue. I wish more people would do that — after all, it is of historical importance.

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted on alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com