It’s a parallel world out there; one where man and woman are the same — alter-egos separated just by gender; a world where each individual balances his or her personal journey with the pattern they form as part of a whole. “How one sees the world around him is not necessarily how the world is. But it gives one an opportunity, an idea to aspire to. I am putting my idea in a sensitive place. Others come and see it, enter that space. The idea is for them to aspire to that world. That is the intent of art,” says sculptor KS Radhakrishnan, the creator of this world.
The artist’s works in bronze, made over decades, are being exhibited at Ojas Art Gallery near Qutub Minar. Radhakrishnan’s signature characters are Maiya and Musui, archetypal figures of man and woman through whom, as the exhibition brochure says, “the artist’s vision of the world is unfolded in myriad ways”.
Everything is told through the human motif. In one piece the bent, taut body of Maiya suggests a bow and arrow. In another, she balances on one hand, ready to launch herself into an unknown future. There is a freedom here and fluidity. And opportunity to elevate one beyond the mundane. Here’s the brochure again catching the essence of the artist’s oeuvre: “His sculptures range from the small and intimate in scale to the large and lofty in dimension. They are shaped by his meditations on migration, history, memory, loss and nostalgia, and demonstrate his deep engagement with the world around him. He bestows a sensuous quality on his sculptures through the subtleties of modelling and the extraordinary body movements of his figures.”
In Maiya as Selkit, an Egyptian goddess, the divine is shown in a human form, to assure us mortals that it is possible to attain that height. Even when the larger shapes resemble a tree, the eye is drawn to the small human figures that make up the pattern. “Each of them have an individual movement but come close to create something ephemeral,” Radhakrishnan explains. At the Ojas Art Gallery, the sculptor indulges his love of showing his works in the open. The dust, the pollution or the impact of the elements don’t bother him. “There is a natural aging when they are in the open. That is how it is meant to be,” he says.
CAST IN BRONZE
What: In The Open, an exhibition of sculptures by KS Radhakrishnan
When: 11 am-7pm. Till March 25. Closed on Mondays
Where: Ojas Art Gallery, 1AQ, Qutub Minar Roundabout
