Dilip Chitre, the acclaimed Indian poet, critic, and translator, had once made a profound and equally scandalising remark to the effect that 20th century Gujarat has given us only two major figures, Gandhi and Bhupen. Gandhi, we know, but who is Bhupen? And why is he being invoked in the same breath as the most important character of the last century? A new book published in Gujarati can help us answer both these inquiries.
Biren Kothari’s Bhupen Khakhar is a unique addition to the genre of biography and anthology. In less than 300 pages, Kothari’s book brings to us not only the vibrant life of one of modern India’s most original artists, but also a compilation of the writings of and on the iconic '“Sunday painter”.
The journey to becoming an artist
In his well-known catalogue for the 1972 exhibition Truth is Beauty and Beauty is God, Khakhar begins with a short autobiography where he traces not only his earthly genealogy but also his “past births” as a Kapol Baniya, a butterfly, and finally the Brahmakshtriya that is Bhupen Khakhar. In the section “How I became an Artist” he writes, “The short answer would be through god’s grace, sheer work and tragedy.” In Bhupen Khakhar, Kothari tells us that the truth is...
from Scroll.in https://scroll.in/article/1089220/bhupen-khakhar-the-genius-of-the-iconic-sunday-painter-is-reimagined-in-this-gujarati-biography?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=public https://sc0.blr1.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/article/210927-mlqzozljgp-1765441939.jpg
via
0 Comments