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Katake or Kartik with temperate weather- neither cold nor hot as the
earth turns green and the sky blue - all clean and pure, is replayed as
a season of resurrection, happiness and nirvana. Manghar- is time for
story telling and home coming as the cold weather commences while Poukh
with short lived days and nights long, is a time to hibernate and seek
warmth. Maagh the month of rebirth is marked for the seeds sown to start
sprouting in the imagery while Falgun as the lyrical month of colour,
music and ecstasy when life blooms all around with flowering trees, singing
waters, dancing skies and awakening of the soul.
The cow series
Retaining his distinct thrust for lyrical figuration in balanced compositions
with fine textures and renderings in delicate palette, comes his current
work with its thrust focusing on the cow. Instead of the human figure
it is now the grace and beauty of the cow with its own character and compulsions
that inundate his art frame.
Sidharth's most recent muse the cow is a take-off on the four legged
creature's place in Indian psyche, history, myth, celebration and reality.
Regarded as a sacred symbol and a holy animal as Kama Dhenu- she is the
nurturing, nourishing mother or wishing cow. Its male form the bull or
Nandi is revered for its masculine powerful image as Lord Shiva's vahan.
There are numerous legends and creative expressions in Indian literature
and art around Radha Krishna's love stories set against a romantic landscape
and playfulness of the occasion including Krishna's youthful shepherding.
Cow is also a symbol of compassion and feminine docility as perceived
even today.
Dedicating the series to legendry Manjeet Bawa who mastered the art of
painting cow in its myriad forms and romantic moods, Sidharth attempts
to re-locate the sacred symbol into a contemporary context by placing
it in today's urban setting. All decked up but abandoned by the devotees,
once she turns unproductive, the sacred cow is shown wondering through
the city streets as a metaphor of diminishing compassion, disregard for
the environment, prevalent hypocrisy and inaction of the onlooker in post
modern India. The unconcerned gaze is explored in new series of paintings,
sculptures and a short silent film that follows the holy cow in the urban
jungle. Tiptoeing around in its attempts to survive on the cross roads
amidst traffic, the cow is shown to engage in playful interactions of
a different kind. Instead of gopis or gwalas, she is seen in the company
of rag pickers or surrounded by cars and traffic. Meandering through the
uncaring city and trying to avoid getting trampled over, she is obliged
to live on heaps of garbage, chewing plastic instead of the green grass
of Vrindavan!
What seems amazing is the artist's ability to paint these two very different
series in trademarks imagery in his inimitable style that makes it instantly
recognizable. So what is this style and what are some of the recurrent
features in Sidharth's art? The section below is an attempt to explore
and articulate some such strands that are distinctive of his art and aesthetics.
Recurring features
Using motifs from the Indian philosophic and literary traditions, folk
culture, history and techniques in his own unique vision and in an androgynous
form, the artist's work evokes the spiritual. As extolled in Sikh, Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Sufi and all other sacred texts it attempts to awaken
the soul. There are celestial creatures in flying postures, with embedded
images of nature, its flora and fauna in one form or another created with
organic material. Meditative in spirit his oeuvre is pleasing and festive
in a mix of earthy and bright hues. It is joyous even in its subtle forms
and softer tones represented in a cohabitation of movement and stillness.
The layered imagery is heightened with fine lines and scrapings in variable
transparency and textures highlighting its links with folk and classical
culture and traditional techniques in synergy with changing times. Though
love is omnipresent in his oeuvre, there is no explicit expression of
sexuality or man-woman sagas of love.
 The most distinct feature of Sidharth's artistic oeuvre is his figuration.
Often lonesome and poignant, more universal and not culture specific,
it is personified in a sphinx like androgynous form, dressed in long flowing
robes, always nose less as is often the case with ancient statues due
to ravages of time or human vandalism. Oval shaped face with beautiful
lips and large dove like eyes, half open or closed, it adorns a silent
look as if in dhyan mudra. Sitting or reclining or standing his figure
set amidst nature comes as an assimilation of male and female, orient
and west, sensitive and beautiful but not erotic. There are glimpses of
Nanak or Christ or Buddha or a saint may be Sufi, Chinese or Japanese
or possibly Madonna in a profile that reflects a peace of mind, timelessness,
sublimation of the ego and a touch of the Tantric perhaps Ardh Narishwar.
