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Forms in the air

Satish Gujral tells Gargi Gupta about his art and his latest work Trinity installed at the Bikaner House that can mean life, death and rebirth or Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva among other connotations

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Trinity at the Bikaner House is the latest art installation by Satish Gujral (left)
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Satish Gujral's home is a temple to his art. There are paintings on every wall of a tastefully-decorated, large, exposed brick mansion. Sculptures, big and small adorned the corners and table-tops. These are exquisite specimens of the many different styles that the artist, one of the most celebrated among the senior painters, has experimented with over his nearly seven decade long career. "My house is the largest work I have done," says Gujral, who turns 92 this Christmas. Literally so – for besides painting and sculpting, Gujral is also an acclaimed architect whose portfolio boasts of several large and important public buildings, most notably the Belgian Embassy in New Delhi, which "is a piece of sculpture," says the artist, quoting Le Corbusier who once described architecture as form in air. "[In that sense] architecture is very like sculpture," he adds. His own home, however, has a more conventional box-like structure though with an interesting split-level design, ringed by a patch of green lawn, filled with blooming seasonal flowers and tall trees. Inside, it's spacious and quiet – unthinkable given it's just a hop, skip and jump from Lajpat Nagar, south Delhi's busiest marketplace!

Last week, Gujral unveiled a nine-foot bronze sculpture to Bikaner House, a relatively new addition to the capital's cultural hotspot that is hosting a public art festival. "There is no public art in India. As I was among the first to do it in India, they wanted me to begin the festival," says Gujral, who trained as a muralist in Mexico under Diego Rivera, among the best-known practitioners of the form.

'Trinity', as the piece is called, is a striking triptych of three heroic forms in dark hues and picked out by golden accents. A note, next to the artwork, says that it is a celebration of the three worlds – life, death and rebirth – signified in Hindu mythology by Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. It's a nice thought, but ask Gujral about how he came to it, and he's refreshingly straight-forward. "I never think. I create. Artists who think first do bad painting."

'Trinity' will be stationed at the venue for the next three-four months, says the artist. "And then it will come and stay in my house," he adds playfully. "Sculpture," he rues, "has very little market not just with me but with everyone. Everywhere in the world, sculpture is little sold. It is costly to make, costly to keep," says Gujral. "And also to maintain," adds Kiran, his wife, sitting nearby.

While 'Trinity' was made over the last couple of months, the artist has been working on large sculptures for some years now. Unfortunately, only one has found a taker in UNESCO, now housed in its new office in Delhi. "I have 15 more of the same size lying in my house, made in the last three years. My last exhibition six years ago, also had a few. All of them have remained with me." They'll now go into a Satish Gujral gallery that will occupy the basement of a block of apartments he's built next door for his grand-children. Opening in a few months, it will preserve his works and also have space for students to study them, something, says Kiran, commercial galleries, beset by lack of space and expenses, are not able to do.

Gujral, despite his age, remains a steady worker, painting or sculpting as the fancy takes him. "When I was younger, I would go out, to parties and all. Where do I go now? So I stay at home and work."

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