City’s Multifaceted Sculptor
Title : Bahumukhiya Shilpi Sarvabhouma A. Kiran Subbaiah
Author : N.B. Kaverappa
Pages : 100 (including 20 pages of pictures)
Price : Rs. 100
Publisher : Ila Mudrana, Bengaluru
by Dr. Prakash Padakannaya
Recently I attended a book release function at Kalamandira where a Kannada book entitled ‘Bahumukheeya Shilpa Sarvabhowma A. Kiran Subbaiah’ was introduced and officially released in the presence of several artists, Academy officials, and art lovers of Mysuru. The book was authored and designed by N.B. Kaverappa, a well-known artist and founder of Bharani Art Gallery in the city. Karnataka Shilpakala Academy, Bengaluru, celebrating its 20th anniversary, is the publisher of this unique book.
I am not an expert on sculpture art but I was curious about the book and also the sculptor as I had heard many remarkable things about Kiran Subbaiah’s work from the author. After the function, I bought a copy of the book availing 50% discount offered on the book releasing day.
The book, though runs into only 71 pages, is very well designed with attractive cover page and several illustrative quality pictures without which the descriptions would have been incomplete. The editorial comments by L. Shivalingappa and preface by the author provide the necessary background for the book. The author, who knew A. Kiran Subbaiah personally for the past three decades, has been very successful in presenting the life and work of this extraordinarily talented sculptor and his magnificent sculpture in a lucid yet scholarly way.
The book has been divided into two parts. The first part, ‘inside the sculptor’s life’ deals with the life sketch of Mr. Kiran Subbaiah while the second part, ‘inner turmoil beneath the external looks of sculptures’ describes major works of the sculptor with illustrations. The first part narrates the innate aptitude that Mr. Subbaiha had from childhood for sculpturing; and his extraordinary and eventful yet dedicated saga of what he has accomplished in the field so far.
His passion for sculpturing was ignited when he visited Beluru-Halebidu temples during his college days. His prodigious skill was exemplified by the fact that he could master the entire syllabus of five year diploma course in sculpture at Chamarajendra Technical Institute, Mysuru, in just one year. It is irony that such a prodigy was forced to leave the Institute after three years of basic training (he was not allowed to go for advanced course by his supervisor though the same teacher in later years pleaded him to apply for the lecturer’s vacancy, which Mr. Subbaiah turned down). Such incidents also testify how creativity and dedication triumph over all odds.
Mr. Subbaiah’s perseverance and diligent experimentation in sculpturing with all kinds of stones made him probably one of the greatest contemporary sculptors of our land. Hailing from Kodagu, today he owns a museum of sculpture ‘Shilpanikethan’ in Mysuru, which houses hundreds of wonderful stone sculptures carved by him.
The author makes a sincere attempt at highlighting the sculptures sculpted by Mr. Subbaiah, in terms of both breadth and depth of sculptor’s creativity, in the second part of the book.
The illustrations of his work presented in the book demonstrate that Mr. Subbaiah is as proficient with traditional style as with contemporary and modern style. Normally a sculpture has only a front view. But Mr. Subbaiha has mastered the art of carving multifaceted or many-sided sculptures using a single stone (the same piece may depict one image when seen from front and a different image when seen from sides or back). It is like four different sculptors carving four different sculptures on four sides of a stone! This is an astounding feat by any standard!
Mr. Kaverappa describes the way Mr. Subbaiah goes about creating these multisided sculptures. It seems when Mr. Subbaiah has a piece of stone in front of him ideas keep running and he visualises them in his mind first. Then he makes a rough sketch directly on the stone and begins carving. When he has multiple ideas and icons in his mind’s eye, he first whittles all of them coarsely on the stone. Then, he starts the fine work simultaneously on all of them till they attain their proper shapes. Again, at the end he would start fine finishing work concentrating on one of them at a time.
