This is the story of a mason who is not a freemason.
Considering the boyhood experiences of this mason, he could have become a
sculptor. But he was not that kind of a mason who had the inclinations of either
an architect or of a sculptor. Between the stone that he cut and the sand he sieved
he saw the lines running vertical and horizontal and whenever he got time he
kept on drawing on the sand loaded on the trucks.
Sitting on the trucks that ran to the construction sites,
this boy in his teens dreamt of a day that he would become an artist. Though he
wanted to be an artist, he did not know the great names of the Indian art
scene, let alone the names of the international artists. What he had seen in
those days were the calendars and film posters. He liked the facial features of
Amitabh Bacchan and Aishwarya Rai and even Rajni Kant. When he drew these
images on paper, people gathered around him and exhorted him to draw more. Some
even bought off his portraits done in ‘Natraj’ pencil on simple white paper.
On 1st April 2016, the noted film actor and
activist, Aamir Khan presented our ‘mason’ with the ‘Lokmat Maharashtrian of
the Year 2016’ award in the presence of the Chief of Minister of Maharashtra,
Devendra Phadnavis. This was one of the many awards that our mason turned
artist has been receiving since 2009. The day he decided to leave his
mason-work behind and become an artist, things changed for him.
You may all know his name and work. His name is Shashikant
Dhotre and he is a super realist artist. Shashikant Dhotre had a little tryst
with academic education in art but life had something else in store for him.
The story of Shashikant’s life must be a fascinating one for many.
(Work by Shashikant Dhotre- Medium Color pencils on paper)
From Vashi in Navi Mumbai (New Bombay), Shashikant drives us
to his studio located at the outskirts of the sprawling suburb with a highway
running towards Pune. From the air-cooled interiors of his black BMW car the
passing sceneries look like a muted travel program in television. Summer sun
blazes and silver flames play at the tip of the palm trees carefully cultivated
along the spacious road to give it a Dubai look.
Shashikant Dhotre is soft spoken. Three years back, when he
had posted a picture of his new BMW car, many took it as a joke. And despite
the skepticism about his new acquisition abound, the ‘likes’ were pouring in.
Shashikant credits this overwhelming response to his ‘fans’ who are in
thousands right from rural Maharashtra to strange shores of distant continents.
Fan following, fame and fortune have not changed the man inside Shashikant, the
successful artist, a bit. The jammed left backside door of his BMW stands
evidence to this unchanged nature of Shashikant.
“A few friends in Solapur, where I was born and brought up,
were having some fun time with my car when I took it to the village first,”
Shashikant remembers. “I did not stop them. They were all happy for my success
and fame. But they did not know that the BMW have a super sensitive magnetic
lock system in its doors. They banged it close and it got permanently jammed. I
got so busy that I could not send it to the showroom for a change,” smiles
Shashikant at the wheels. His driver is on leave today.
(work by Shashikant Dhotre- Color Pencil on Paper)
Born to a mason’s home, Shashikant is the second eldest of
the four sons and two daughters of his parents. Financial conditions were not
so rosy at home and Shashikant was not so enthusiastic about pursuing an academic
career. But he found himself drawing on whatever surface he could. Natraj
pencil was his only tool then. By the time he reached high school he decided to
drop out and join his father as a helper in construction sites. Years went by
and his enthusiasm grew as he was toiling at quarries and rivers. It was then
someone told he could study art formally. But he had to pass tenth and
intermediate to get through in a fine arts college.
Hard work paid off. Fighting poverty and an alcoholic father,
and above all the growing insecurities around, Shashikant, with the help of
good Samaritans studied privately and sat for tenth and intermediate examinations
and came out even if not with flying colors, some colors to his satisfaction.
The illustrious J.J.School in Mumbai was waiting for him. He gave the entrance test
and it was an easy walk over. The year was 2003. He could not finish more than
three months in his first year, by then the condition back home grew from bad
to worse. He had to extend a helping hand to his mother who had been working
then as a domestic help. Without thinking much Shashikant dropped out once
again and went back to his village.
However, this time Shashikant had something different in his
mind. He had told himself that he was not going to become a mason like his
father. And definitely he was not going to drink alcohol. He decided to draw
the faces of the people in a nearby town. He had not yet tried color pencils.
With black lead pencil, he could create the likeness of any sitter in
startlingly original fashion. His prowess was not only in capturing the
likeness of the sitter but also the folds and creases of the sitter’s clothes.
He did not know, art historically it is called ‘drapery painting’.
(Work by Shashikant Dhotre- Color pencil on Paper)
Shashikant’s patrons were so happy to see a young boy
sitting at the street corner, drawing the portraits of the interested passersby
and selling them for paltry sums. They took him home and commissioned him to
draw family portraits. Instead of his nominal remuneration, they showered him with
praises and money. Shashikant now could experiment with color pencils. He kept
his study going with color pencils and sooner than later, he became a master in
using the color pencils too. The money that he gained from the benevolent
patrons helped him to support his mother and ease her out of menial jobs. He
saved enough to study an animation course in Pune and he decided to try his
luck in the city of dreams, Mumbai again.
The year was 2007. Shashikant came to Mumbai and joined one
of the animation studios. Sooner than later he understood that it was one of
the most boring jobs though it was called a ‘creative’ job. They obviously were
using his skills in drawing but he was not deriving any satisfaction from his
work. He thought he was doing some assembly line work or patch work in a
factory. He wanted to express himself and at the same time he wanted to earn
more.
