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DREAMS remain for the rest of your life. Art would die if dreams were to disappear". So, at 73, internationally acclaimed artist Gulam Mohammed Sheikh not only continues to dream but also breathes new life into his dreams, translating them into powerful works. Reinventing both himself and his art, this master of narrative style is forever lending new meanings and dimensions to artistic expression. And he finds nothing revolutionary about it. Rather, as he puts it, "Whenever creativity has been the nucleus, art has broken bounds".
Well, he for sure is breaking new ground. So, one moment he is busy creating visual books, a medium of which he confesses people have a limited understanding, yet he is willing to perfect it. More recently, he has been preoccupied with rediscovering kaavads of Rajasthan. And the wanderer in him maps journeys, creating his own Mappa Mundi, thus reinterpreting Ebstrof Map, the 13th-century circular map of the world made in medieval Europe. Unafraid to explore new mediums, he is even open to digital art. Only, as he puts it, "I have not allowed myself to be seduced by the computer. I use it only as a means. Technology is useful but cannot supersede the image". Make that ‘images’, for Sheikh deals with and believes in multiplicity, as "living in India means living in many cultures and many centuries". Besides, the world came to this alumnus of the Faculty of Fine Arts, Baroda, who later studied at the Royal College of Art, London, manifold. Simultaneously straddling several cultures and times, different beings from 15th -century Italy to 19th -century India co-exist in his canvas. "The idea", he shares, "is not to create conflict or harmony but to strike a dialogue. Artists may not be reinventing history but do present new contexts". So, in his hands, the traditional kaavad, a portable travelling shrine of sorts used to tell stories, becomes not merely an artistic statement but a mirror to the frayed times we live in. Unfolding step-by-step, rather door-by-door, his larger-than-life kaavad juxtaposes the past and present to offer a better understanding of the world. As one kaavad incorporates images of sufi saints, fakirs and even sceptics, is he hinting at something deeper and profound? He, who has been using the image of Kabir "for it is a sane voice" extensively in his works, says, "As against the organised belief system, the philosophy of sufism and the Bhakti movement sure is more inclusive. Thus it can help us overcome the divide and bring greater hope". Art, too, which by
nature is against complicity and hopelessness, he asserts, is never
without hope. With the temperatures of intolerance rising, he believes
the artistic community has not only remained united but also ensured
its freedom to say what it wants. Indeed, he nods that today there is
always a danger of being misunderstood. But then, an artist has to
take the risk, as each work is a new venture and an assertion as well
as reaffirmation of artistic freedom. Interestingly, his freedom
manifests by way of poetry, too. Writing in his mother tongue
Gujarati, he can’t say where the poet and the painter meet. He says,
"Concerns may be the same but the body it acquires is
different". Either way, Sheikh remains a Taking his viewers en route a fascinating journey, his art is at once tantalising and enquiring. Pregnant with an elusive dream-like quality, it, however, doesn’t shy away from probing reality. Raising uncomfortable questions, it answers ticklish queries too. All inclusive, it embraces many ideas and concepts. Friends as well as his new kaavad shall be a tribute to dear friend, the late Bhupen Khakhar and his works. Planning an exhibition of kaavads, often referred to as installations (one larger-than-life kaavad has just returned from Japan), his art finds the energy to reinforce his dreams. Cutting through the cloud of despair that envelopes us, his is art that is transcendental yet rooted in terra firma. Back in the sixties,
when he and like-minded artist friends formed The Group 1890 they were
compelled to define art’s role in the changing scenario. Today, he,
a recipient of the Padma Shri, and many more honours like Ravi Varma
Puraskaram, Kalidas Samman, et al has not only expanded the horizons
of art but also found a permanent niche for himself and his art that
finds a pride of place in the National Gallery of Modern Art, New
Delhi, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Peabody Essex
Museum in Salem, US, among others.
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