CHENNAI: In the mid-60s, when SG Vasudev was still a student at the College of Arts, Chennai, he was introduced to a man who he did not realise would become more than just an acquaintance. He would be a friend that Vasudev respected, a poet that he admired and a muse that would eventually inspire. The man was AK Ramanujan, the controversial, albeit celebrated poet, translator, playwright and scholar whose repertoire included a number of works in both English and Kannada.
Vasudev went on to create the book cover for Ramanujan’s first collection of poems Hokkulalli Hoovilla (No Flower in the Navel), and he used a dark gray background with Kannada lettering in white. “His poems were something I conceived in black and white. When he asked me why I didn’t use colour, I told him that his poems don’t need colour, they are very stark,” begins Vasudev, as we sit down with him at Forum Art Gallery, where his Tribute to Ramanujan collection is on display. So it is almost poignant when we see that almost all of the canvases are black-and-white.
For Vasudev whose previous works include hugely successful curations like ‘Theatre of Life’ and ‘Humanscapes’, this exhibition is more than just about the poet or even his art work. “When Ramanujan approached me with the idea of making a series based on his poems, he had the unique idea of organising a reading too at the gallery. Unfortunately, he passed away before the series could debut. But in 1995, I finished the collection, a series of about 45 works, and displayed it at Sakshi Art Gallery where a few eminent writers came and read out his works,” recalls Vasudev.
The exhibition came to Chennai a year later, where the Madras Players rendered a dramatised version of Ramanujan’s poetry. And this time around, too, the opening night this time saw eminent poets like VR Devika and veteran theatre personality Ranvir Shah rendering Ramanujan’s poetry, quite fittingly on his death anniversary.
Recalling Ramanujan as a ‘walking encyclopedia’ Vasudev adds, “He was a fantastic orator and a visual poet, right down to the way he arranged his lines. His poems looked simple, but for me they were complex and interpreting them was tough. Which is why, I stuck to lines. I remember when I visited him in Chicago, he used to take me to many international art museums. We used to spend a lot of time together and just look at art and try to understand it.”
Ramanujan, despite not knowing Tamil was a famed translator. “He translated a lot of Tamil Sangam poetry and Alwar poems. He stayed with me in Chennai for months at a time, learning the language. The essence of the poems, despite being in another language, used to be on point, even in his translations. We thought alike in a lot of ways. In fact, my ‘Theatre of Life’ series was inspired by him,”
says Vasudev.
The exhibition has 28 of Vasudev’s works on display of which 26 are interpretations of Ramanujan’s poetry and two are the artist’s personal interpretations of the man himself. It will sign off on July 31, with a panel discussion on Ramanujan. “I invited a few poets and students of poetry to come and view the collection and write poetry based on what they perceive. This will also be presented at the end of the exhibition. It is the least we can do to keep the memory of a great man alive. It is important to make art accessible,” he avers.
The exhibition is going on at Forum Art Gallery till July 31. For details call: 42115596