The book also gives an account of a master piece in making, the most wonderful work of art by Mr. Subbaiah, the stone sculpture of ‘Lord Adishesha’ displaying 135 hoods with a special pedestal. When completed, this pedestal will also depict 45 snake Gods with different poses carved on it. Presently, Adishesha deity at Pashupathinatha temple in Nepal holds the world record with 108 hoods. Adishesha that Mr. Subbaiah is making with 135 hoods a height of 4 feet and 3 inches without the base (5 feet and 1.5 inches with the base) shall get that name and fame. Shree Yanthra, Om Yanthra, and Gayathri Manthra have been engraved on the back side of this unique statue. This statue carving took three years till now. It seems another 6-8 months’ hard work is required to finish the intricate carving of the main statue and the pedestal. According to Mr. Subbaiah, once he starts this arduous task, he has to devout at least 8-10 hours per day for this work for several months!
The author of the book has sprinkled some of his own observations on the work of Mr. Subbaiah throughout the book. One of them is related to the artists who have influenced Mr. Subbaiah. Kaverappa has mentioned the influence of Henry Moore, one of the greatest modern sculptors of 20th century, in Mr. Subbaiah’s creations. He has also rightly observed that five-sided sculptures (five in one) are not viable as a visual treat as it actually disturbs the composition of the sculpture as a whole. One cannot miss ubiquitous presence of ‘shringar rasa’ (flavour of erotic/ romantic love) in most of the contemporary sculptures of Mr. Subbaiah.
Editor of the book, L. Shivalingappa, in his foreword comments that depiction of shringar rasa theme in Mr. Subbaiah’s sculptures is a lot more powerful than words can explain. Mr. Subbaiah himself acknowledges that ‘…the female nude form…from time immemorial… has caught the fancy, imagination, liking and admiration of a vast majority of mankind, artists, sculptors and writers’ (page 19). Mr. Subbaiah is no exception!
The book gives us a list of multisided sculptures done by the sculptor since the year 2008, list of recognitions conferred, and a list of glossary along with the direct contact address of the sculptor at the end for the benefit of readers and art lovers. Some of the colour reproductions of original work are also excellent.
When I finished reading the book, I felt that there is a genius sculptor, probably one of the best in the country, living amongst us in ‘namma Mysuru’ without getting due recognition (may be it does not matter to Mr. Subbaiah). I do hope that this book will help people of Karnataka to know and feel proud of the genius sculptor in Appaneravanda Kiran Subbaiah. Both Karnataka Shilpakala Academy and N.B. Kaverappa should be commended for their great service to the art and culture of Karnataka by introducing this master sculptor and his works to the public. It is a must read book to all those interested in sculpture art.
About the author of the book
Author of this book, Nellamakkada B. Kaverappa (in pic.) is an eminent senior artist of Kodagu living in Mysuru. He is well-known as the founder of Bharani Art Gallery, the first private art gallery in the city that he established in 1994 with a noble purpose of promoting visual art. Artists who like to exhibit their work are given the gallery for free of rent and also an independent guest room to stay (also free) for the duration of the expo. Artists from neighbouring States as well as other countries such as Australia and Finland have exhibited their paintings in Bharani Art Gallery.
Mr. Kaverappa has immense interest and actively involved in creative visual art (multihued) and literature. As an artist, he has been part of many Karnataka Kala Melas. He exhibited his ‘Creation’ series of oil paintings at Ahmedabad, Gujarat and ‘Dance of Kodavas’ at India International Centre, New Delhi. He has been honoured by Karnataka Kodava Sahitya Academy (in art field), Kodava Samaja Bangalore and Kodava Samaja, Mysuru. His oil portrait of legendary ‘Haradas Appacha Kavi’ is the most authentic one and is displayed at Kodava Samaja Bangalore as a gift. He is also a frequent writer in Kannada and Kodava periodicals. He has translated two books for Karnataka Lalithakala Academy.
source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / July 20th, 2016