It is not unusual for a viewer to look at an abstract artwork and ask, ‘What does this signify?’ And that is Prabhakar Kolte’s pet peeve. The 73-year-old abstractionist from Mumbai baulks at anyone labelling his work as ‘abstract’. Even the idea of anyone asking him the ‘meaning’ of a particular artwork doesn’t appeal to him. “A painting is a painting is a painting. Abstraction is a nomenclature because there’s a particular way you can identify it. You can identify lines, forms and colours, but can’t find any meaning. And I always say art has no meaning. When you see something beautiful, you don’t find meaning but just see it. Art is just that,” says Kolte, whose ongoing solo show at Treasure Art Gallery in Delhi ends on December 10.
The veteran artist, who’s been painting for over 50 years, is stoked about his post-lockdown show in the city’s newest gallery. “These times of Covid were such a bad experience. But such exhibitions give me unique energy,” says Kolte who made about 150 artworks for this show. The exhibition which is aptly titled ‘The Mind’s Eye’ is inspired by nature and life, using the technique of laying down multiple layers of paint—to achieve a matte, impenetrable surface.
About 70 of Kolte’s works are hung across two floors of the gallery which opened to the public with his show. The exhibition includes portraits and still-life works from his early days as an artist. For him, art is a form of expression and he doesn’t believe in being told what to create. “Expression comes from within and not from outside. The canvas is blank, it’s always something within that needs to be shown on it. And often, you can’t interpret it to someone else,” says Kote, who admires iconic Indian artists, including MF Husain, VS Gaitonde and SB Palsikar, his professor at Sir JJ School of Art Mumbai, where he studied and went on to teach later.
It was Palsikar who perhaps steered the direction in which Kolte’s life in art took a turn. During his final year in college, Kolte was invited by Kolkata’s famous Chemould Art Gallery to do a solo show. Excited and proud, Kolte went to seek permission from Palsikar. The latter asked, ‘Prabhakar, what is yours in this?’ Kolte says, “I was shocked initially, but when I reflected on what my professor had asked, I understood. My works had influences of all artists I admired—Gaitonde, Husain, Ambadas. I finally rejected the offer and eventually showed at Chemould after two years with Palsikar inaugurating the show.” Fondly remembered as the father of Mumbai’s contemporary art and culture, Palsikar has been a mentor to some prominent artists, including Kolte, recognised as one of the proponents of Indian Abstract Expressionism.
Just like this mentor, Kolte too taught with unique ideas. Perhaps that’s why he wasn’t very happy with the way art teaching was structured at his alma mater. “In art, you should not use subjects but should leave students free and ask them to paint what they want. But all colleges give subjects so naturally, students paint that. There’s no freedom for students and I broke the limits of subjects,” says Kolte who voluntarily retired after spending two decades as a teacher at Sir JJ School of Art in Mumbai. But the artist continues his journey of making and teaching ‘formless’ art which doesn’t need to be labelled. Just like his artworks—which are untitled.