Mature Marbles

Anil Kumar from Gwalior offers an exceedingly mature collection of Gohra marbles. Rarely does such a young artist present so coherent and sure an assemblage of work. Using a uniform, Khaki colored marble, Kumar invests it with an almost luminous quality, highlighting the plain drab stone with an extraordinary glass - like polish.

The forms are simple; there are no extraneous flourishes or gimmicks. In most of the pieces, the larger highly polished areas are faultlessly counter-balanced by small areas of textured chiseling....... which serves not only to provide surface contrast, but also appreciably lightens the tonal quality of the scraped or gouged areas. Tortoise is a beautiful hemisphere of mirror smooth stone curving gently over the rough- hewn head of the reptile, while Rat imbues that mundane rodent with a graceful fluidity reminiscent of some of Brancusi's stainless steel forms. The interplay of tone and texture is well worked out in insect, in which the harshly chiseled abdomen of the creature emerges dramatically out of the surrounding polished stone.

Fish 1 is probably the most arresting piece in the show. A stunning sweep of incredibly smooth marble soars up like a bishop's miter, enclosing in its base a gouged and rounded shape. It is a compelling sculpture which, like all of the artist's work seems to beg to be touched and stroked.
Anil kumar has presented a fine show. His work is simple and sure, his eye for the essential line or element is unerring and his security with himself and his medium shines through in every piece.

NIKKI- TY-TOMKIN
SUNDAY OBSERVER, BOMAY, JUNE 22, 1980

As the eminent painter J. Swaminathan says, "Anil’s preoccupation has been mass and motion, certain animal and insect forms are seen as mass as stone, as form. The principle that transforms the mass into form is the principle of motion: the logic of nature is carried to its ultimate intent in art, from that which is to that which ought to be."

Anil uses Gohra marble which is mostly pink or black and has a beautiful texture. He creates such animals as tortoise, rhino, frog and chicken. In each he explores the essence of identity. In “Fish", for example, he pertinently shows the open mouth and suggests the eyes with cavities. The butterfly is built with beautiful wings alone. The “Owl" a masterpiece dominated solely by the eyes. His "Parrot" is a close-up of the bird, far more subtle than the parrot which had once won him a Bombay Art Society prize. "Frog" again indicates Anil's powers of observation.

This is an exhilarating exhibition marked by a singular originally of thinking and first-rate craftsmanship.

DHYANESHWAR NADKARNI
MID DAY BOMAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 1985

Gallery Scene

Anil Kumar from Gwalior with his marble carvings. He uses fine varieties of marble available in Madhya Pradesh. He still sticks to bird and animal forms, but this time he has provided a wide range of variations. His touch is still immaculate. I feel, however, that as long as he openly associates his work with forms in the animal world, he will be inhibited from experimenting freely with marble caring.

DHYANESHWAR NADKARNI
MID DAY BOMAY, APRIL 17, 1987

In to the animal kindgom

He lives in world apart. There's a penguin looking curiously over one rounded shoulder, an inscrutable crow head, there's a rabbit winding itself up ready to leap, an insect with perfect wings poised to fly. Anil Kumar's world of creature is a world where no man lives he sees his creatures as the essence of life, quite happy in their Eden, before man intruded. Black and pink marble give his creatures near perfect forms, yet his work is not realistic. Instead in his attempt to "Transform mass into motion", Anil captures the essence of his creature, transforming the liquid motion of a bird of an insect into smooth, polished stone.

Yet, the measure of his success lies in the fact that one almost expects his turtle to crawl slowly away of the moth to take wing one trick of light, and it could be gone.

So they do- for buyers are quite frequent at Anil Kumar’s shows, and not surprisingly for his prices are as low as 3,000.
Anil prefers sculpture to painting because "it has more dimensions, and I can show more ". Tribal annual forms have helped shape his imagination and a diploma in sculpture from Gwalior has helped shape his skill. Besides which Anil is also working under Amrita Shergil Fellowship of the M.P. Government, and held the post of curator, Kala Vithika State Gallery, at Gwalior

The rest of the time, he's studying he's studying his creatures, the better to trap them in their quintessential forms in marble. Like William Blake, Anil's imagination sees divinity in a grain of sand and beauty in a fly.

Unusual indeed in a time and age where man has no time to observe beauty in other men!

EVENING NEWS OF INDIA
INDIA BOMBAY, APRIL 20, 1987

At the current show, he sometimes takes risks beyond the absolute quintessence of an animal form. But what is admirable is that he has shown the boldness to range freely and to continue to concentrate on formal excellence.

Among the many appearing works on show special mention may be made of two crouching rabbits, a realistic tortoise, a solemn penguin a standing, insect, a crow and a frog. The formal exploration in each case is inventive. There is no dependence here on blind naturalism.