Prakash, a friend of Shashikant for year is still with him
in his Navi Mumbai studio. The rise in Shashikant’s career graph has not
changed the relationship between these two people for the simple reason that
Prakash was his only comrade when Shashikant decided to quit the animation film
industry and go solo in his career. But what solo? These two friends put their
heads together to come up with a new idea.
They created a pamphlet and the pamphlet said that they were
artists and they could create interesting bedrooms for the kids. They said that
they could paint the walls of the children’s bedrooms with the superheroes the
children liked and also could create the portraits of the kids along with their
favorite heroes. Early in the morning, both Shashikant and Prakash walked to
the newspaper boys and requested them to place the pamphlets in the newspapers
before delivery. They complied and before ten o clock next morning, Shashikant
and Prakash were getting non-stop calls.
(Work by Shashikant Dhotre- Color Pencil on Paper)
A new career started for Shashikant. He painted the bedrooms
of rich kids. One painting led to more commissioning from the rich people
because they all wanted to have the same glory for their kids. It brought the
artists money and they could now afford to lead a proper life. Yet, renting out
a place to stay was still difficult. Some political connections back home had
helped Shashikant to temporarily put up in the Maharashtra Sadan in Mumbai. Now
they were thinking to shift to their own rented apartment.
Shashikant, though he studied only for three months in the
JJ School of Art, had developed strong friendship with students and maintained
even after many years. One of the friends from the JJ times came to Shashikant’s
lodge and was shocked to see a wonderful painting, a portrait of a girl, on the
table. The friend was on his way to submit one of his paintings to the Bombay
Art Society’s annual art competition. He requested Shashikant to send his
painting to the professional category. But Shashikant denied saying that the
painting on the table was already sold and he would make one if needed. That
night Shashikant did not sleep. He made another painting on paper (with color pencils)
and submitted it to the society next day in the professional category. The year
was 2009.
When the results were announced Shashikant turned out to be
the winner. It was the beginning point of a successful career. A couple of
awards followed the Art Society award. In 2011, the India Art Festival in
Mumbai adjudged Shashikant as the best painter of the year in the young artists’
category. It gives me a lot of pleasure to say that I was instrumental in
adjudging Shashikant’s work as the best one in the given category.
(Work by Shashikant Dhotre- Color Pencil on Paper)
I still remember the award function. Shashikant was in a
pair of jeans and T-shirt. When his name was called out, a minister from the
Maharashtra cabinet was looking around for an imposing artist to walk up to
him. Upon seeing a humble young boy, the minister was thrilled and in his
speech he was in full praise for the artists from rural Maharashtra. Next day,
the media took up the story of Shashikant and he became an overnight sensation
in Mumbai and elsewhere.
In Shashikant’s studio in Navi Mumbai, one wouldn’t see too
many works. Yet, there are three in different stages of completion. From the
climate controlled studio, through a glass wall Shashikant could see the city
out there, the highway where the vehicles plying to different destinations,
thickets growing, a flocks of birds making different formations of surviving
and winning.
The paintings feature rural Maharashtra scenes; to be
precise Maharashtrian women involved in different homely activities. Time
stands frozen in Shashikant’s works. He takes the photographs of his family
members and friends in different dresses and engaged in different domestic activities.
For him, these activities and these draperies give ample chances to display his
skill in painting with color pencils and at times crayon pencils. Feminists
cannot question Shashikant for making the women simple objects of male gaze for
he absolutely leaves no chance for such gaze. These women are not voluptuous but
they are beautiful and sensual. They are like cultural emblems captured by a
very gifted painter.
(Work by Shashikant Dhotre- Color Pencil on Paper)
The lack of paintings or a stack of it in reserve is
explained away by Shashikant with a smile. He says that each painting that he
does is demanded by more than three collectors from all over India. That means
all the time the buyers are waiting for his works. How could he be a fast
deliverer when each of his works needs almost a month to finish? Shashikant
knows his selling potential. But he is not a fast seller. He shows them in solo
exhibitions before he sells them off. And where does he exhibit?
Shashikant exhibits in Jehangir. People have seen his works
there. But this artist with a strong rural background before selling his works
makes it a point to take his works to the rural Maharashtra. He has a very good
team of rural friends who have now become adept in handling the sensitivities
of a work of art in display. With their help he takes the paintings to rural
areas in Maharashtra and shows them in community halls and temple halls. “Thousands
of people come to see my paintings and most of them hug me and weep. Perhaps,
they respond much better than the city art lovers. I am so blessed that I get
people queue-ing up in front of my gallery wherever I exhibit, including the
Jehangir Art Gallery in Mumbai,” says Shashikant.
Is Shashikant happy about his journey? In a candid conversation,
Shashikant confesses that he needs to do more to get what he wants in his
works. “I have got what I wanted through my works. But I have not yet got what
I want in my works. I am still striving to get it.” The fan following, the
acceptance by the public and even by the government does not replace the need
for taking his works to the next level of perfection. It is not just about
getting the patterns, light and illusion right. But it is all about getting the
artist himself inextricably within the work.
(Artist Shashikant Dhotre)
Shashikant looks out through the glass wall right in front
of him. The sky has gone red in the horizon and the sky rise buildings have
turned themselves into silhouettes blinking with neon lights.
“Disparities,”
sighs Shashikant. “Disparities worry me. Rituals and spectacles- we want only
that. None thinks about re-distribution of excess. My works, I hope, would one
day reach to that level of speaking about such re-distributions.”
If you will, you can.
If silence could have wheels, then we wheel back to where we
had started in the afternoon, as consolidate silences.
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