Depicting SG Vasudev's artistic journey is no mean task. And to capture it on screen is an even challenging one. Filmmaker Chetan Shah though decided to take it up...
He has conceived ‘Open Frame’, a film that tracks the celebrated artist’s personal and artistic journey - right from his formative years up until the phase in which he became famous for a larger than life fantasia on his captivating canvases. It's interspersed with interesting insights from SG Vasudev's friends and colleagues, plus some bytes on the Cholamandalam Artists Village formed by him.
It also focuses on his creative processes, and his effort to nourish the art world through his collaboration with craftsmen. SG Vasudev's himself is very forthcoming about the enduring struggle in the early days, stating, "It was then very tough, very hard; working for long hours, and illustrating for magazines just to buy material for art. This went on till I secured the National Scholarship. My paintings also started to sell."
As one of the contemporary art movement stalwarts of his times, he took part in discussions on different kinds of art, and on their intrinsic philosophies prior to the formation of the art institution in 1964. These debates revolving around contemporary Indian art proved to be pivotal in shaping his artistic future. He has stated, "With the rigorous life we led at the time when we launched Cholamandal, we learnt how to survive in any given situation."
Some of his noteworthy series inspired by native art forms and philosophies include ‘Fantasy’, ‘Maithuna’, ‘humanscapes’, ‘Earthscapes’, ‘Theatre of Life and Rhapsody’, and ‘The Tree of Life and Death’. He feels that Indian art is full of fantasies, and fantasy is the very core of his style. He was also greatly inspired by been Kannada literature, poems and theatre. His association with literary doyens such as Girish Karnad, U.R. Ananthamurthy and Shivaram Karanth, who played a major part in his life and art.
The film traces the different influences and inspirations that drive SG Vasudev's thinking and his creative processes.
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