Placed amidst trees under the open sky it appears devoid of any past or
future, pain or joy. Nothingness pervades the mood as the pristine simplicity
and beauty of the form endows it with a Zen and weight-less, lyrical and
spiritual, tender and vulnerable appearance and spirit.
Sidharth's palette for which he searches far and wide, collecting natural
pigments to make his own organic colours with minerals, vegetables, flowers,
barks, fruits, plants, clay, chalk mitti and stones; is another distinguishing
feature of his art. His palette in smooth silken brush strokes flows in
a rhythm, like variations of a song or a rainbow, as composite creatures
belonging to another outer world of his imagination emerge or hide through
contours of the landscape of his canvases. Washing, grinding and mixing
his organic finds painstakingly and lovingly, he toils to get the choicest
colours and shades that befit his concept and imagery for each painting.
His black comes from Petra rocks or lamp black, crimson from pomegranate
seeds, blue and green is extracted from Indigo, mustard is used for his
yellow while it is also extracted from urine of cows fed on mango leaves,
orange from Mansal rock in Orissa, kirmach from Rajasthan while dusty
and browns from iron oxides. Lapis Lazuli, Emerald and Turquoise stone
are grinded to enrich the palette. There is also a liberal use of gold
in his work that comes from Germany, Austria and Sweden, while a particular
shade of green he gets from Tibet.
Besides the use of natural bounty, it is his ability to adapt traditional
materials, methods and tools and re-work proven folk techniques of murals,
thangka and miniature paintings to suit his contemporary style, that give
his art its special appeal. He creates his own handmade 'Wasli' paper
and canvas. Jute is soaked for weeks, then mashed and mixed with rice
water spread on chhajli (sieve) before it is beaten into thin sheets and
then layers are added to give it a desired thickness. The resulting paper
is not only acid free but it also remains in-tact for long period with
no fading or dis-colouring. For binding he applies vegetable glues, gum
Arabic and Neem seeds or juice of Bel tree that also work as preservatives.
Chalk mixed in distilled water on handmade paper with a paste of ground
stone, adds a jewel like embellishment and a distinct hue to his work
with its special appeal and a personal touch that also retains a freshness
and brilliance, meticulously matching the mood and mystique of the season
or issue or story.
The artist is an engaging story teller and each of his creations is immersed
in layered and folded narratives that try to evoke a long forgotten moment/memory
or present a thought or an idea or bring up an issue confronting the individual
or society. Each form or colour in his imagery has a story to tell and
Kahania or baatan as he calls them reverberate through all his work. His
motifs, metaphors and markings alongside the calligraphic writing, flora
and fauna rotate around srishti and a play of the five elements or Panchtatva.
Deeply rooted in its philosophical strand, the intrinsic merit of his
narrative art comes from the heart. It brings forth contemporary concerns
around human emotions and environment but sans any expression of alienation,
imitation or malice.
Sidharth's awareness of the global scene and his technology savvy streak
also get reflected in his art. With his indefatigable versatility he dabbles
with equal 'elan and interest in visual and performing arts and continues
to experiment and search for more. His multi disciplinary open minded
assimilatory approach involves using a range of media- painting, calligraphic
inscriptions, gouache, drawings sculpture, installations, painted scrolls,
design, architecture, literature, music, films and new media. It is his
holistic integration of various styles, media and influences that churn
out his unique form and oeuvre. This mix of styles and influences though
occasionally criticized, in fact manifests his versatility and mature
appreciation of each medium. The dynamics of human mind and natural phenomena
that he has encountered and experienced in personal life, his studies
and research over the years have all impacted on his art.
The born again persona
Winding back to the very beginning of the born again artist we encounter
Sidharth nee Harjinder Singh nick named Cuckoo, a little boy born to a
frail mother Rukmani Bibi and burly ghursaz father Jagtar Singh who worked
for the local landlord. The middle one amongst six kids in a Sikh family
of Gurbani singers with meager resources but strong cultural roots, he
grew up in the interiors of rustic Punjab at Bassian pind near Barnala.
With no schooling he led a carefree life listening to the melodious singing
of Kabir, Nanak and Baba Farid's religious songs. He loved helping his
mother tend the animals and make papier mache toys and dolls for which
they collected natural pigments from Sutluj and Bias river beds and the
fields around. Sidharth and his siblings saw very little of their father
who was often away traveling for his landlord master from one village
to another.