Now that Anil has achieved this much he can perhaps afford to break himself free of any link with his pet subject. One hopes that he will experiment in pure form, partly because he is so very near it already.

DHYANESHWAR NADKARNI
TIMES OF INDIA BOMAY, APRIL 15, 1987

Burgeoning Talent

Anil Kumar is well known here. He is the only sculptor in this quartet who has not been to Baroda University. Coming from Gwalior, where he trained in his art, he is credited with winning the Madhya Pradesh Government's Amrita Shergil Fellowship for three successive years. He represents the existence of some notable sculptural talent within the Gwalior -Bhopal belt.

Anil Kumar had started with shapes of birds and animals in marbles of different pedigrees. One still remembers his large, vivid, parrot's head which won him the Bombay Art Society's award in 1979. Fortunately, he got more and more sophisticated, and his current series - although it is a distant extension of what he started with which has the less specific title life rather than, say Tortoise (a favorite concept of Anil's).

We have his rounded forms which impress with their sleekness and variety. However, the young sculptor must finally conclude this preoccupation with such basic abstract forms.

DHYANESHWAR NADKARNI
INDEPENDENT BOMAY, JUNE 20, 1992

Beautiful Creatures

A young sculptor, Anil Kumar, is showing some of his brilliant works in black Basalana marble at the Jehangir Art Gallery. Entitled "Creatures", the show has some beautiful marble pieces. Frogs, rabbits, crow and other denizens of the animal kingdom have been attractively shaped in stone. In the marble piece, there are patches of light and shade at the right places. There are no details of the faces of any of the animals. They are all abstract pieces, but the basic realistic form is maintained.

The rabbit is cute, the frog is in a crouched position, ready to hop and the crow has just come to rest.
At the age, of 26, Anil Kumar seems to be already well set on a bright art journey. The sculpture pieces give ample testimony of his talent and technique. He has held so far eight one - man shows and participated in several group exhibitions. He has got M.P.State award thrice and the coveted 'Raza Award' in 1986.

ARKAY
THE AFTERNOON BOMBAY, APRIL 22, 1987

Good blend of talent experience

The sculptor in this show, Anil Kumar, has used stone to an appreciable degree in its perfection and finish. The artist succeeds in retaining the organic quality of the material by careful use of texture and finish. He is fascinated by certain animal forms that he captures in stone devoid of unwanted details, retaining the mass. He ends life to an act of a moment through the use of a division of forms. In a pink marble that greets one entering the show the artist has created a remarkable textural finish and exploited color to perfection.

YOSUF ARAKKAL
THE TIMES OF INDIA BANGALORE, JULY 10, 198

Anil Kumar's sculptures are indicative of an idea of evolution. He converts stones into figures to give them the semblance of animals, through which he projects his imagination of evolution.

Life seems to sprout through this creature- like shapes. The growth is almost always raw, rough and unfinished and it just gives a hint of the phallic. His works are a combination of highly polished and waxed surfaces and the unpolished.

M.R. ADWANIKAR
INDIAN EXPRESS BOMBAY, JULY 2, 1992

Anil Kumar of Gwalior returns to Taj Art Gallery with his new marble carvings. Many years ago, he won a top Bombay Art Society award.

The young carver has been closely connected with the activities of Bharat Bhavan. He participated in collecting folk and tribal art from the region, spurred on Roopankar director. J. Swaminathan. (After Swaminathan's untimely death, Delhi painter Manjit Bawa has taken over as director of the museum). Anil Kumar has participated in a number of shows, including those organized by Bhopal's Kala Parishad and Bharat Bhavan. In 1986, he won the Raza Award as well as the Amrita Shergill Fellowship instituted by Bharat Bhavan.

His current series, entirely in green marble, is called Live. The forms are suggestive of animal shapes completed with textured, unpolished heads. There is a unique glow about this green marble and richness in its mingling of color and texture.

DHYANESHWAR NADKARANI
THE INDEPENDENT, BOMBAY, AUGUST 29, 1994

Simply Marvellous !

Sculptor Anil Kumar is set to take Mumbai by storm with his latest marble creations.

Over the past few decades, there has been a revolution in art from Madhya Pradesh. This can be traced to Bharat Bhavan, a unique art institute in Bhopal. Among the prominent artists associated with the Bhavan is the marble carver Anil Kumar, who will hold an exhibition at the Taj Art Gallery from September 30.

For the first time Anil's sculptures will be in Kesariaji green and Italian marble. Anil comes from Gwalior, where at the age of 24 he took his diploma in sculpture. "I learnt through each of my exhibitions" says Anil, "Each one was a challenge. In our country art schools are not enthusiastic about training in sculpture. We have to look to traditional carvers for inspiration and work with them".

By DHYANESHWAR NADKARNI
THE SUNDAY MID-DAY September 28, 1997