"I’ve always dreamt of immortalising the great Indian goat. And I have, with my new book,” chuckles the celebrated Laxma Goud. There is a new book out on him, titled K Laxma Goud—In Black & White, edited by Ratna Rao Shekar, which addresses his life, dreams and thoughts.
“And the old man is back in the news,” he guffaws as he runs his hand over the pages that feature over 100 rarely seen ink drawings. He warns, “Mind you, they are all black and white. Grotesque, too. After all, they are my own interpretation of folklore."
”This alone makes it a unique collection. His paintings are known for their vibrant colours and hues, and the array of mediums he has mastered from oil, acrylic, watercolor, pen, ink, etching to sculpture in bronze and terracotta.
So what is new about the book? The 100 audacious sketches are unseen jewels. But their idiom is the same—the colours, emotions, lust and longing and the starkness of rural Telangana, where he grew up. An artist’s beginnings lie in the internalisation of observations. Through childhood, Goud was exposed to rural crafts, such as leather puppetry and terracotta ornaments.
In his paintings men in bright colourful dresses look intensely concupiscent, as their women are brazenly welcoming in ornate jewellery and saris amidst rich forest settings and animals. They are simply themselves, and their sexuality is immodest and without artifice. Goud is a delicate voyeur of the rural truth that nature in its glory is essentially erotic, and celebrates the power and pull of sexual attraction between the genders, especially of Nizampur, where he spent his childhood.
“I am a village boy at heart. Direct dil se for me. If I am angry with you, I am not going to think twice about using profanities. Rustic life is raw and real. This is reflected in my work and in the book,” says the 80-year-old artist. Shekar, who has known Goud for many years, has included pen and ink drawings that date from 1966 to this decade. The book includes an essay from his guru KG Subramanyan.
Goud is one of India’s bestselling artists whose clientele increased during the pandemic. He says Covid cannot dampen his spirits. “I survived the plague. This virus is nothing. Let’s enjoy the moment,” he says, while raising his glass of ginger tea in a mock toast.