Of Metaphors Etched in Stone

Ripples in stone- glittering with their intrinsic light, poloshed to perfection with minute attention to details, yet flowing with spontaneous abandon to create melodies that follow their own song. capturing all these metaphors enmeshed in silences that are mystifying as they are apparent is Anil Sharma, a sculptor who dares to conjure up images that are powerful and definite.

Anil dips into nature as his inspirational bastion. He flows with the grain of the stone and acknowledges the importance of artist's ability to approach a subject with an open mind. He follows his instincts and toes the path paved by one's imaginative faculties, which is an outcome of physical contact with the materials around. Each stone records the shades of natural beauty that surround him. He establishes a link with his inner self, while acknowledging that violence itself is much a part of nature as peace. And yet each movement is a step forward, His sculptures have an inherent need to be simple, yet specific, naturalistic and quiet. These forms are conceived and transformed into an overall abstract language in stone, sometimes juxtaposed with a very contemporary material - steel. What is abstracted in the process is an emotional response to nature and its mystery. It is a subtle interplay with the content of an abstract and a personal language that is almost compelling.

Breaking away from the monotony usually associated with natural imagey, he has made repeated use of similar motifs but in each case the result is a marvelously unique creation. One cannot divorce the newness of the idea from the artistic representation in each case. All the works have a definite mettle adn stand out as separatte entities when juxtaposed with works of the same series.

The intersting play of light in Anil's works also grants a lot of freedom and space to the onlooker. It prompts one to explore the artistic manifestations and look beyond the obvious limitations projected by definite lines. However, the abstract forms go beyond merely providing surface for the theme to manifest. His sculptures lend credibility to the fact that technique is instrumental to their being. The manner in which his style has evolved - underlines the fact that technique is pivotal and not merely a secondary creative tool. That is to say that representation of sheer ideas in the absence of being grounded and well-aware about the procedural nuances takes away from an artist's projection of ideas.

What one needs to look for in his sculptures is the meaning that lies beyond the obvious. Just like the lines which fade away into the undefined territories and take a leap into the unknown, one has to notice the finer elements, which carry the actual inspiration and have the mystical capability of transporting you as the audience into the third world, the secret territory of the artist's imagination.

Anil makes use of the artistic idiom in a fashion that each work has its own language and its own capability to converse with the onlooker. He carefully prevents himself from leading the audience or limiting their vision. That has been the persuasion evident in his work. They are the product of the artist's free-wheeling expression, where much is left to the imaginative faculties of the onlooer. This enables his works to establish a dialogue with the audience, thereby making them an intrinsic part of the idea projected as a whole.

It demands from the viewer a certain amount of time, a close association, understanding and friendship. And the upshot of such a solicitous blend of craftsmanship and profound creative expression is what transforms his works into an act of reverence and expression of gratification, it is up to you to allow it wash over you in a dance that is rather like the Indian monsoon-inundating with its sheer magnitude and at the same time spiritual in its quest to unite the creater and its creations seamlessly.

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is india's first trained curator, having studied at the Goldsmith's College, London and trained at the Museum of Modern Art in Oxford. She is an author and editor with nearly 20 books on performing and visual arts to her credit. Herself a keen painter, her works form part of important public and private collection across the world.

By Alka Raghuvanshi

Sculptures of Anil Kumar

Anil Kumar's preoccupation in sculpture over the past few years has been mass and motion. Working in stone, he has a direct, uncomplicated approach : Certain animal and insect form, are seen as mass, as stone, as form. The principle that it 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

There was a period in modern Indian Sculpture which may be termed as the pseudo-Moore period. Sculpture was understood as negative - positive, light - shade, vertical horizontal in short principles derived from a certain approach to the art. This approach by and large has been given up by some of the more perceptive and talented young sculptors. They have started realising that principles are derived from the basic vision and work of the artist and not the other way round.

The stone under the chisel of Anil, Whatever be its size, is transformed from mass into massiveness. This massiveness is achieved by an extremely careful avoidance of uncalled for adjuncts. The stone at times is highly polished and at times textured. The massiveness is dialectically counterpoised through an approach to shape which creates the illusion of motion. There is yet another transmutation; the non-organic becomes organic, the lifeless becomes living, and this through a curious introduction of an erotic element. Anil's sculptures fortunately avoid the more obvious Lingam-Yoni syndrome which seem to affect many of our younger sculptors today. Anil Kumar's preoccupation in sculpture over the past few years has been mass and motion. Working in stone, he has a direct, uncomplicated approach: Certain animal and insect form, are seen as mass, as stone, as form. The principle that it 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

There was a period in modern Indian Sculpture which may be termed as the pseudo-Moore period. Sculpture was understood as negative - positive, light - shade, vertical horizontal in short principles derived from a certain approach to the art. This approach by and large has been given up by some of the more perceptive and talented young sculptors. They have started realizing that principles are derived from the basic vision and work of the artist and not the other way round.

The stone under the chisel of Anil, Whatever is its size, is transformed from mass into massiveness. This massiveness is achieved by an extremely careful avoidance of uncalled for adjuncts. The stone at times is highly polished and at times textured. The massiveness is dialectically counterpoised through an approach to shape which creates the illusion of motion. There is yet another transmutation; the non-organic becomes organic, the lifeless becomes living and this through a curious introduction of an erotic element. Anil's sculptures fortunately avoid the more obvious Lingam-Yoni syndrome which seems to affect many of our younger sculptors today.

J.Swaminathan
Great Painter and Thinker

SCULPTURES OF ANIL KUMAR

Here are the works in which the form delineates and yet dominates the content, but the material or the medium overwhelms both. The geometry of the form appears simple, yet the algebra leading to this geometry is transcendental. The erotic and the natural merge into each other so effortlessly that neither is obvious.

Anil sculpts humility. The lowly nonviolent creatures are more marble and at the same time malleable than other creatures. These appear to have carved themselves. They invite you to share their bliss of self-creation.

Nag Bodas
Writer and Art Critic