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S.G. Vasudev: A return to the beginning

S.G. Vasudev's first retrospective at NGMA traces his long career in art

S.G. Vasudev. Photo: Mallikarjun Katakol
S.G. Vasudev. Photo: Mallikarjun Katakol

Bengaluru-based veteran artist S.G. Vasudev, a worthy proponent of the Madras Art Movement, an artistic heritage that flourished from the 1960-80s, is having a month-long retrospective of his work at the Bengaluru National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), starting 1 September. The 300 works on display represent Vasudev’s career from 1962-2017 and include all the mediums he works in: paintings, drawings, reliefs in copper and tapestries in silk. This is the artist’s first retrospective.

“An exhibition of this kind is an opportunity to revisit one’s own work and wonder how one would re-do it now; what kind of mood would be infused in it today?" says the 77-year-old Vasudev. Influenced by F.N. Souza to explore contemporary Indianness, Vasudev took up themes like maithuna (love), the tree of life, and the theatre of life in his work. “Art schools at that time mostly taught Western modes of painting and techniques. After meeting Souza, I stopped seeing Western art for a time and looked only at Indian art... Mysore paintings, Tanjore paintings. And this informed my work in a big way," he says.

The exhibition will feature ancillary cultural events curated around the artist’s influences as well as a video installation displaying 27 of his drawings. The title of the exhibition, A Return To Sama, reflects both the artist’s deep appreciation of music and the reaching of a resting point in the loop of creation.

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