What serves as an inspiration for you to paint?

Life and its eccentricities inspire me to paint. Ordinary people, their joys and sorrows, vignettes of middle class and street life with its economics of survival are often a starting point. Like in my ‘Celebration of Life’ series, people, objects and places seem to awaken and acquire an extraordinary energy that propels them into a multi-pronged dialogue...

What serves as an inspiration for you to paint?

Life and its eccentricities inspire me to paint. Ordinary people, their joys and sorrows, vignettes of middle class and street life with its economics of survival are often a starting point. Like in my ‘Celebration of Life’ series, people, objects and places seem to awaken and acquire an extraordinary energy that propels them into a multi-pronged dialogue amongst themselves. My work reflects the charming idiosyncrasies of my subjects. My canvas breaks the deadness of seeing all the scenes that Indians take for granted. There is an element of nostalgia involved in it. I do not want to mull over the moroseness of life, but want to reflect on the bright, positive side of it. I paint not what I see, but what I feel, what my ‘inner eye’ tells me.

Many of your series delve into the past. Has this been intentional?

My preoccupation, as an artist, is depicting Indian society caught between tradition and westernization. I look at my paintings as a record for future generations. With economic progress, which I see as a necessary evil, several good old ways of life are slowly fading into oblivion. I wish to record them through my work before they totally vanish. At another level, as I have stated above, my work deals with the dichotomy we are faced with as we oscillate between tradition and modernity. We are invaded by western culture, but at the same time we are desperate to cling on to our roots, traditions and identities. I depict these dualities and ironies of life. An artist cannot stop the inevitable, but can at least make the people pause and think.

Can you tell us about the process involved in creating the ‘color gradation’ and the elaborate detailing, which are a characteristic of your work?

I work in color gradations by a careful layering of pigments, which are made luminous with highlights. Evolving color gradations of four layers of colors whereby the clarity of colors is maintained, not making them gaudy or opaque requires skill. It took years of experimentation to be able to employ such a wide range of colors in complete harmony with each other as against a limited color palette. The effect is one where the whole composition seems to be simultaneously grounded and afloat with all the detailing of objects and people, and anchored in the structured space that is framed by the geometries of the base canvas. The extraordinary details in my paintings revolve around protagonists who seem to be quite narcissistic and aware of the centrality of their position in the canvas. A plethora of decorative details enter my work, where compositions are rendered in flat surfaces and tangents that seem almost textured, woven and embroidered with rhythmic patterns. The details don’t crowd the space. Rather they add to the story and the imagery of my work.

You do not have any formal training in art. When did you then decide to take painting as a career?

I am a self- taught artist who has slowly evolved. I hadn’t formally studied art, but was always interested in painting right since my childhood. I learnt the nuances of art by reading and by observing the works of the masters. I kept experimenting with various techniques to create something absolutely different and eye-catching. After studying Economics (Hons.) in New Delhi, I did one-year apprenticeship with Anjolie Ela Menon. On a professional level, it all started after 1987. Thankfully, my family has been very supportive. Anjolie Ela Menon has been my mentor and guide.

What else do you indulge in apart from painting? And what next?

I do love teaching art to children. Children are spontaneous, and show keen interest. In schools, in the name of creativity, artistic development is completely marred. It is essential for a child to learn the basics of fine art in order to develop a minimum level of interest and improve his visual imagination. I have also conducted art camps in India and abroad. Next, I am planning a visual satire on our legal system. I am also pondering over Bollywood as a subject theme for my next series.