Ruminations on art and beyond

The eclectic group of artist Sudarshan Shetty, his wife Seema, art critic S. Kalidas, art collector Lekha Poddar, and The Mint columnist Shoba Narayan spent some together in Thiruvaiyaru town, just beside the river Cauvery in south India. She writes: “We have spent the day visiting the nearby temples, including Darasuram, which in my view is one of the best-preserved temples in Tamil Nadu.”

They were in Kerala to attend the Festival of Sacred Music. Chennai-based Prakriti Foundation holds it every year. The festival is held in Thiruvaiyaru, a holy town on the banks of the Cauvery. The Festival is attempting to revive this temple town through rural tourism. The hope is to bring in more people and offer them music, temples and later, home stays.

The artist waxes eloquent about the stone carvings in the temple and the fine examples of Chola architecture. So what is Poddar looking at these days? “Indian terracotta,” is her reply. Earlier that week, Shetty and Shoba Narayan had lunch together at GallerySKE in Bangalore. His gallerist Sunitha Kumar Emmart had sent over a home-cooked seven-course spread.

The columnist mentions: “Shetty’s father, Adve Vasu Shetty, was an acclaimed Yakshagana artiste who could hold audiences spellbound with his renditions of Vali and Sugreeva. “I find the aesthetic strategies of that form—Yakshagana—compelling,” says the artist. “You have to hold your audience through your ability to elaborate on what you are thinking and playing.”

In Mumbai, he grew up in a culturally rich, if materially poor household, with visiting Yakshagana musicians and performers who interacted with him and his sisters. Being poor while young was a gift, he says, because it allowed him to take risks. There was nothing to lose. He is the second person who has extolled the virtues of being poor while young to me. But money has its uses, he says, because it allows you to dream big.

Shetty’s monumental public installation, Flying Bus, now stands in the Maker Maxity complex in Mumbai. Over lunch, he narrated that his father had to confront philosophical questions about Ram’s deceit while killing Vali and make it come alive for his audience. What would Vali think and say, asks Shetty rhetorically. The same could apply to his bus: Why would a flying bus think?