A Meditation on canvas

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In the theatre tradition, the sutradhar’s role is all-important. From controlling the puppets’ strings to helping a story along, the role of the narrator is celebrated in Indian theatre. Niladri Paul is also a sutradhar. His narrative is one of vividly beautiful colours and strikingly fine technique. But strangely, for a narrative that is depicted via the static medium of acrylic on canvas, Niladri’s narration is also highly dynamic.
“I’ve always related more to force, energy, movement and anatomy,” says the artist, of his motivations. “Static things do not excite me. Motion, rhythm and sound are a part of my visual thought process, so those are elements that I incorporate in all my work. Even if you see my application of colour, it has a rhythm.”
His application of colour is just one method Niladri uses to circumvent the two-dimensional nature of his medium. “My work has a lot of motion…sometimes, I may apply a very thick brush stroke to create a sort of haze or an illusion between the figure and the colour. That generates a movement on my canvas.”
Another method Niladri is now exploring is by quite simply, changing his medium. For his upcoming exhibition, titled Sutradhaar, on display at the Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai from November 29, the artist is testing the boundaries of installation art. “Canvas is two-dimensional, so I’m now enhancing the character of my work three dimensionally. The Sutradhaar exhibition will feature a 5’5’’ sculpture in fibreglass, which occupies the realm of both space and rhythm,” he says.
The mainstay of the exhibition however, promises to be Niladri’s delicate, almost ethereal paintings that draw heavily from the gestures, mudras and movements of Indian dance — as also the nine emotions that are portrayed through all the performing arts. Niladri says, “There is peace, anger, harmony…I don’t want to categorise them into boxes, but my work has a combination of all the nine emotions that comprise the navarasas.”
None of Niladri’s works are bowed down by the weight of the ages that his inspirations carry by virtue of their ancient origin. Instead, his work has a buoyancy and a fresh, breezy feel that the artist says is deliberate: “The concept may be very rich and ancient, but I wanted to give it a new look. That was an exercise I had set for myself. This was why I decided to use the sort of modern, bright, fluorescent palette that is available nowadays. I worked on each piece to give the whole a very graphic look.”
The process of creating each work is painstaking, but one that Niladri revels in. “I love to draw,” he explains, adding, “For this work however, not much drawing was called for, what I needed was dimension. The process was one of ‘collaging’ my thoughts. I had to create a package that had colour-emotion, colour-balance, creating a lot of visuals over the drawing. Then I slowly deleted the drawing and worked at creating the modern graphic look. It’s very abstract in format, but through it all, you can see each mudra and each emotion. Each character is visible, although with a graphic, illusory feel.”
His work may have a modern look, but the traditional methods still work best for Niladri’s particular form of expression. He doesn’t believe in the use of digital media and explains his reasons: “I don’t think digital media have any dimension to them. Sure, whether you want a charcoal or a spray or an etched effect — everything is possible, but that lending of the personal touch, by which I mean actually touching your pigment or your medium, that is not there. I think my work has a lot of rhythm, a lot of freedom (which wouldn’t be possible with digital media).”
Niladri’s philosophy has been described as “celebrating the eternal through the beauty of the material body” but the artist has a simpler description to offer. “We all have small emotions, thoughts that come up since childhood. In my case, every day that I draw or paint, these crystallise further in my mind and my body. I then apply these layer by layer, onto my canvas,” he says. “This is my stage where I make people perform in a certain way. I have given these people a particular outline, a look, a colour, a costume according to my story. Subconsciously, all the characters that I have cherished since my childhood are included on this stage.”
But for those who may misconstrue his invoking the mantle of the sutradhar, Niladri explains that he does not see himself as the ultimate sutradhar — the Creator. “I am the medium, the vibrations all come from the Lord. Every day, I learn something new. It is an ongoing process,” says Niladri. “Art, to me, is tapasya, it is meditation, concentration and
dedication.”