G.Reghu, the noted ceramic sculptor is a very unique
presence in the Indian contemporary art scene. Anywhere in the world, art scene
is a ‘special economic circle’ where unlike in the case of marriages everyone
would like to ‘jump into the circle’ sooner than later but never feels like
jumping out of it once inside. The glamour and glitter of the art world somehow
cover up the pain and pangs, and the unexpected tragedies. Here everyone tries
to keep a shiny and happy face even when the pearls that adorn those
countenances are tears and the music that plays in the background is the clamors
of the private demons. Keeping out of it and living a true life need a lot of
mental and spiritual strength; the kind of strength that could be imbibed
through the ultimate understanding of the purifying effects of art on oneself.
G.Reghu is one such successful artist who has succeeded both in the material
world as well as in the spiritual world by defeating the need and desire to be
there in the glamorous world of pretensions. His works are currently exhibited
in the Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi.
(work by G.Reghu)
The works of art created by Reghu in fired clay consist of
the images from a slow paced world where people have enough time to sit, gaze
upon the beauties of nature, wander and wonder at the things that the urban
dwellers like us consider as insignificant. Reghu lives in Bangalore and before
that he spent almost fifteen years in Bhopal where he established his ceramic
studio called ‘Mati Ghar’ (the House of Clay). Both the places were not rural.
Living in an urban space does not mean that one should be enamored by the psychedelic
developments seen in the cities. One needs a very tender and fine sensibility
developed over a period of time by seeing and experiencing the simplest kinds
of lives lived elsewhere in order to come up with a series of sculptures in
fired clay with such sincerity and force. Reghu’s world is a world that is
still there just around us, yet we refuse to see or acknowledge. It would be exotic if someone tells that rural life style is rejuvenating and if someone
goads us to pay and take us to those places as a part of tourism package then
definitely we would see the ‘beauty’ of it through our digital cameras. But to
make it a part of the living philosophy and a livable principle one should
carry the village within oneself forever. Reghu is an artist who carries a
village (and many villages within him).
(work by G.Reghu)
The world of Reghu is full of magical beings; yes I call
them magical beings because they are human beings with that magical power to
live a slow life which perhaps we have forgotten and would like to wonder at
once shown. He makes bodies of these magical human beings in clay by
meticulously pressing, rolling and slicing it. Their eyes are open in childlike
wonderment. Their lips are pouted in whistling out happy tunes or simply
chattering and gossiping. Their clothes are simple extensions of their bodies
with minimum designs and decorations. They are involved in such fantastic
activities of passing time; someone in an easy chair, smoking while a group of buffaloes
play in the water body around him. Some are just lying down and reading. Some
of the magical human figures are just flying up or flowing down. They could sit
on the walls the ways spiders and lizards do. In some of the clusters of human
beings we see the multiple generations of women; mother’s mother, daughter,
daughter’s daughter and the daughters of that daughter. They all look at
us/artist exactly the way they would see a foreigner who comes to photograph
them with an alien machine called camera.
(work by G.Reghu)
An art writer friend of mine speaks of the mentality of
those people who prefer to look at the poorer side of living deliberately as ‘slumming’.
The slang is which has an American origin is definitely applicable to those
people who are touristic in their minds. They could go back to their rich
living conditions once the curiosity to be inside a slum is over. In the case of
Reghu it is not just about slumming. It is more of a noble cause of seeing,
respecting and reproducing not only the life style but also of the creative
traditions of those poor people living in extreme rural areas. Here, as an art
critic, I need to correct myself. Reghu’s interest in the villages is not the
interest of a missionary, on the contrary, after having educated in the western
style of creating sculptures, Reghu decided to walk into the rural areas where
the tribal people, and the artisans and crafts people lived, only to re-educate
himself in the traditional processes of sculpture making. He tested the
durability of the medium of the fired clay and since then he has not touched
any other medium except for bronze once in a while.
(works by G.Reghu)
For Reghu, villages are not just the spaces time where stands
frozen and the crafts people there trapped in the limitations of geography. He sees
village as a continuity that we generally forget to acknowledge, which passes
through the present existence of every human being and entering into the
unknown zone of future. In that sense, the artist believes that village is not
a static body though it appears like that but a self-regenerating and
autonomous entity. What makes it backward in our eyes is the conscious
withholding of economic support with an intention to turn those rich lands and
people into the slaves of urban expansionism through the exploitation of human
labor as well as natural resources. While celebrating the rural culture, Reghu
stands against the tide of the time that considers visible and skin deep
sophistication as development. According to him and also as per the works tell
us, such blind belief in the skin deep progress is nothing but foolishness. In
Reghu’s world, we see an animated living structure. They are like cartoon
characters who could have their own lives and the ability to influence and
persuade us through their simple but profound living philosophy.
(work by G.Reghu)
Reghu ekes out the vernacular in us. I have noticed this hilarious
expression of the rich and the affluent who come to enjoy the works of our
artist. They see the works with a smile in their lips and assume that the
person who has done all these works must obviously be too sophisticated,
wearing the trendiest of clothes and holding all the gadgets available in the
market like a multi-limbed typical Indian god. When introduced, the first
expression that comes to their faces is of disbelief. Then as they willingly
suspend it, the whole conversation that follows turns into an absolute poetry
of epithets. What they expect is a trendy man. But Reghu could be passed off as
a rural worker. He does not dress himself down to look like that. He has always
been like that and the success in the art world seems to have never forced him
to change his clothes or accent. He remains simple as the famous architect
couple, Laurie Baker and Elizabeth Baker whom Reghu joined as an eight year old
boy decades ago. Baker taught the world to live simple in simple and natural
abodes. Reghu learned the secret of clay from the couple. Then after his
education in sculpture from Trivandrum College, he went to Bhopal. Legendary
J.Swaminathan became his mentor. Reghu started assisting the pioneering ceramic
artist, P.Daroz who in fact was skeptical at Reghu’s attempts to make sculpture
in ceramics as ceramics was considered to be the art of plates and cups. Reghu
visited Bastar and Wynad, the tribal localities to learn the traditional technics
of making sculpture in clay.
(work by G.Reghu)
Gurus make their kind of Shishyas. It is not just in
physical appearance alone. It is a very deep mental act of conversion into a
living philosophy. J.Swaminathan was an example for Reghu to emulate simple
life. More than Swaminathan perhaps, the rural folks in Wyanad and Bastar might
have taught Reghu of simple living. When I say Reghu invokes the vernacular in
us, I mean it. We cannot be so urban before the overwhelming simplicity of the rural
exuded by Reghu. That’s why the rich and the affluent suddenly switch from
chaste English to Dettol washed, starched and ironed Hindi in order to make
Reghu feel that they too belong to his world. May be they think that Reghu
cannot understand English. Anyway, for a few minutes at least one could become
helplessly rural when they stand in front Reghu and his works, completely
disarmed, dispossessed and literally slummed. Reghu’s works transport us to the
world of leisure where people are happy in their own ways. And happily Reghu
has created some tiny figures that do some yoga stretches. Reghu has only one
explanation to it. “People seem to be suddenly yoga conscious than health
conscious. Besides, I live in Bangalore near the ashram of Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar. There is a lot of yoga in the air,” smiles Reghu.
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