In Jan 1989, Bhupen Khakhar, Nalini Malani, and Vivan Sundaram were commisioned to do a 19ft x 20ft mural on glass for a private collection. During the time they worked on this together, filmmaker Arun Khopkar made a short documentary on their work, titled ‘Figures of Thought’. It is an insightful and important documentation – of the works of three prominent artists who practised, with their very own, distinctive styles, during a defining era in Indian art history. It is interesting to hear them speak about their own work – what went on in their minds, why they chose to do what they did.
Khakhar talks about the influence of Baroda in his artistic journey, explains why everyday images of gods and posters mattered to him -‘I use the colours that were used by middle class people.’ Malani talks about the origins of her art – ‘I’m curious about the possibility of painting the states of one’s mind’….’emotions that grip one in the ordinary context of one’s life – like oppression, anxiety, self-absorption, anger’… ‘I’m obsessed with getting into these people, that have secret lives that I will never know.’ Sundaram talks about the importance of his surroundings in his art, about feeling the necessity to do a series of charcoal drawings after a visit to Auschwitz, about working on a Shergil family painting that took two years to complete – ‘Took a lot out of me’…’the scale led to a certain kind of formality, a certain kind of distance’.
As we hear the artists speak, Khopkar’s visuals play beautifully with light and sound in showing us their paintings. Beyond everything, it excites me to imagine how a collaboration of these three artists, iconic in their own right, must’ve been like. Such stories from the archives truly make your day.
Video in two parts
Behind the Glass
