Searching for a new representation

Amit Kalla, artist, poet from Jaipur has combined the lyrical quality of his poetry with his artistic intuition to create what he calls ‘Transcending Forms’ – a series of paintings he is exhibiting at ICONART gallery. His poetry and paintings are spiritually inclined.

He shares that - while his poems create a secretive world of words where silence speaks his paintings are calligraphic and draw on the same silent unknowing of invented texts. His paintings represent moments on the continuum; a slice snatched from his deeper hidden journey.

Tell us about your artistic journey?
I did my Masters in Art and Aesthetics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and studied Art History from the National Museum Institute specialising in ancient Indian art (Iconography). Presently I am researching Bhakti literature and artistic notions of Rajasthan, and widely observing children response on art mediums, while working as a freelance artist and writer. I have had my fifteen solo shows and also participated in more than sixty group exhibitions along with various art camps.

How do you define yourself as an artist?
Through my deep connection to a cultural expression of a universal spirituality and passionate sense of humanity, I continuously draw people from all communities into acts of creativity in the belief that through creativity people are empowered and communities move incrementally closer to truth.

The strength of my work is that it represents an Indian artist’s quest for an indigenous tenor rather than a superficial inventory of native motifs, there is nothing about my work which relies on a static Indian Identity. In the context of the new India with its glamour and explosive economics, I am searching for a new representation of the innermost dramas of my culture while maintaining universality and individuality. There is a certain naivety in both my paintings and writing which represents detachment but contains too a knowing gesture of assurance.

How did you arrive at abstract art?
Actually right from my childhood my thoughts pondered over abstract imaginations, I was always involved to think in a manner of a matured artist but that was totally a part of effortless process in a playful way, it was childish but somewhere it had deep meaning of which neither I was aware nor my parents. I think every child has that kind of an abstract sense but as soon as they grow up, society structures and restricts their pure imaginations, leading to the destruction of the child’s real creative mind.

In fact I was very lucky and fortunate because I got a company of friends, teachers and mentors who are abstract painters, poets and mystics. They all are masters of their subjects. From time to time, they motivated me; provided me with various readings, guided me to understand the actual meaning of abstract.

The artists who inspired me the most were “Ramkumar, J Swaminathan, VS Gaitonte, Raza, Prabhakar Kolte, Vidyasagar Upadhyaya, Sohan Quadri, Akhilesh and Hem Raj.

So what inspires you to paint – is it joy or any other emotion?
Colour and shape play a major part in my paintings. They assist me in communicating the story I am trying to tell. Colours and shapes become a way of expressing an emotion or thought. When they are all brought together within the painting, it becomes a journey of communication between the viewer and me, the painter. I really enjoy using both these processes when painting.

I often take photos for inspiration and spend some time thinking about the painting before sketching up the final outline onto the canvas. Mostly all the colours within the painting, I have already worked out in my mind. But I do allow for progressive inspiration should the painting look like it could do with further input. The ultimate goal is to ensure I have communicated the story I wanted to tell…

Most of my inspiration for “Abstract Painting” comes from how I feel. Feelings that have been evoked by situations experienced throughout my life. Great family moments, career experiences, traveling adventures, current local and world events and then my very inner personal thoughts are the feelings that I use to create each abstract painting.