Canvas rebel who’s done it all

It isn’t an easy task to map the life of one of India’s popular contemporary artists in just a few hundred words.  Born in 1942, R B Bhaskaran’s contribution to art and its various movements has been exceptional. Bhaskaran, now resides in one of the artistically superior houses in a quiet lane of Pallavaram, a suburb of Chennai.

When asked why both of his studios have unfinished canvases, dried paint tubes and a handful of redundant brushes, Bhaskaran says, “An artist struggles throughout his life. These incomplete works have been lying around in the studio for over 6 months. I have been thinking how to finish them, but nothing has struck me as yet.”

Having had the luxury of training himself in several art techniques during his formative years, Bhaskaran was already ahead of his peers when he joined an art college. A phenomenal artist with a rebellious mindset, Bhaskaran clashed with his parents when he enrolled himself in the College of Arts and Crafts for Advanced Painting in the 1960s.

Nativism and Bhaskaran

Initially, as a student under the administrative regime of KCS Panicker and S Dhanpal, he closely observed the concept of ‘nativism’ propagated by its forerunner Panicker. In the year 1969, when Bhaskaran began his career as a teacher in the Government College of Arts, he refused to accept the idea of ‘nativism’. He was also instrumental in propagating the Madras Art Movement (1960s) and bringing modernism in south India along with other artists of

his time.

While giving his gigantic easel in his studio a strong push, he questions as to how symbols alone can be enough to tag a painting as Indian? Pointing to one of his abstract acrylic-on-canvas works, he says, “This one was inspired by a painting done by my eight-year-old grandson. Just because it does not have traditional symbols, does it mean that it is not done by an Indian?  He strongly believes, art loses its charm when one starts conforming to pre-established norms.

The feline fetish

As you enter his brightly-lit gallery, every second canvas that catches your eye has an abstract figure of a cat drawn on it. He says, “I started painting cats during college, not knowing that with every finished art work of mine, my fondness for the animal would grow unimaginably.” It was not long when during break hours in college, he would be found painting his muse. Today, his collection boasts cats in all its glorious moods.

His current works

Bhaskaran is doing a series of 20-25 illustrations for maestro Illayaraja’s poetry collection, which will be out in the month of June. “I haven’t charged any money and have agreed to work on the illustrations, only if my works are returned to me after being used for poetry,” informs Bhaskaran.

He admits he can never remain idle and often logs on to the net to keep a tab on the art scene across the globe.