The young lad apprenticed with several masters including Tara Mistry
, from whom he learnt white washing, preparing and colouring walls, painting
frescos and murals, working on bill boards and decorating doors and havelis
. Wanting to expand his horizon, at 14, he left home and landed at Andretta
in Kangra where he worked as an assistant to Sardar Shobha Singh learningportraiture
and drawing .A subsequent chance visit to Mcleodgunj in Dharamshala saw
him give up his sikh identity and turn a Buddhist lama, living the life
of a monk at Namgyal monastery, practicing mediatation and learning Thangka
painting.It was here that he was rechristened as Sidharth . Life took
another U-turn for the wanderer when the restless soul in him decided
to give it all up and return to his roots in the village. But rejected
by the family, he found himself on the road once again that took him to
Chandigarh. Given his resilient spirit and hi quest for learning he joined
the art college there for some formal training and gain respectability.
In fact this hard working ans passionate artist's adventures also include
a short lived experience in Sweden where he came face to face with western
art and learnt glassglowing technique, before shifting his base back to
India.
A chance assignment to design a house in Gaziabad near Delhi resulted
in the homeless artist getting formally adopted by late Ram Kishen Dass
Bajaj and his family, moving into the very house he was designing for
them. A period at Garhi Artists' Studios in the city of working in lithography
and etching was followed by a difficult phase of struggle at personal
and professional levels. But given Sidharth's ability to survive against
odds and his commitment to art, he managed to emerge a winner. With a
series of exhibitions to his credit and finally his marriage to Devangi
and their life together now with young daughter Gaurja- it has been an
incessant struggle at various levels for this born again artist and adventurous
persona , before he could find a place for himself under the sun.
The maverick artist's stints as a visualizer with an ad agency, then learning
about miniature tradition in Rajasthan, craft techniques including paper
making at the Crafts Museum, designing houses, studying and filming Indian
classical and temple architecture, composing music- all manifest his quest
and resilience that make him a multi talented and born again artist. The
large and impressive repertoire of drawings, paintings and now some amazing
life size sculptures of birds and cows in fibre glass as well as his new
media work in film and music shows a maturity of the prolific artist's
vision and the depth of his symbolic and allegorical visual language.
A master of many languages and scripts- Persian, Pali, Sanskrit, Swahili,
Tibetan and Gurmukhi besides English and Hindi, he has also learnt calligraphy
and studied astronomy and the solar system besides folk memory and tales.
The strength of his work comes from his mastery of the philosophy, aesthetics
and techniques of oriental art which he is able to assimilate comfortably
with a contemporary sensibility and awareness and his versatile handling
of various materials and matrix.
For someone who learnt to read and write at a much later stage in life,
his in-depth research Ayurvedic tradition, classical scriptures, studies
of plants and insects, traditional methods of colour making seem very
remarkable. It is his learning from life and self study of various philosophies
and techniques that have sharpened his mind and helped shape his art The
artist and his art were the subject of an informal discussion that took
place recently at the ArtsI Gallery when its dynamic director Mukesh Panika
together with writer Namita Gokhle and I met up with Sidharth in the presence
of a Darirc film unit and Manoj Tripathi Editor of the Creative Mind when
the multi talented artist sang for us and talked about his work being
incomplete without a number of other mediums, "Stories, poetry, music-
all contribute to my aesthetics". Admiring the neutrality and malleability
of the gallery space, we discussed the importance of the vernacular. Also
the need for an assimilation of the folk and classical with modern, a
current running through much of Sidharth's own creative out pouring.
The checkered life and predilections of this self taught highly driven
artist, thinker, musician and kind hearted persona- born and reborn -
from a vagabond to a Buddhist monk and finally an artist of international
repute - seem to have influenced the metaphors of his art and shape his
aesthetics that resurrect his amazingly varied personal experiences, his
intuitive and humanist fortitude and spiritual bent of mind, crisscrossing
many interesting turns and twists. As Sidharth's insatiable thirst for
learning and exploring continues to refine his form and technique, his
art with its subtle quality, unique style, vocabulary and vision that
echoes a Zen spirit, innocence, beauty and naive romanticism will hopefully
continue to augment its universal appeal.
Sushma K Bahl MBE is an independent arts consultant, writer and
curator of cultural projects based in Delhi. A trustee and advisory panel
member of select few cultural and educational institutions in India and
abroad, she headed the Arts and Culture Department for British Council
India until 2003, was Guest Director For XI Triennale - India 2005 and
has curated several seminal exhibitions on contemporary Indian art and
authored/edited a selection of art books/catalogues.
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