Papri Bose

You started painting at the early age of two. Who and what inspired you to take the paintbrush in your hands?
"My father, Kamal Bose, wanted me to be a painter. In fact, it was his earnest desire to take up painting but could not do so owing to certain circumstances. He ventured into the field of photography, and worked for several motion pictures, the classics of those times made by eminent filmmakers like Bimal...

You started painting at the early age of two. Who and what inspired you to take the paintbrush in your hands?
"My father, Kamal Bose, wanted me to be a painter. In fact, it was his earnest desire to take up painting but could not do so owing to certain circumstances. He ventured into the field of photography, and worked for several motion pictures, the classics of those times made by eminent filmmakers like Bimal Rai. Obviously, he had an inclination for art, which he passed on to me.

As a child, everyone paints. One's mind is like a blank slate that gets imprinted with things around during the early age. I started painting like any other child would do. My father's encouragement allowed me to carry on to the extent that I could think of nothing else but painting. In a way, painting came to naturally to me. I would participate in several painting competitions, and won awards as well. I completed a diploma in Applied Art from Sophia Polytechnic. In 1981, I was at the Volk, Kunst Schule, Vienna. My experiences there were extremely fruitful."

The iconography of your art is replete with mystical symbols and metaphors. How do you explain these recurring motifs and imagery that form an inseparable part of your works?
"My concerns lie in the language of the deeper spaces within oneself. The unconscious symbols being its essential language, which arise to communicate deeper truths. The images are necessity driven and never engineered, and are not pre-conceived. They come spontaneously lending an element of surprise and magic, in the process, pushing the boundaries of existing rigid notions and moving from comfort zone to discover the larger references of the self. The works are intended to trigger one's remembrance of the deeper treasures with one. The images are sometimes meant to shock akin to a wake up call.

"The symbols are natural attempts to reconcile and reunite the opposite within the psyche. The imagery comes from the deep recesses of your sub-conscious; it's often part of the surroundings. In my case, the imagery does not stem from outward stimulus; neither does it make social comments."

What are predominating concerns as an artist, and how do you express them?
"The main concerns of my works are to understand oneself and the world, to uncover hidden agendas, to discover the blueprint that lies within, waiting to manifest, unravel, reveal. The content of my work has moved from alienation and wounding of the previous years to new territories of light, vibrant luminous colors of oranges, yellows and forms bordering on concerns related to my identity, man's origin, the eternal enigma of mankind. To unravel this mystery and break narrow definitions, in short, redefining one's identity, storming the citadel, moving through a process of shifts, the impulse being essentially inwards, is part of the journey, within and without."

How do you approach your work? Are the ideas and the imagery already there with you, when you start painting?
"As I confront the canvas, it is chaotic, but slowly the forms emerge gaining in consistency. I have no idea or set notions before approaching my work. Once I reach a silent zone, there's a dialogue between the canvas and me till the whole composition is finished. The whole body of work has a feel of uniformity and unity without I really striving for it. It's organic; neither contrived nor manipulated. I try to attain a level of purity. It's divinity in a man that shines through my work. To me, one of the most important functions of the art is to make men aware of the greatness they do not see in themselves.

Do you prefer working in any particular medium?
I mostly prefer working in oil, charcoal, watercolors and acrylic.

From your early earth tones you now seem to have shifted to more luminous colors of oranges, yellows.
Oh, yes! I did start with earth tones. Then I got into lighter ones like oranges and yellows. Recently, I have been going for deep red. Even the blue has entered, and may end up with white, who knows? I am a colorist, and I work in phases. The shifts keep on happening. Though the journey is undefined, I enjoy it. While painting, you are actually collaborating with the unknown. That's the most fascinating aspect of painting.