An Energetic force on canvas

Bharat Thakur is more known as the founder of ‘Artistic Yoga’ that spreads Yoga to the corporate sectors and households across the world. For Bharat Thakur, ‘art’ has been an impulsive passion and can happen and take place at any moment.

How did art get into your life?
When I was very young certain unfortunate circumstances in the family literally orphaned me and my ‘Master’ Sukhdev Brahmachari took me along with him to the Himalayas. I grew there amongst nature and there was no day, which would pass without my dabbling in the snow or mud trying to create something. Later on, when I frequented other school buildings including a church, I used to paint my own little work on the walls creating some mini-murals.

How do you paint with minimal usage of the ‘brush’?
Since childhood, it was my hands that were always in action and the same continued. I keep working with my hands, nails, palms, feet and the roller, which keeps moving at random with the colours and water on the canvas. As I move on, the colours start creating in association with the thoughts that keep coming in the mind.

You have always been more known world over for your ‘Artistic Yoga’. Comment.
I have had the opportunity to bring in Yoga into the lives of many people all over the world to help them overcome certain problems and lead a healthy life. A point came in my life when I felt that my art was longing to come out of the four walls and I just stopped involving myself in the Yoga field. I literally handed that work to a team and started concentrating on my dynamic urge to paint.

What are the influences and inspirations of world artists on you?
I have spent hours and hours in most of the museums in Europe and other parts of the world trying to understand the richness of art. I am inspired by Michelangelo, who worked for four years, painting upside down on a scaffold in order to finish an important painting. Jackson Pollock another important painter of the abstract expressionist movement has been a big source of inspiration to me.

Is there any particular reason for not signing on a painting?
It is very interesting to note that most of my paintings are multidirectional. As they say ‘beauty lies in the eye of the beholder’. So do my paintings. They can be turned and placed in a direction that a buyer can choose and feel best about. I therefore sign on the reverse side of the paintings.

How often do you feel about the finality of completion of a painting?
My work keeps evolving with every second. Many a times, I have ripped apart canvases with a knife, when I felt that the desired result was not forthcoming.

What is your message to young artists?
‘Observation’ is the key to success for any good artist. One must observe very keenly to find what lies around us first. The trees, flowers, colours, poles, sky, contrast of, maybe, an auto and the road, etc. It’s very important to inculcate the habit of drawing ‘still life’. Many young artists tend to forget this aspect and try to create some ‘great works’. Worldwide, I have seen many upcoming artists paint portraits for minimal sum of money on the roadside. It’s a way of making good money in the initial difficult times. There is no need to be ashamed of doing this maybe even in India. It all is a part of the journey that can take the path of glory.

What : Exhibition titled ‘Colossal Abstracts’ by Bharat Thakur
Where: Gallery Space, Banjara Hills
When: Untill March 18, 11.30 am to 7.00 pm

By Jaywant Naidu