BENGALURU : For S G Vasudev, inspiration is everywhere. The veteran artist’s upcoming show – titled Montage of Memories – is an exhibition of collages made by him in the past five or six months. “I’ve used different things to create the work, from wedding invites and magazine clippings to even images from a coffee table book written on me,” says Vasudev, whose show, coincidentally, opens on his 80th birthday, which is March 3.
The works will be on display at Gallery Sumukha and gallery director Premilla Baid says, “It’s also the 25th anniversary of the gallery and I thought it would only be right to ask S G Vasudev to do a show for this occasion. After all, he has contributed so much to the city’s art scene.”
The show also marks Vasudev’s return to making collages after 1978-79. Back then, the artist – who received the National Award from the All India Lalit Kala Akademi in 1967 – had made four collages, which were exhibited at the National Gallery of Modern Art, Bengaluru and Mumbai. “I found myself wondering why I didn’t do collages anymore. But this time, I combined drawings with black and white pens and acrylic liners as well, instead of just sticking to paper cut,” says Vasudev, who created over 80 such pieces, of which 40 are now on display.
“I would make 2-3 pieces every day. Making a collage may seem simple but it is hardly so. Sometimes, the cut paper suggests a form and I have to work around it. It’s like mathematics,” laughs the artist, while continuing, “You create the problem and then solve it. The final look is not pre-determined, you put down the paper arbitrarily and work with it,” he says.
In over six decades of his career, the artist has created many memorable works, of which he till date gets enquiries for his ‘Vriksha’ (Tree of Life) and ‘Theatre of Life’ series. “But I don’t like to recreate something unless I feel called to. What excites me is finding something new. The tree has been a big inspiration in my earlier works and it is there in these new works too, but it’s not the same as it was 25-30 years ago,” says Vasudev, who has collaborated with artistes from other fields as well. Most notably, his body of work also includes creating costumes and masks for Girish Karnad’s Hayavadana, cover design for U R Ananthamurthy’s books and being the art director for Kannada movies Samskara and Vamsha Vriksha.
“These collaborations between sister art forms are important. They don’t happen overnight but each craft is significant, and it’s interesting to see how an artist can evolve from this,” says Vasudev, whose only advice to artists of the current generation is to work hard and not chase money. “The latter will come,” says Vasudev, who clocks in 4-5 hours of artwork daily. “And I’ll say the same to younger artists as well. It’s important to keep your mind and hands active and moving.”
The exhibition will be held from March 3 - 27 at Gallery Sumukha, Wilson Garden