Going beyond limiting the idea of art just to figurative or decorative, artist Gopal Nayal Chandavath aims at bringing an international perspective to the Hyderabadi art lovers. “My language, my style and my art is international. There is nothing local about what I do. I want people here to know about this different kind of art,” said artist Gopal Nayak.
In his latest exhibition on at the Iconart Gallery, “Thinking form and content”, he has brought together three mediums, fine art photography, painting and sculpture. “In my kind of art, I want people to see that every art medium has a relationship with the other. They connect on a greater level. Art for me is beyond just figurative art. As an abstract artist, I don’t want to explain everything to the viewer. I want them to try and analyse an art frame and understand what it is trying to convey,” he elaborates.
His creation of purely abstract work followed a long period of development and maturation of intense theoretical thought based on his personal artistic experiences. “Shapes, colors, lines, and use of space always express the reality found in nature, but its structure rather than its appearance,” he says.
A graduate in Fine Arts from JNTU in 1996, he later majored from SN School, University of Hyderabad in 1998. He was always fascinated by color symbolism and psychology and deeply his influenced by Cubism and Avant-garde concepts, his approach to art helped him evolve as an abstract expressionist. “I like perpetually examining natural elements, geometry, colors and experiments using various media meliorates. And the key to my works is comprehended either from location or imagination. I let forms become my subject art and a particular form or content can forward or recede depending upon the surrounding objects, forms, and space,” Gopal says. He believes, inner consciousness and intense spirit are the central aspects of his art.
The current art exhibition uses geometry to represent a tale. A new concept in itself, the artist says Hyderabad does not have enough art lovers to appreciate this kind of art. “I did not intend to display it for Hyderabadi audience. It’s a different kind of art and people here don’t appreciate art unless it is figurative. People here are not used to seeing such kind of art and it will take them some time to get this kind of exposure. I don’t think people here will even buy anything. If I display the same thing in Mumbai, there would be many takers for it. They know how to value it, but Hyderabad hardly has any art appreciation,” he expresses.
With over 50 shows to his credit, the artist has also received many accolades for his art. His next project is a continuation to the current series, but with the incorporation of copper and other metals. He is also venturing into the area of photographic prints.
The exhibition is on at the Iconart Gallery till March 30, from 11 am to 7 pm.